Ho means River and Noi mean interior/inside

My hotel is awesome! The Hanoi guide (Quyh -pronounced like a combination of queen and Quinn, but really high and tight) said it is the best hotel in Vietnam; it was built by the French in the early 1900s. I did not know that the French were in Vietnam (occupied) for almost 100 years. The hotel has been recently renovated, and it's completely gorgeous. I have my own butler, her name is Ha!  

The two people we were waiting for on my plane were the overall guide and what turned out to be the quality control monitor - she hoping for no complaints this trip. This made me laugh and cringe inside. She tells me there are 15 or 16 people joining us, and it is a very young group this time and a couple of families - I think how could a family afford to take a holiday like this?

As we drive the 45 minutes from the airport, I got many facts, but the best bit of advice I got was how to cross the road. The secret is to commit - do not zigzag, do not change your mind; the other thing is to walk slowly across and believe that the vehicles will drive around you. I thought - okay!?!

After a shower and a read, I went down and got a jetlag treatment from Tang, which Ha! had arranged for me. The spa was rated well in my book, but it said that the service was inconsistent. Well, my service was awesome. After filling out my paperwork, I got to choose my oils by sniffing bottles, choose my music and then flopped face down in a warm room with special pants on - these pants were so special that if I knew where to get them I would wear them every day. I almost put mine in my bag instead of the bin.

Then I got a great massage - hard and pinchy - almost too much at times and she didn't even mention the big bruise on my bum and the old bruise on my hip - from the dresser incident.

After my treatment, I wobbled out of the hotel headed toward the lake. The guide had said it was wedding season, and I would see lots of brides getting their picture taken. This turned out to be true - I saw at least 20 brides on the way to the lake - some in the process of dressing, like standing on the sidewalk in their pants having someone lace them into their gown. It was a bit odd. The lake was fun and everything was crowded. I got a chance to practice my street crossing technique, and it generally seemed to work.

The light was perfect and I took some amazing photos.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped for Moshi, which is difficult to explain but is a sweet. It looks like a steamed bun and there are a variety of fillings; I got coconut and mango. They are ice cold and the exterior has a strange chewy gelatinous quality. They were luscious, and it was all I could do not to go back for more - I did go back for more but ONLY so I could take a photo for you.

For dinner, I sat in the executive lounge and had a variety of strange things brought to me along with a lovely white wine until the waiter said, you really should go outside and I thought outside, I'm exhausted, you are lucky I am not sleeping in my plate!