Intercontinental Hanoi West

... One Train One) which helps underprivileged kids from the Hanoi area off the streets and teaches them and gives them work there as cooks/waiters. Without doubt it was the nicest place I've eaten in as long as I can remember. A bit more expensive than other places (but still cheap compared to UK) but worth every penny.

We then returned to the hostel with perfection, as we entered they'd opened up the Free Beer! So was rude not to waste ...

Stretching out before us was the expansive bay of Ha long, hundreds and hundreds of tall islands spread out over a huge archipeligo. We had decided to spend three days out in ha long, two cruising on a baot and the last travelling back. The scenerey as amazing, so many islands and so quite and supprisingly so few other boats. Annoyingly, when we stopped to go kayaking, I jumped in and slit my thumb right open to the bare bone, it didn't bleed to much fortunatly and we were ...

... alternately flicking boogers and sipping your soda in a bag. 5. Motorbikes Motorbikes in southeast asia provide one of the most efficient, cheap, and easy means of private and public transportation. Yes, that's right, I said public. Many motorbikes double as taxis, and if any white person walks out of a tourist destination, 3 guys will inevitably descend and ask, "Hello, motorbike? Where you go? Taxi motorbike? Hello?" in pretty good English. So far we have seen ...

... would start with an exorbitant amount at least 200-500% higher than they started in the south. Unless you really like the bargaining process (which I do not), this does not make for a pleasurable shopping experience and I was glad that we bought lots of souvenirs already. I would say the best souvenir shopping in Vietnam was in Saigon and Hoi An, but Hanoi was definitely the worst. One exception to this was the Saturday night walking street shopping on P ...

... of the night. Marcel and the Irish guy were very interested in the U.S. second amendment. The fact that US citizens had the "right to bear arms" was very intriguing to them. Once they found out Darren owned guns and previously drove a truck, the questions started as the beers flowed. Side note...starting in Saigon, we heard all about prices rising because of Tet. We're at the airport and the taxis, you guessed it, were more expensive ...

... only that it can even help transport all sorts of goods! We were met by a young tourist guide by the name of Miss Nguyen Hong Phuong. We called her "Ah Fang" as was her Chinese name. Miss Ah Fang could speak mandarin (with some funny pronunciations) but unfortunately the van driver couldn't. From the airport we were transferred to Splendid Star Hotel * in Hanoi. We had to walk through a short alley** to reach the hotel front as the ...