The 15 Day trip to Vietnam - The mandarin Route - Day 10 (afternoon and evening) - Hoa Lu - Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh Temples; Hotel accommodation - The 26th of May 2016

We reached Hoa Lu, the ancient capital during the reign of Dinh Tien Hoang (924-974) fairly late in the afternoona and had therefore not much time to visit the Temple dedicated to the ancient sovereign which we gained access to by a gateway, as well as the Temple of Le Dai Hanh just 300 metres from the first one.

Incorporating the principles of feng shui the scenario setting was incredible with the river to the front and the limestone mountain in the back.

We wandered about the whole ensemble which was quite an experience until we were virtually harrassed by a female photographer who had taken our photos as we were entering the gateway and kept on pushing those into our hands while asking for an incredibly high price.

It was a long tiring day, particularly because of the bus drive and a confusion regarding the Hotel we should be staying at, which led to us having to re-pack the things we had already unpacked in the first hotel bedroom (in my case a lot more than that because when I was told we should move because of a mistake I had actually had a quick shower and washed my hair so I was in the processo of drying it).



It was raining heavily when we left the first hotel to go straight to the restaurant where we were supposed to learn how to cook meat balls the Vietnamese way, though I don't think many of us paid the necessary attention once we had just been told the new hotel we were moving into had an electricity problem and we would most probably have to have candles in our rooms (which didn't happen).

By the time we made it to the second hotel I was fast asleep and don't remember having unpacked anything ...