The 15 Day trip to Vietnam - The Mandarin Route - Day 14 (morning) - Hanoi - strolling around the city; Duong Lam village - The 30th of May 2016

We were free till mid morning so I decided to venture into the city streets on my own and try  to buy a few little things I had hesitated to buy the previous afternoon. I must confess I enjoy any city's bustling, particularly around markets and Hanoi provided just that on almost every corner of the street.

Minh collected us at around eleven and soon after we were driving the 50 kilometres that separated us from Duong Lam, during which I just looked out of the bus window, particularly at people as they rode their motos.

Upon having reached the agricultural village of Duong Lam  which is believed to have a history of 1,200 years and several houses dating back  to 400 years, rice had already been harvested and the whole process of having it laid out on mats to dry in the sun was going on. I briefly pondered on the whole work involved in its cultivation and couldn't help but thinking on the huge Vietnamese productivity regarding rice as being the result of hard manual and animal labour.

Walking through the main gate entrance door meant walking into a different world of narrow alleys said to be shaped in the form of fish bones lined with  traditional houses of laterite bricks and mud. Several people rode by us in their bycicles without even looking at us while many of those who sat in small groups outside their houses insisted on talking to us in their broken English or simply posing for photographs.

We strolled around the village for a while .... just trying to get the overall atmosphere before having headed towards a local family house where we had lunch. 

(To be continued)

The 15 Day trip to Vietnam - The Mandarin Route - Day 13 - On the way back to Hanoi - Dong Trieu village - brief visit to a potery factory; Hanoi shopping afternoon; dinner - The 29th of May 2016

One of our first stops on the way back to Hanoi was at the Dong Trieu village especially reknown for its 100 cm diameter flower pots, flower support seats and basins. Almost outside every household we could see a wide variety of traditional ceramics on display.  

We had a unique opportunity to see a lady artist  with an extreme dexterity as she styled a vase turning around on an electric table. We couldn't take our eyes off her ... we were literaly speechless ...

We had lunch on the way and like always it was excellent.

Before reaching Hanoi we stopped once more at an embroidery factory and strolled around its huge shop complex selling Vienamese handicraft of all sorts. Despite recognising the prices were slightly higher than the ones I may come across in the shops at Hanoi I bought two embroidered canvases and a couple of laquered earrings.

The 150 kilometre distance drive to Hanoi was a bit tiring, so after having got back to the hotel we had initially been to we were given the rest of the afternoon free to do some shopping on our own. Sakina, Daniel and I ventured into the local market where we did most of our shopping (though I didn't buy much) continuing towards the touristic area, where we met most of our travelling companions with whom we made our way back to the hotel, as we were having dinner at a special restaurant just around the corner from the hotel, where we had a marvellous dinner