I do 2 things these day...transfer cash thru my broker (free) or pay y cc... Cc is the easiest and 4% is not much.

What a day!!! We left the hotel by a pre-arranged meter taxi at 10:30. The driver was a 54 yo man who spoke wonderful English. We were heading to The Siam Kempenski Hotel for their Sunday brunch. We arrived in the Sukhumvit area before 11, so I asked the driver if we could make a detour to the khao San Rd area. He politely agreed. When I showed him the business card for Sangtong optical he knew it. He said he went to school in that area and knew the shop from then--long established shop.

He waited for us for 10-15 minutes while we had our new glasses fitted and we paid, then off to the hotel.

We were 10 minutes late arriving at 12:10... The place was full of Army brass. Even a former Prime Minister was there... A buzz of excitement.

We dug right in to eating and drinking....Free flow 'good' champagne... Cold Atlantic lobster tails, claws, crab, oysters, etc.
Tons of sushi, sashimi and other fish... Frois gras many ways, salads of many sorts, soups, breads, cold chopped salads, thai salads, and on and on.

Oh yes, then there were the tiny main courses you ordered: beef tenderloin, scallops , hot lobster tails, lamb, snow fish, seafood fettuccini, bacon and spinach dumplings--- all hot tiny treats served in a mini frying pan on a mini grill....

Oh did mention the entire room full of desserts or the ice cream and crepe station..

And more free flow champagne and other drinks.

A steal at about 3000 B per person.

The army caused a mess when people wanted to leave. The brass's cars took over the entrance and we all had to wait till they cleared out. In our case that was over an hour.

We returned to our hotel after 7:30.


But what a fun day...

We have a pick up at 10:30 tomorrow for our flight on Qatar to Hanoi.

We are really looking forward to our days with Peter and Linda.

I agree it is a very reasonable price for all that great food and liquor and the fact that you can stay for five hours. (It's a little cheaper if you don't want liquor). I had so much fun with you all last year!

I was in Bangkok two weeks ago with 4 friends, but unfortunately we there from Monday to Friday and couldn't do this.

We are ready here in Hanoi!

Aloha!

Hate to admit this but Bob was right :/. We just checked into our suite at the JW Marriott in Hanoi and the Sofitel Metropole is not even close to the lux of this place. Nowhere near period. Those who know me check out my recent Facebook video.

Aloha!

Bob- is the Hanoi stop just a rest and relaxation stop as this hotel is far from the center of things?

Looks very nice, Peter. Are you in an "Executive Suite"?

It is a bit far from old town, but is a lovely location....

The hotel is huge looking and ultra modern from the outside. We were upgraded to a lovely suite. We had dinner in the huge, and I mean huge, club. Everyone is very nice here.

Peter and Linda came into the club about 15 minutes after we arrived. I was still looking for our passports which I had mis-laid--found. After some snacks we headed down to see our room.

Great view of the lake out of our floor to ceiling Windows. Very comfortable furnishings, 1.5 baths, walk in closet, large living room and large bedroom.

Bill--this is an Olive type place... Low pts too.

We returned to the club for drinks and the hot and cold buffet. We had so many laughs---maybe we were too louddddd.?

We are being picked up by a van at noon and will go to koto for lunch, visit the craft store next door and visit the temple of literature. Later we will visit the Hanoi Hilton prison and maybe another thing or two. We have dinner reservations at Ly Club.

Girls have already decided on a morning swim on the top floor--in doors I think.

Qatar was quite wonderful to fly with... I thought coach seats were a tad hard and not too spacious... Thank god that we again were able to get 3 seats for the 2 of us in row 11.

Yes low points a five day stay is only 60,000 points! How are food prices as you are somewhat hostage to the hotel dining options?
What does it cost to cab into town for touring?

Bob-Did the VOA go smoothly at the airports? Which company did you use to get the letter? Did you pay with a credit card or through Pay Pal?

Yes Craig upgraded to an executive suite lake view :)

Have not eaten in hotel's restaurant yet, club had plenty of food for us last nite.

Tonkin travel is providing us a van for 9 hours today for $47. I figured this was the best way to go for us.

Shelley we used a company on the internet that offered extra services, including meet and greet plane side (did not happen), complete escort (sort of happened), luggage help (sort of happened-he had another client on same flt). So I think just choose anyone. When you go into arrivals hall there is a section for VOA to the left--small number of service bays... This went smoothly cause our guy just went to front of line... Completely different from last time we were here...orderly... We paid $50 for the two of us. I was planning on $90???? Don't know why.

Whole process took maybe 10 minutes... Luggage was slow to come out.
New airport is far nicer than old one.

I paid company with CC, but us cash at airport.

if there is still time, please try to take this food tour with a food blogger- it is a great behind the scenes food adventure in hanoi.
this is a link to a new york times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/tr...ness.html?_r=0

google "hanoi street food tour" for info.
http://streetfoodtourshanoi.blogspot.ca/

we did this last year and it was a definite VN highlight. priveate guide, great way to explore. wonderful....

<<<We paid $50 for the two of us. I was planning on $90???? Don't know why.>>>

Effective from yesterday the fee for the Visa stamp was reduced...

http://www.vietnam-immigration.net/n...liminated.html

Good timing, Bob on the visa stamping fee!

Lauren has her own thread here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...mber-2015.html

and here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...mber-2015.html

Have a nice day. Tomorrow is the lantern release in Chiang Mai--certainly a highlight. Borrowing a camera for it til mine comes back from being left in the rental car in Surin. Nice to have friends here.

Lauren, what have links to your blog do with this thread?

Lauren after reading your two blogs I must again say that you are on the same track as last year... Do you not see that it is one disaster after another. I have none of these problems... My cards work fine, my internet is nearly perfect, my phone works fine (I get SIM cards and replenish as necessary at 7/11, I use Skype for making phone calls for pennies (which I learned to do by reading their instructions).

Today was a fun day. We ate breakfast in the club, hung around until noon when our driver from Tonkin travel came for us in a huge van. It then began to rain lightly.

By the time we reached the temple of literature the rain had stopped. Karen, Peter and Linda did a walking tour of the temple for perhaps an hour. I stayed in the van and also made an ATM run. I had to make 4 withdrawals of 2,000,000 dong each (2M=$88.).
We then had lunch at Koto Restaurant a training ground for the disadvantaged--cheap and delicious. I had pumpkin soup and chicken satay.
Following lunch we spent some time in the nearby craft link shop... Quite a few small items purchased.

Following this we drove to the "Hanoi Hilton" and the same 3 spent about an hour touring it (I have been before).

From there we drove around the lake to the famous red bridge... It started to rain again so we skipped it. We drove through old town a bit--things just continue to grow and grow. Somehow it seems to have lost a lot of its charm.

We ended up at the Sofitel Metrepole Hotel where we stopped for an hour and 1/2 for a drink at the sidewalk along the side of the hotel. Lots of newly marrieds come there to this sidewalk for photos. Quite annoying after the first few.

From there we ended the drive by having a wonderful dinner at the Ly Club. This is located at the edge of old town in a lovely old colonial house. K&I each had a tasting meal with about 10 courses. P&L ate a la carte. It was all quite delicious. Our tasting meals were 695,000 D each... Bottom line it was 2,000,000 D per couple.

Returned to the hotel about 9:45, tired and full....

Thank you all for reading and giving my blog more hits--if only to express your snobbishness and disdain for anyone who has the nerve to do a budget trip to SE Asia.

And do have a nice day.