Our last day in Vietnam started with a taxi ride from the hotel to the West lake where we toured a pagoda. This is obviously a site of great religious significance and we watched hundreds of Buddhists make their devotion. As a gawking tourist I always feel a little uncomfortable as I traipse around great religious sites and therefore I try to refrain from using my camera. Having spent a little time on the islet the pagoda was on we walked off along a causeway to find one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Hanoi, which again was well worth the effort.
After that we walked back to our hotel enjoying the sights and sounds of Hanoi on a Sunday. In the afternoon we went on a material hunt coupled with a shoe search. The hotel directed us to a certain street for fabric, Silk Street, but when we got there it was full of ready made clothes and scarves. This did not deter the tour director from purchasing a dress. From there we walked to shoe street, but unfortunately all the shoes the tour director tried on were too small, result, one highly disappointed person. We returned to the hotel and enquired again about fabric, they kindly asked Mr Google, and sent us off through an alley to another street, but again there was adverts of fabric. I was now faced with a an irate and sceptical tour director who in her heart of hearts knew that there was fabric around, it was if she could smell it on the breeze.
I suggested we walked back to a covered market we had seen earlier in the day and lo and behold the place was full of bales of fabric, unfortunately as it was now late in the day it was also in the process of closing. However, we did spend some time looking at the huge columns of fabric, although the tour director was disappointed in the quality and didn't purchase a single metre.
In the evening , the tour director did some packing before we went out to a restaurant for a meal, followed by a stroll back to our hotel through the night market. The night market is a phenomenon in its own right, at six the authorities shut the road and by seven stalls have been erected and the market is in full swing.