And Cock-a-doodle-do to you, two!

Not an April fool. Found this guy giving the other two a real good talking to. Absolutely hilarious, but shows how good his memory really is as he lives here and must have seen these rivals umpteen times.

Last night's meal was a disaster to some extent. We went to an expensive by Hanoi standards, French / Vietnamese restaurant, called simply "La", and had absolutely the worst food since arriving in SEA. Squid which would only win Michelin Stars if entered in their tyres competition, Pork pancakes with no taste whatsoever, and fish fillet which had suffered the same treatment as the squid and could have doubled as a discus of the throwing kind, not the tropical fish kind. That was smothered in an all too concentrated balsamic glue. To cut a long story reasonably short, I spoke to the Canadian owner, whose mother hails from Musselburgh, and agreed on a no charge solution.

Today we went to the Opera House, and got tickets for what looks to be a great programme of classical music and ballet, by the Symphony Orchestra of the Hanoi Opera & Ballet, plus dancers from that ballet company. Going on Wednesday after Ha Long Bay trip. Cost for Circle seats? £8 each. Match that, King's & Festival Theatres.

On to The History Museum (all this culture is killing me) which had a special exhibition on dragons in Vietnamese culture through the ages. Verry interestink!

Sussed out the location of the Water Puppets theatre - No 1 attraction in Hanoi, it is said - saving for another day.

Walked around one of the many lakes in town, Ho Hoan Kiem, and visited a small temple on an island which is partly dedicated to giant turtles. 15 mins later, what should surface from the murky waters but a prime example of said beasts. It's head was about 200 mm long so, by comparison with a stuffed one in the temple, this had a shell about 800 mm wide. Honestly!, I have the photo to prove it.

Off to the flicks tonight. In English / American, with Vietnamese sub-titles.

Ciao Amici!
G&S