It took me a little while to find something to carry my key with me, and to get a satellite fix. I then did one lap of the little local lake (Truc Bac), delighting in the early morning activities of our fellow Ba Dinh neighbours. About half the way around the 2.5km lake, I ran into Bob running counter clockwise on the busy causeway between Truc Bac and the large Ho Tay (West Lake). We chatted for a while, pointing out the local 'cycling group' - old men, one with an old road bike with drop handle bars, each displaying a red pennant to indicate their group membership.

On starting again, it was a wonderful mix of humanity, and I got the biggest smile and wave from one of the ladies doing their morning exercises in a small compound on the peninsula in response to mine. Tempted as I was to continue, I reminded myself to hasten slowly at such things, and headed back to the apartment after one small lap. Don't do too much, too soon ducky!

A surprising and delightful phone call from Bob's sister preceded Bob and I wandering down to Pinochio cafe for our regular morning heart starter of Vietnamese coffee on ice, before he headed off around the southern shores of Ho Tay, witnessing a many local men fishing with great concentration on small platforms suspended on the water with bamboo poles and hand lines. We saw quite a few having much success, landing large fish (maybe 45cm long).

Threading our way through small lane ways swept spotlessly clean where people lived, worked and played on the street and overhead we soon made our way back to the ancient walls of the old village and the modern day cacophony of honking scooters and nasty cars. Soon enough we we nearing our intended destination, the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnography, built with assistance from the French government.

Guidebooks had indicated that it was good, but had not prepared us for how truly excellent it was to be. We spent a relatively brief time looking at the exhibits on the ground floor before retiring to the cafe - another set up to train disadvantaged youth - for much to drink (2 iced coffee and 2 large (1.5 litre) bottles of water), as well as a couple of lunchtime bowls of Bun Bo Hue, and an excellent Green Papaya Salad with small slices of dried beef.

We returned to the main exhibit, although did not progress far on the second floor before tiring. We aimed to have a 'quick look' at the outdoor exhibits, although did not realise how extensive, nor of what scale and quality, this was to be. We made only a cursory visit to the many houses and tombs, vowing to return properly next time - this time wearing sandals we could readily slip on and off to enter the exhibits.