25th July - We awoke to absolutely torrential rain (we later found out parts of Hanoi had been flooded), but from our room, looking out onto the bay, it was really quite nice and relaxing. it was supposed to be an early snack breakfast, then onto cycling around one of the islands, but considering the rain, didn't think that would happen. We got up anyway to have some food then headed back to the room to relax as the bike ride was 100% cancelled. Most of the day on the boat turned into either eating or relaxing, which wasn't too bad at all. Unfortunately, after lunch we had to disembark and head back to Hanoi. We got back around 5pm, all travelled out, it was raining and we couldn't find a taxi for about 15 minutes, which we handled totally awesomely. Finally back at the apartment, it was time for some more relaxing.

27th July - So after enjoying the brilliance of egg coffee in Cafe Dinh, we found another Cafe which was supposed to be the home of egg coffee. Naturally this piqued our interest and we headed down there. First impressions were significantly better than Cafe Dinh. Looked much more inviting, bigger and much better decorated (Although still with the tiny chairs and tables). Looking good so far. So we ordered egg coffees and waited with baited breath. They came over in a bowl of hot water (nice touch I thought, keeping it warm), although they didn't look quite as good as the Cafe Dinh ones, but that was fine. They did however, not taste as good as well. Not to say they weren't tasty, it's just they were being compared to the nectar of the gods. It does have a much nicer interior, so can absolutely see why people come here. 

We had a few bits and pieces to do for admin (passport photos and international postage) so we wandered through the French Quarter (we, I think, were grasping at straws as to where the french architecture was) and ticked off all those things, including children playing in miniature vehicles (random). Then onto some more local food, yum.

28th July - Whilst we've been enjoying the eggs and toast for breakfast we wanted to get some brunch and there was a pretty highly rated French bistro nearby called Emm's, which specialised in brunch. Score. So we get there and it does look the part, exposed brick and wine everywhere. We saw they had a brunch deal on the table, brunch and some drinks for 200k (about £8), looking even better. When we got the menu however, we couldn't see the brunch section, assuming we got the lunch menu I asked about brunch, to which we were informed they only had three dishes, which were on the promotional picture. Full english, eggs benedict or pancakes. Bit odd but OK, I fancied the first to so that worked out well and Hannah got liked the look of the eggs benedict. My breakfast was ok, had decent bacon which was nice, but for some reason they couldn't cook Hannah's eggs. First plate came out looking good but under the sauce the eggs were at least 50% raw on the muffins, and after sending it back the second attempt was still very undercooked. But we still did the English thing; didn't complain and paid in full. We then headed out towards another little section of Hanoi we hadn't really looked through, Ba Dinh, finally ending up, semi-accidentally, in Ba Dinh Square with Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. We did look at going inside, but the whole square looked like it was closed, or at least wasn't allowing people inside, which cut that plan short quite well.  

29th July - Looking to explore some more of the cafes near the lake (we hadn't done enough of that), we headed to O'Douceurs with our laptops to be productive whilst eating tasty food.