Sofia Hotel Hanoi

... purchase this time) and the lights, so happy!...and then....It gets madder

October...
TUBING...TUBING...TUB ING...TUBING...TUBING...just go on youtube and type in 'tubing Laos' ...you'll see what I mean...**** your full moon party, **** your millenium party, **** the official best party in the world - because its not. This is...this is...this is...Everyone has to do this at least once before they die!...If not LA PAz, then we're all going here for my ...

Je súis bien arive a Hanoi au Vietnam. Une fois sur place on est directement dans le bain, la circulation fonctionne uniquement au klaxon, les sens interdit sont la pour faire joli et un tourne sur route au milieu d un carefour est quelque chose de commun.
Il faif chaud et tres humide mais les gens sont extraordinairement gentils. La ville n a en soit rien de bien extraordinaire et elle est tres bruyante, raison pour laquelle je suis ...

... s’organisées sur les trottoirs. Il est surprenant de voir celles ci se remplir aux heures des repas et surtout le soir où il y règne une ambiance exceptionnelle. Il est impossible de savoir combien de gens se sont installés sur ces chaises pour « mini pouces » mais le cœur est à la fête.
Comme toujours on n’échappe pas au marché populaire toujours haut en couleur et chose inhabituelle, les poissons et crustacés ...

... out to be a mecca of delicious
looking Western and Vietnamese food. Unfortunately, I was not feeling
well and stuck with a vegetable omelet (less than $2). Everyone raved
about their food. After lunch we bought tickets to a Water Puppet show
for that evening and headed back to the hostel to relax for a bit
before we headed back out. Water Puppetry originated in the 11th
century as a method for satisfying the spirits that dwell in the rice
paddies and ponds ...

... crab, our boat crosses the bay. A crab leg still in the mouth, we have barely time to take our cameras to scrap this beautiful landscape. We are ahead of the floating villages, small fishing boats frequented by whole families, rocky peaks covered with vegetation. It's beautiful, quiet and relaxing. We are lucky, the weather is nice. We stop and visit a cave on a small island with a sandy beach where the girls bathe and are stung by jellyfish. It does not rain ...

... Aussie-style bbq burgers for free. Despite all of the good reviews (and the admittedly nice people we met there), it wasn't all that. We shared a room with bunk beds that had a non-private bathroom and shower (in separate places, and on separate floors, mind you). After 1 night in this place, we decided to move to another location to try and find something more comfortable. Just down the street we found a nice place called Lucky Hotel that was really ...

... advertising a free pick-up at the airport means we shouldn't be charged for it. They wanted us to pay $13 for the ride, because we were staying in one of the cheap rooms. "OK, then show us the nice room", we said, quickly calculating that we might as well upgrade and get the pick up free. "Oh, those rooms no available.." BS they aren't. This would be our first lesson in the Vietnamese style of business. The room was cheap and had free wi-fi so we ...

... him! Still this is something worth doing if you ever get over here. One of the highlights for me was walking down the street one night with mum we'd had a nice meal and a few bevies and then this little bloke rides his scooter up alongside mum just to...you know...offer her some opium, Ha! How often does a son get to see his mum get offered Opium? I laughed myself to sleep. And that's pretty much it for now. The mums came, they saw and they ...

... which is easier said than done!

In the end, after about an hour of searching, we plumped for the only guy who was actually honest with us, even if he clearly couldn't be bothered to give out the usual spiel peddled by his competitors!

The line which clinched it was "all the tours are the same, just pick one. My price is ...