We didn't think the city sights were mind blowing. We went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Temple of Literature, and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. We topped the afternoon off by eating a delicious late lunch at KOTO. Next we spent several hours walking around the buzzing streets of the Old Quarter. We attempted to find the amazing markets we have heard so much about from our friends who have been here before but we searched high and low and came up completely empty handed.
The craziness started to wear on all of us so we spent the evening (maybe three hours) at a local spa. Let's just say that all of our individual treatments combined didn't cost as much as one treatment in NYC. This is the place to come and pamper your self without breaking the bank!
Hanoi is definitely worth exploring for a day but you shouldn't stay much longer. The rural sights are definitely the highlights of Vietnam!
You didn't tell the story about the airport so I will... When we got out of passport control, the baggage belt was already full of bags and there was a mechanism that wouldn't let out any more bags until it sensed a gap between bags. After a few minutes, we realized this was going to take forever because everyone else seemed to still be stuck in the passport line, so no bags were moving. Enter the efficient Americans: we started stacking up the luggage on end and pushing the bags together to create gaps. And voilà! Things started moving. People looked at us like we were OCD crazy, but I think they appreciated it when they realized things were moving. The end.
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