Christmas in Hanoi…

It’s Christmas! And we enjoyed a three day break at our favourite hotel – The Golden Legend – in the Old Quater, Hoan Kiem.

On Christmas Eve we got ourselves ready for Christmas ‘Hanoi style’ and hit the streets late afternoon to find them heaving with revellers! And we thought the Vietnamese didn’t celebrate Christmas! We had coffee at Joma and then headed to the busy St Joseph’s Cathedral to enjoy the crowds and soak up the Christmas spirit.

St Joseph’s Cathedral impressive nativity scene…

On Christmas Day we awoke early to open a huge package that had recently arrived from Charlotte. We had tears in our eyes as we unwrapped the many parcels containing Christmas goodies that are unobtainable in Hanoi but which make a Christmas at home in England. Charlotte had even sent a dozen Christmas crackers! A truly special gift Charlotte – thank you…

Pre-dinner drinks at the Moose and Roo…

We ate Christmas dinner at the Moose and Roo – one of the few places where Christmas dinner with all the trimmings is available in Hanoi. And what a fine affair it was – amazing food, atmosphere, and the best wines tasted since England.

The Metropole Hotel…

On Boxing Day we went to the stylish Metropole Hotel for afternoon tea – extravagant but well worth it; see the photos.

Our fine afternoon tea…

We sat here for hours and will remember it forever…

Irresistible…

Our Christmas was unashamedly about ‘us’ and we laughed, loved and relaxed together, whilst enjoying the people we met along the way.  However, we missed our family and friends back home and across the globe…and were grateful for the magic of the internet that allowed us to keep in touch.

Teaching again now  but we had a fabulous time together – a real Christmas in Hanoi…

catandgary 🙂

Merry Christmas…

Merry Christmas everybody… with love from Hanoi 🙂

catandgary 🙂

Just giving…

Hanoi is much cooler now that we are in the throws of an Hanoian winter… some days the temperature has failed to rise above 12 degrees and the sun and heat of only two months ago seems such a long way off.

We are working hard and teaching in various districts across the city. We even have our own ‘motorbike taxi’ – a man who looks uncannily like Charles Bronson – he turns up at the allotted time to whisk us off to our next assignment.

However, since arriving in Hanoi, we have been looking for a way of giving back to the community of which we are now a part. We hit on the idea of teaching English to the kids in our alley; the kids who are not lucky enough to have their own English lessons at a language school but who are, nevertheless, hungry to learn.

So, after talking with our landlord we have set up a classroom in the basement of our house and every weekend we offer free lessons to the local kids. They have become a real success and we have loads of fun making a difference…

catandgary 🙂