Tây Hồ, Vietnam

Our first stop today was an exquisite designer shop named Chula Fashion. The designers are so creative. We all bought some very intricately handmade embroidered colorful garments for a very inexpensive price. They are originally form Spain and chose to establish their thriving business in old Hanoi.they have a staff of Vietnamese which produces all their embroidery by hand, very impressive. We proceeded to a packed interior swap meet in old Hanoi; a bit too crowded and smelly for my taste! But we certainly made up for it by having a great lunch overlooking the Hoàn Kiếm Lake., where we had some very authentic Vietnamese dishes like Chả cá which is a tumeric dipped white fish served with rice noodles and topped with spices and herbs; delicious. We ended our day walking to Giang 39 to get a jolt of their famous egg yolk coffee. After a massage and a shower we were picked up to catch our night train called the Victoria express. The rooms and bed are quite small but beautiful for a train. All 12 of us hung out in the quaint dining car until bedtime.