Splendid Star Hotel Hanoi

... It had been great to spend my final night of travelling with such lovely people.

Back in the dorm I packed up most of my stuff, then went downstairs to the computers to check the Hanoi airport website to see that my flights home were still okay. I checked the first flight, 10.45am to Hong Kong, and it was still scheduled. I then checked the second connecting flight, to Heathrow. Unbelievably, it simply said: "Cancelled." What?! I went on the Cathay Pacific website ...

... a spin!we tried to tell him, but of course his english suddenly got really bad, so we jumped the taxi! we ran into a restaurant, had a bite to eat & got directions off the waiter there! We hit off to find a hostel & found a nice cheap one, where we took a well deserved shower & hit the hay!

29th Oct
We had a lovely lie in today! there was a food market outside our hotel, so it was really busy outside! we had a balcony onto our room, so we watched for ...

... 5) and a lesson in grossly mispronounced words (the masseurs were literally falling off their stools laughing), beer, went to "bun cha nem" which translates as meatballs and spring rolls, crossed the road avoiding at least 20 motor-scooters at a time, and have now decided to get some soup and head for bed.

Through it all we have remained more relaxed in Hanoi, Vietnam than anywhere else we have been - go figure.

... and it is part of the UNESCO Heritage Site.

After Halong Bay, we got on an overnight train up to the mountain region of SaPa. This part of the trip was proably our favorite part of Vietnam. I can't say anything bad about it!

The train was definately an experience. After a few technical difficulties and a few hour delay, we were on our way. We shared our cabin with an older couple from Singapore who treated us like their kids! hahah it was great... super friendly and they ...

... time to hike around. Everyone got dropped off at different hotels depending on what tour they were on. I don't know how all of this gets sorted out but as I've said these people are experts in chaos, no one does it better. Annette and I were the only two from our group to go to our hotel but at dinner their was an American guy and a young lass from Middlesbrough. Halong Bay is supposedly famous for its pearls; the locals are certainly good at selling them. I ...

... I havent done on my other trips is that I was going to eat more of the local food. I ordered some sort of fried noodles with beef and greens, and it was awsome. By the end of the meal we had ordered two orders of fried wontons, one order of spring rolls, two of the meat andnoodles, and fried shrimp. Oh and we had 2 beers each, and with tip we paid $11 each. Well apparently we made the waiters day, because it isnt customary ...

... eat (actually it was italian but I had been travelling all day and wasn't feeling adventurous!) It was a friday night and there were lots of locals out and about. My first impressions were that it was slightly colder and harder than HCMC both the weather and the people. The locals were all very smart and professional looking and appeared more reserved and serious compared to Thailand.

I was expecting to have heard from Jasmine at this point who I was supposed to be ...

... 273;ẹp mặt trước khách quốc tế, nhịn vậy. Nhưng chả lẽ được tiếng
người Việt lịch sự không tè lung tung, để rồi đến mức không chịu được
nữa, đái ướt cả quần, ướt cả xe th́ sao? Không c̣n cách nào khác, tôi
cũng đành làm kẻ bêu x ...