Took these photos outside the hotel while waiting for our coach.......
.....note the way the lady is dressed wearing a pollution mask and special coverall....
....the women work so very hard, often starting at 4am until 7 pm, they are from villages and need to work in the city to support their family, only returning home every couple of months. They live in hostels 10 to a room.
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A visit to 'Hanoi Hilton Hotel'-prison....
.....electric wire on top of the wall which is covered in broken glass...
...so sad that a whole village making pottery was destroyed to build this prison, a whole culture and specialist skills destroyed, this is what the village would have looked like....
....prison entrance, very thick doors and many huge locks....
....below shows where the political prisoners were shackled to wooden benches, very overcrowded, these steps were at the front of the room and were the latrines, imagine the stench!!
A few prisoners escaped through the sewers, such a small space...
....the female block...
...women and children kept in these small cells....
...death row, isolation cells where some prisoners were kept for up to 4 years....
....memorial garden, a sculptured wall....
....shrine in the garden, fruit and incense offerings, a very peaceful cobbled courtyard.
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Avisit to the Women's Museum, as it was on women's day there were the most beautiful floral arrangements everywhere....
....the foyer displaying some amazing photographs...
....a bit of fun....
....many lanterns hanging from the ceiling....
...Mother goddess has a special day/ceremony and these are beautifully decorated costumes worn on the day....
.....love these words....
.....unfortunately we only had an an hor here but could have easily spent 3 hours!
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Next stop the silk village....
.....cocoons....
......moths hatching....
.....weaving looms, built in 1914....
.....beautiful patterns created with such fine silk thread.....
....the pattern...
...this weaver was creating a red rose design...
.....spool winding area with a little lady watching, no air conditioning here....
......many shops selling silk goods also many new units under construction....
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Next stop was lunch, noodle soup, in a local noodle bar, spoon and chopsticks and I still splattered my top!!!
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Lastly a visit to the Water Puppet Theatre, Poor picture mainly due to a rather large fidgety gentleman in front of me. The show was lively, the puppets good, an enjoyable 50 minutes.
The puppet show was accompanied by these musicians and singers, the girl on the right was playing a single string harp, a beautiful sound.
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walked around Hanoi, well just round our block so we didn't get lost!!!
Many more cafes and food street traders are around in the evening, when you eat out you are on the pavement between the bikes and some were even in the road!!! All the chairs/stools are very small just like those found in a reception class, needless to say we chose to eat inside and sit on 'grown up chairs'!!
Up at 5am next morning for our trip to the air port and 1 hour flight to Danang.
Coming into Danang....
...so many rivers....
....taken from the bus as we crossed the bridge on our way to Hoi An,...
....first glimpse of the OCEAN!!
Bought fruit from this lady, so delicious...
...wonderful foliage...
....UNESCO Heritage village....
....this old building had been in the family for 300 years, the street floods every year and all furniture is moved upstairs....
...beautiful hand embroidered tablecloths and matching napkins....
....work in progress...
...upstairs, shrines, lanterns and statues....
....the dog 'guards' the bridge into the old quarter...
....love the way this tree is supported and the old rickshaw...
....bamboo bikes...
...flowers and stalls everywhere...
...many large pots containing Bonsai...
...Mother Goddess shrine...
...lunch, did I mention how wonderful the food is, enjoyed guava, clam and saba fish today!!
....these spring rolls were delicious.
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15 day old silk worms on mulberry leaves...
....cocoons on the frame...
,,,,demonstrating taking the fine silk thread from the cocoon....
....4 strands twisted for a stronger thread...
....the girl on the left is attaching the thread from the cocoon to be wound onto a bamboo frame...
...old looms producing a variety of silks...
....these ladies are making drawn threadwork tablecloths....
....many girls were making pictures from photographs, absolutely amazing, they look just like photographs...
...the work room for made to measure in 24 hours...
....coloured silk thread ready to be spooled....
....an old bicycle wheel!
Wood carvers...
...silk lanterns in all colours/shapes/sizes...
....4 star hotel, fabulous.....
....there is a window between the bathroom area and sleeping area...
.....hand and bath towels fashioned into a dog...
.....really dark at 6pm, lanterns provide the light....
.....this was the view across the river, rather like this abstract form....
.....people selling candles in boxes to float on the river ....
....to be continued....
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