Little Dragon Hanoi

... to crack one effectively to eat something so small.
The next few days I spent about 8 hours a day roaming the back roads of North Vietnam. Back roads is an understatement. In America these roads would have been closed. I had to travel through mud, rivers, boulders, and even a lake. The road ended at one point and I had to take a small boat across the lake to get to the other side. When there was a construction delay its because they were removing ...

... and economics and have nice things and essentially become more Western. And at the same time the majority of Westerners here are all looking to escape the west and the way it ties you up - people just want to be free and enjoy life as it comes and yet are living in the least free thinking country that I’ve ever been to. It’s a strange mix. And so I sat above it all for a while in Highland Coffee today observing it, filling out my UCAS forms and contemplating ...

... lights are ignored, as are one way roads. Also some will be riding against the traffic. Even on the apparent safety of the pavement, if you can find room between the street sellers and the shops overspilling on to the pavement you will still have to dodge scooters that are avoiding the road chaos. We have found that the best way to cross the road is to walk slowly giving the traffic a better chance of avoiding you. When you get to the other side, you then, and ...

The World Famous Water Puppet Show.
This was a treat - (sarcastic)
The puppets danced around in the water - a little bit like Punch and Judy and it was funny but for the wrong Reasons.
Went to the show with Emma and Katie, Emma fell asleep, i just wanted to know when it finished ( there is no leg room ...

... available, our particular afternoon once we had eaten and set up our belongings was spent lazing about in the water or sitting on the outpost's offshore pontoon admiring shoals of fish below it. In the evening we were served fresh bbq chicken and seafood while the bonding continued and we waiting for one of the highlights of halong bay- phosphorescent plankton. Long term i know and it doesn't sounds too exciting but when you put your hand into the pitch ...

... is the mention of apartments which can be rented according to our needs. We can get rooms as per our requirement; say if it’s a packaged tour which comprises of a group of families we get apartments which can accommodate them all, this is good as we do not have to share rooms with others. Location wise these rented villas also score, one is destined ...

... a day trip for me tomorrow.

Walked around for hours, got a ride on a rikshaw, had lunch, browsed the shops, checked out the Hoan Kiem Lake, dodged all the mo-peds (you have to be on the look out constantly cos they come flying past you, road signs and traffic lights mean nothing here!) Ha also drives a mo-ped and she tells me that people often have accidents.

More soon.....

xxx

... country, lots of con artists about as well, got approached by two different students on day one asking me to read something or practice my English with them. Apparently the con is they offer to take you for lunch, somewhere expensive, and do a bunk leaving you with the bill. Not falling for that one sunshine!

Hanoi was a bit guff so we booked a tour to Halong bay, a UNESCO heritage site about 4 hrs East of Hanoi. We were gonna make our own way there but ...

Travel firms polled by VietNamNet said that they have stopped accepting new bookings for tours on the April 30 - May 1 holiday. The number of travelers in the north signing up for tours abroad is sharply higher this year. Vietnamese travelers now like traveling abroad Deputy Director Nguyen Cong Hoan of Hanoi Redtour said that his agency expects to serve 45 groups of travelers on the May holiday. Over 800 ...

... heures de Hanoi. Notre traductrice (Vin) de South Pacific Travel est vraiment sympathique. Elle nous a aidé a choisir le meilleur itinéraire. Ce sera une mini-croisière de 2 jours et 1 journée sur l'ile Cat Ba. C'est apparememnt super. J'ai vu plusieurs photos, et ca semble incroyable! Nathalie, l'accompagnatrice de Chantal, a très bien travaillé dans les coins ...