Luxury Travel Testimonial - Part 5:
Hanoi and Red River Cruise.
 Once again the flight with Vietnam Airlines from Hue to Hanoi was perfect. We met the guide and driver at the Hanoi airport. We would be spending some time with them as they were mandated to us for the visits to Hanoi, the Red River cruise near Hanoi and the Halong Bay. The guide also came with us by train and travelled throughout the Sapa and the Northwest region of Vietnam and returning with us by plane to Hanoi. In Sapa and the Northwest region we of course had another driver and van staying with us in three different towns in the countryside, but we had the the same guide from Hanoi. In the photo, our team in Hanoi, from left to right, the guide, Louise, the driver and Arnold (Picture 21).
There are lots of five and four star hotels to choose from in Hanoi. We chose the five star Hanoi Melia (Spanish chain). We were far from being disappointed. A brand new modern hotel with excellent service. (Picture 22), within walking distance of many of the main attractions. If you are fanning out from Hanoi to different locations as we did, for example to Halong Bay, to Sapa and to Laos, you may prefer as we did to leave some baggage at the hotel in Hanoi in order to lighten your load. The Melia has a very reliable and honest service - free of charge- to safely store your baggage while you are away. The rooms also have internet service. We brought our laptop with us from Canada and did not regret it. In Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos almost all of the upper end hotels have internet access in your room most WIFI), almost all free of charge, while some charge a relatively small amount per 24 hours. This way you have the advantage of keeping in touch with friends and families at home in the comfort of your own room and uploading your photos as a back-up. The breakfast buffet and the other meals at the Melia are superior. One of the best meals we had in Indo-China was their Saturday evening buffet, everything from oysters, giant shrimp and the best Lau (hot pot) that we had in Vietnam. Another hotel to consider will be the Sofitel Hanoi Hotel which we inspected, right off the old quarter and voted by Condé Nast as one of the best hotels in the world. A former French colonial stricture completely renovated and restored. If your budget allows, go for it, enjoy!!
You would need at least three days to visit the most interesting attractions in Hanoi, for example the Ethnographic Museum is an exceptional ,museum, especially useful if you are about to embark on a trip to the mountainous north west and Sapa inhabited in the main by many of the 55 national minorities in the country. Our guide gives us a thorough tour (Picture 23)
No visit to Hanoi is compete in our view without consecrating at least a half a day to visit the Ho Chi Minh Complex, for example the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. Our guides are always more than will ing and capable of taking photos of these historic occasions for us (Picture 24). As part of the visit to this complex, there is also the Ho Chi Minh Museum, his former house on stilts, the single pillar pagoda. 
There is also the Temple of Literature and Fine Arts Museum.
On another day, we visited the Museum of History, the best history museum in Vietnam. The local museum guides leads the tour and our guide translates for us.
Luxury Travel obtains for you front and centre tickets to see the water puppet show and depending on the programme during your stay, a classical concert at the Hanoi Opera House. This imposing structure constitutes another jewel of old French architecture completely renovated and situated in the French quarter. The Vietnam Symphony Orchestra that we had the chance to witness in the Opera House really impressed us.
We had a great variety of meals with Luxury Travel. The best option in our view is to have all the lunches included when you are visiting with the guide and driver. This saves lots of time, the restaurant and the meal are reserved ahead of time. We chose local Vietnamese restaurants, but you can also opt for upper-end western style restaurants. We enjoyed a great variety of restaurants. For example, on the road in the countryside, of course the meals were simple but very good. In the cities, there was a good selection varying from local Vietnamese restaurants to better upper end restaurants for example this one in Hanoi (09) In Vietnam you eat very well, and it is general health food.
We planned a cruise on the Red River, the second most important river in Vietnam after the Mekong and which runs through Hanoi and heads towards the sea. You will require another day in addition to the three days to visit Hanoi itself. There was lots to see in this full day excursion, but we you would like to highlight one experience. At one point we get off the boat and meet the driver and van along the river. We started to drive into the countryside to see some of the sights. We noticed a small village surrounded by rice fields being worked by the village folk. Coming from a country where not s single grain of rice is grown, and being in Vietnam which not only feeds its own population in rice, but is also now the second largest exporter of rice in the world after Thailand, we hungered for a full explanation of how the cultivation and harvesting of rice takes place. So we asked the guide and driver to make this unplanned stop in this village. We do not think any other tourist ever visited this village. We were warmly welcomed as usual by the kids. Here is Louise with the driver, our guide and the children. We then ventured right in to the rice paddies and with the interpretation of the guide were able to find our about rice cultivation in this part of Vietnam with the usual friendly and cooperative attitude of the villagers. (Picture 25). One of the main reasons we highly recommend Luxury Travel is the eagerness of their guides to be flexible and make unscheduled stops and visits with no extra costs unless there is an entrance fee involved.
We competed the day with a visit amongst other places to handicraft shops in the region, one being a ceramic workshop. With Luxury Travel we made it clear from the beginning that we did not want to be dragged from one shop to another and be pressured into buying souvenirs. This agreement was fully respected. Here we are on our own request shopping for some souvenirs the village workshop along the Red River which has been producing ceramic for over seven hundred years. (Picture 26)
Arnold August
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