An early start with the 5am church bells ringing outside the room, so overall a bad sleep, but actually slightly less awful than we expected – win? ????‍♀️

We pack up and leave as our Airbnb host has graciously accepted our request to leave and given a refund for the remaining days which was very nice of them!

Our first stop of the day is Godmother for a cheeky brunch overlooking St Joseph Cathedral – it’s much more pleasant when it’s not waking you up at 5am!

Post brunch, we stroll down the road to drop our stuff off at Ambassador Hotel – a very fancy and highly rated hotel that is massively reduced in price thanks to a construction site right next door – a gamble we are hoping will pay off tho… let’s see!

After a short wait, with a complimentary cup of tea, we are up into our room… a little bit worn, no window (seems the construction next door has built over it), not a smart tv and the bed is big but hard – so not great, but still an improvement and cheap!

We head out ready to start our day of exploring, we grab a cheeky Starbucks and head to Hoan Kiem Lake to take a stroll around and see the big sights

We pass by Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square and stop off at Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre to grab a couple of tickets for tonights show; just over the road is Ngoc Son Temple, 50k VND to go in but it’s definitely the thing to do here

It’s an old pagoda on the lake housing 2 preserved Rafestus Swinhoei, commonly known as the Sword Lake Turtle, there are only 6 in the world

They are giant turtles they at over 2m long and the smaller weighing 250kg – one died in 1967 the other in 2016

After the temple, we carry on around the lake to the Emperor Ly Thai To Monument Statue; behind this is the Frog Flower Garden and behind that is the national state bank

Finally, a walk to the Hanoi Opera House, a fancy building in a fancy part of town – we are talking Prada, Ferraris, etc – well out of our budget – so we wander down the road for a cheeky Maccies break ????

Refreshed, we head back to the lake to see the Hanoi Post Office in all its brutalist glory

Carrying on around the lake, past the Lotus Water Puppet theatre, we make our way through the alleyways of old town back to our hotel

An hour of work and chilling, we head back out for dinner and theatre time! ????

First stop is right next door to our hotel, we opted for speed and it paid off – the restaurant serves 1 thing, it comes instantly – easy peasy

Beef noodle salad – was very yummy and fresh

We accidentally got someone’s side dish of Fried Fermented Pork – it had a weird eggy texture outside and spammy inside – not awful but not our sort of thing

Dinner finished, we walk over through the madness of some of the walking streets to the Tháng Long Water Puppet Theater to watch the show

It is the number one theatre in Vietnam having the largest audiences, worldwide yours, oldest show, etc. so the must go place to see it really!

A live band, plenty of weird and wonderful puppets and an hour later we are out having had a blast with a theatre full for the sold out show!

We wander the walking streets, grab a cheeky supermarket snack and get back to our hotel for a much needed snuggle, nom and sleep – fingers crossed ????