‘I want to go swimming.’ Mini is very decisive about what we should do on our second day in Hanoi. Hotels with swimming pools are rare in Hanoi, do ours doesn’t have one. Some hotels, like the Army hotel or the Apricot hotel, offer day passes if you want to use their pool. But it’s a small lap pool at best, for which Apricot charges 20 USD because of the rooftop location of the pool and the views of Hanoi. There’s another option though. And it’s called Ho Tay water park.
Ho Tay water park is located at the north end of West lake and should be a 100k dong taxi ride from Old Quarter. That is, if your driver doesn’t try to scam you in paying double. But after some arguing, getting out of the car angrily and negations with a new taxi driver we get to the water park for the 100k we had in mind. The entrance fee is 135k dong for adults and a 110k for kids under 6 years.
‘When Tsernobyl meets Wet and Wild’, Junior sarcastically describes the empty and run-down water attraction park. We cross a 70s-style rainbow welcoming sign to see a wave pool and kids pools on the right, and behind a bridge some more adventurous slides. There are changing rooms with free showers and you can rent a locker for your bags. But we just dump our stuff on one of the stone picknick tables where Junior sits down cranky. Last trip, he learned how to surf, but this year he’s all about ‘I don’t like swimming.’ So he makes himself as comfortable as possible with his music and e-book.
Mini on the other hand, is having a great time! He’s the only kid in the park with swimming wings on his arms. But it doesn’t bother him going down all of the thrilling slides, including a very steep one of which the safety instructor makes him go down on his own, without his dad and without his safety wings! I had a little heart attack watching it from below. There’s two slide where you down on double tubes, on of which is completely dark. Mini didn’t want to go with me a second time because I screamed to much…
Around lunch time, it started to drizzle. And within minutes, it was pouring. But what better gear to wear during a tropical rain shower than your swimming gear? Getting wetter was honestly the better strategy to make most of a rainy day in Hanoi with kids we could have thought of.
Ho Tay water park / Cong Virn Ho Tay
614 Lạc Long Quân, Hà Nội
Finkelstein & sons 