Classic Hotel Hanoi

I've just crossed the border into Vietnam having spent the last week in Laos. The ancient name for Laos translates to Land of a Million Elephants. I didn't see a single elephant but the number of Buddha statues I've seen so far make up for that. Laos has without a doubt some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. I crossed the border into Huay Xai, a small town with not much to do. It was in Huay Xai that I was introduced to the very potent rice whiskey ...

... including the temple in the middle of the Hoan Kien Lake and the historic temple of literature. The most interesting thing we have done though, was to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where you get to see the earily lit body of Ho Chi Minh 40 years after his death, and he is surrounded by guards. (Unfortunately due to high security, no photos!)

Hanoi, Vietnam zoeandgigs

... front of the stage. Our first class tickets set us back a whole two pounds. We spent most of our nights at the Bai Hoi shops deep in the old quarter. At a few intersections you can find them full of people sat outside on the street on plastic chairs. Street sellers pass by with cheap snacks like corn on the cob, donuts, spring rolls, but the people come here for the beer. Bai Hoi is the local 'home brew' and costs a mere 3,000 (10 pence) a pint. Despite the ...

... paddies where mountains jut out majestically in the midst of a calm river. Wendy pretended not to speak VNese to avoid being hassled so she had a riot listening to the rowers gossip left and right.

Upon returning to our hotel, the staff invited us for dinner ! Every night they have a late dinner together before going to their quarters and to their homes. We had the pleasure to share their table, it was extremely nice of them. The ...

... restaurant which had the added bonus of a screaming child...yay. Seriously though, is hot humid, hygenically questionable Vietnam the worst place to holiday with a small baby? Why on earth would you do that to yourself and others!

We woke early in the morning to catch the minibus. Not early enough though as the guy came about 20min early and sat angrily beeping the horn of the bus until we came out. He seemed initially quite a nice guy, if a little eerily ...

... head!

Having had enough of the city we booked a trip to Halong bay, spending one night on a junk and another in a hotel on Cat Ba island, a good trip spoilt only by an impending storm which stopped some of the activities - namely some trecking - how sad was I? not. We did meet another group that did the treck and at least one had fallen and was grazed and brusied.

Getting back from the trip it was straight onto the overnight bus to Hue. We had booked a hostel ...

... fallen tree or for the driver to summon up the courage to drive through a 'broken' river. Somehow, just 7 hours after leaving Muang Khua, we reached the Laos border checkpoint, 75km away.
Immigration was short and sweet until we realised that there was no transport to the Vietnam border checkpoint, 6km away. So we set off into no mans land in the blistering afternoon heat with not much water left but not much choice. After just 1km, which felt like 10 with our backpacks on ...

... all the drink you can drink and, most importantly, something of an animal talent show.

Now please take any thoughts of animal cruelty far out of your mind and imagine this much as Homer Simpson once imagined Ballet; a happy bear wearing a fez driving a car round and round a small circus ring. With that happy image in mind, and don’t disregard all the free food and drink on offer, imagine you sit down and the first act on is, wait for it, eight dogs behind desks ...

... here for walking on! They either extend the shops outwards, use the pavement area for preparing and eating food or, mostly, use it for parking their motor bikes and scooters!! Pedestrians have to walk in the road! Definitely getting to like Hanoi though.

... time we warmed up, quite a small crowd of them had gathered at our table much to annoyance of their lady boss!! We were asked all sorts of question and all of them demanded to see our passports when we told them our ages. As with the boatlady earlier on, they were amazed to realize that we were telling the truth. Lol. They got so friendly with us that the lady boss had to come over and shoo them back to work. They weren't too bothered by ...