Unfortunately, the construction did end up causing us rawkus… we have a couple filter coffees, shower and pack up to check out

It’s a shame Booking.com make it so hard to cancel or at least amend the booking as the hotel has already paid commission to them for connecting us to them – the receptionist does her magic so both parties are happy and we walk around the corner

Here, we check into Ancient Lane Hotel: it’s on a street car’s can’t fit down and just fresh fruit and veg vendors nearby so we think it could be a winner!

We leave our luggage, as they can’t check us in until later, and venture out for a small breakfast at a spot we spied yesterday

Gau Coffee & Bakery sorts us a couple of hot cappuccinos, a donut and a very fresh almond croissant ????

Next, we make our way West of the city and reach the road where the train line crosses over

It’s a bit hectic as there’s a bunch of electric and light shops far into the road so makes a combination of no pavements and big buses and cars trying to get through as well as tourists taking photos!

We get round to an entrance and reach Cat Coffee and Train Street & Restaurant 54 which Dave found as a treat for Daisy

It’s more like a cafe with a lady who’s accumulated too many cats but we have a play with some of the kittens and enjoy our fruit juices

After, we walk down the line a little and get back to the road

We’re aiming for the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long but it seems impenetrable – we have come from the side where the MOD campus is and they want no one near that, for sure!

It takes us about 40 minutes until we reach the Di tích Cửa Bắc-Hà Nội – the brick-arched North entrance to the former core of Hanoi, built by the 19th-century Nguyen Dynasty – which appears to be where we can get in

We’re now starving though so wander to find THAIYEN CAFE for some small pastries to tide us over

With some fuel in the tank, we opt to get back to what we’ve already passed a bit later and carry on to another site

Quan Thanh Temple is a famous Taoist temple from the 1200s temple

It’s on the edge of the bridge, over Trúc Bạch Lake

We walk over one side of the bridge where we find a little place of worship, called Đền Thủy Trung Tiên, and we’re intrigued by lots of noisy squawking – seems they have some Herons as residents in the trees

We continue to the end and cross over to the other side and make it to Tran Quoc Pagoda

The views on this side also show the smoggy side of Hanoi

We get to it and only venture around the outside as Daisy doesn’t have cover for her knees and it’s recommended to avoid so without – it’s still very pretty though from our viewpoint

Back to the bridge, we realised we’ve missed a tourist attraction here

There’s a memorial to John McCain here: on October 26, 1967, during the Vietnam War, US Navy aviator John McCain was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile and parachuted into Trúc Bạch Lake; he was found and turned over to the military as a prisoner of war and the monument commemorates this capture

A little hot, we decide to get a Grab taxi and head back to our hotel and check in properly where we do a little work with a snack before making it back out

We’re en route back to train street as they have the trains that do run at night time

Just before we make it, a girl finds us and offers her establishment – you need a coffee place or restaurant to go to or the locals won’t let you on – so we take her up on it and have a drink with a little snack of French fries, at Gold Coffee

The train runs a little later so we wander down the train line and find Indochina Station Cafe which is in the busier area

Random tat is offered to us as we sit – including vapes, lighters and intricate paper designs – we opt for some dough-looking snacks

A couple of beers are had while the main attraction arrives at 8:30pm

The train comes and it is a rather tight squeeze – really good to see how on the ball the locals are with keeping tourists in check and, ultimately, safe

We pay up and move on to find a more substantial meal now; aiming for a safe bet as we are a little sleepy to try and work out a new find

Laca 24 was where we found on our first night in Hanoi and it serves us another pizza, ground beef (like lasagne on a pizza) and a giant beer 3L tower for about the same as two bottles cost us on the train street!

We even get a free beer, as it looks like they’re trying some promo photography for Beer Viet – it’s not the best but glad we got to try

With our dodgy Uno cards, we play a game of typical Uno and then find that the cards make for an intense and long game of Snap – it takes us about 1.5 hours to finish one game!

The place closes up, we finish our drinks and make our way back in hope that the third hotel is the charm and we manage a decent sleep ????????