Please give me some ideas for extra time in Hanoi.
 

Because of flight schedules and meeting up with a third travel partner we've ended up with more time than we'd planned for Hanoi. Our plan now is :
14 Apr arrive in Hanoi in evening
15 Apr free
16 Apr free, travel partner arrives in evening
17 Apr Overnight in Halong Bay on Ginger
18 Apr return to Hanoi, afternoon free, Water Puppets, overnight train to Sapa
19 Apr Sapa
20 Apr Sapa overnight to Hanoi
21 Apr Tour of Hanoi, fly to Hue in evening
Our full day tour of Hanoi is not until the 21st because we don't want our travel partner to miss it. Sapa and Halong Bay are booked; but, we'd love suggestions for the other two and a half days. We'd contemplated going to Nimh Binh and Tam Coc; but, read a negative trip report. We considering a cooking class and market tour with Hidden Hanoi. Any ideas?

By my count, you have two (mostly) free days in Hanoi, Apr 14 & 15 and a few hours on Apr 18. Frankly, that's not much time for Hanoi. Hanoi is filled with interesting things to do and see.

You'll want to wander the old town area and explore the areas around the lake. Don't miss the Temple of Literature and the Ethnographic Museum For shopping, visit Craftlink, a fair trade crafts store. There is a branch at the Ethnographic Museum, and one across the street from the Temple of Literature (next to KoTo). If you are interested in buying art, do visit the Museum of FIne Art (near the Temple of Literature) and visit their gift shop. As you wander the old quarter, there are some interesting temples and an interesting museum in the former home of a merchant (Ma May Museum).

I certainly wouldn't do an out of town trip for those days, and frankly, I wouldn't do a tour. You can wander the markets by yourselves and see/do what you want to do. Hanoi is an easy city to navigate. You might want to get a copy of the Lonely Planet guide, as they have a walking tour of the Old Quarter that takes about a half a day.

All that... and I haven't even talked about the food.

There is a nice day trip to what agents call "Halong bay without water" and it is a very pleasant (prettier than the Halong highway ride) 2 hr van ride to a place with a 3 km (if I recall right) small boatride on a canal/stream among the kind of karsts you will see at Halong - altho different enough to justify the trip. You stop at a couple of temples and there is a v. nice lunch. I was so glad I went out there and the other people - of 7 - on the trip were all really bright and interesting. Hanoi is lovely, but noisy & hard to be a pedestrian so everybody tries to get out for the day by taking some day trip and this one is good.

Thanks for your suggestions. I did reread Craig and Jeanne's trip report and got some great ideas for Hanoi, Sapa and Bangkok.
We have already engaged Tonkin for the one day tour on the 21st and they were able to get us better rates on Halong Bay, the Metropole and La Residence in Hue than we were able to get.
They have suggested all the major Hanoi sites for the 21st: Mao Mausoleum, Temple of Literature and the Museum of Ethnology. Based on Craig's report I think we'll do the Museum of Ethnology on our own so that we won't be rushed.
Kathie, I'm very interested in the jewelry shop in Bangkok. Will they do custom work for you?

Yes, SJ has often done custom jewelry work for me. One time I drew out the design on the spot and they delivered it a few days later.

A lot would of course depend on what your day tour includes, but there's a lot to see by walking around in Hanoi. For your one full day, April 15th, a trip like the Perfume Pagoda one might be nice; my favorite part of that was the lovely river ride through the mountain scenery.
There's a pix link in my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...d-far-away.cfm

Food looms large in Vietnamese life and Hanoi eats 24/7. As well as searching out interesting restaurants, you can get a glimpse inside this culture by taking a half-day cooking course. Several are available (search the Internet) and I went to Hidden Hanoi, which begins the morning with a discussion of the significance of food and then lets the group take over the kitchen to prepare lunch under the chef's tutelage. The participants came from several countries which added to the interest. Bonus: Cost was less than $50 US, not cheap by Vietnam standards but a quarter of what you might pay in such culinary centres as Paris.