Hanoi

After a gruelling 26 hour bus journey, where we only stopped for food once and went through a 3 hour border crossing, we made it to Hanoi. We were absolutely starved, so we had a quick shower in the hostel and went in search for food. We found a little restaurant on a busy street (every street in Hanoi is busy) and sat outside. We were joined by Tom and Marie, a couple from Belgium whom we met on the bus (Tom is 6ft 5 so he struggled with the sleeper bus beds designed for Asian men)! Nearing the end of the meal, Nat had obviously had too many cans of coke because he toppled backwards off his chair and flat on his back!! The owner tried to catch him but with no avail and instead snapped the chair leg clean off... An interesting first meal!

We've found that the main mode of transport in Southeast Asia is a scooter, Vietnam is no exception! The roads are more like rivers, with constant flows of mopeds, you have to be on your guard when crossing. Before arriving in Hanoi we had been advised on a technique for crossing what seems to be a wall of traffic, go slowly, steadily and don't stop! Crude we know, but it has been some of the best advice we've had.

At the centre of Hanoi City is a lake called Hoam Kiem. From here most of the interesting streets branched off, subsequently encircling the watery hub of business and nightlife. We stayed near the old quarter, which was the entire city in the early part of the 20th century, containing only 50 to 60 roads. Now it's the place to go at night for dinner and a few drinks, you can even get a beer for 5000 dong (about 15p!).

Our first bit of site seeing was Hoa Lo Prison Museum, built by French to contain Vietnamese political activists, it was later over turned and used as a POW camp. Nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by US POW's, it was used mainly to keep airplane pilots who had crash landed on their bombing missions. The place has a dark and eerie feel, with wax figures clamped in iron, one of the two original guillotines and some pictures of heads in baskets, you get a real feeling of the atrocities that must have gone on there.

The highlight of Hanoi was undoubtably the water puppet theatre. We weren't sure what to expect, but it seemed like a fitting place to go for Lots birthday. We booked tickets with our Belgian friends for that evening. Even though we went at 9 PM it was packed, mostly with tourists. It began with traditional Vietnamese music and swiftly moved on to six short ancient stories all portrayed with the water puppets. Before each story a lady explained what the story was about, luckily she was translated on a big screen and we had English programmes. The puppets were manoeuvred with amazing skill, attached to large wooden poles and moved by wire and handles. You can't see the poles easily as they are underwater, it takes a while to realise how it all works.

Overall Hanoi was great - slightly hectic but great. So we decided to go to Cat Ba Island next to see some rustic countryside and the renowned islands of Halong Bay.

See you soon!