Hanoi: Hom Market & Women’s Museum

I finished yesterday having been accosted by a fruit seller, who pretty much forced me to pose for a photo holding her baskets and then buy some fruit.  These women have our door to door sales people well and truly beaten!

After that I went to a water puppet show.  Which was interesting although not fabulous, and best of all it was cooler than outside.

After an early night I started off the next day early (too early for the hotel staff apparently, who were still in bed, which is a mat in the hallway next to the stairs.  They had to get up to let me out).  It was not too early for the rest of Hanoi though -Hoan Kiem Lake was packed with people, doing everything from tai chi and aerobics to badminton, ballroom dancing and even fishing.   One group was enthusiastically doing a dance to the tune of Jingle Bells!

After spending some time around the lake I headed south into the French Quarter – it was much more open than the old quarter, and was dotted with parks I could take a rest in.   There was mostly enough space to walk on the footpaths here, and even some pedestrian crossings that drivers sort of obeyed a bit.

I was heading through this area to get to Hom Market, which is a market popular with locals, but not a tourist market.  The top floor is a fabric market, and there is also a nearby street with fabric shops.  I managed to buy a couple of nice pieces of fabric, always a bit of a challenge with the language barrier but we worked it out.

After the market I headed back towards the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, which was an interesting museum showcasing the lives of Vietnamese Women.  There were a lot of displays of clothing, jewellery etc. and lots of tools used by women.   There was a really good audio tour in English too.  The worst part was crossing the open square in front to get in, in full sun.