Stars Street Hotel Hanoi

... that whilst on the road heading towards Hanoi, there also appeared to be a 'department of road works 'and there were by now, unsealed patches of road and road workers with stop and go signs. There were trucks unloading hot bitumen, and other workers standing by a parked steam roller. This all appeared to be taking place under huge bright lights, as the it was now well after dark.I looked to the other side of the road and noticed ...

... was very good and I left class tired but very calm and relaxed. So life was good again.
I told my xeom I needed to find a ANZ bank ATM (my Vn bank acct). Aha! the one that was turned off was now on as someone was in it using it. I wait my turn, step in, pull out my card, slide it in and follow all the directions exactly as I read it. Everything is going smoothly I request the money it goes though its process then strangely it asks for my ...

... at the end more confused than we went
in, we think it will probably be a lot easier to read about the history in a book that visit the museum as they have selected certain information to put into English as there is not information telling
you how things happened just things that were used, every item on display had a caption, if you were lucky to have it in English, it would just mention who captured it from who and when, no information about the ...

... Nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton, they have photographs of POWs playing volleyball and basketball, receiving packages filled with razor blades and chewing gum from home and generally looking pretty well fed and happy! Senator John McCain who ran against Obama in the election last year was also imprisoned here.

That's all the news for now!

Lucy and Adele xxx

... old driving a massive bus.
We arrived at the Vietnam boarder around 3 a.m. and had to wait until about 7 a.m. to cross. The locals at this point all seemed to disappear (most likely to a bed) while the rest of us had to find a way to nap on the bus, which was now turned off and without A/C. Not a good sleep to say the least.
We then got to the border. The Laos side was absolute chaos. Everyone rushed to the counter and ...

... stakes and were swiftly annihilated.' To be honest, it was a good cave, but the legend was better then the reality and it was not all that exciting. We returned to the boat and spent a good few hours sunbathing and playing what seemed an eternal game of hearts. The guide attempted to tempt us into an additional boat ride through a cave, assuring us that the additional 40,000 dong required to take the boat would go to the local children's school. Hm....bullsh*it ...

... We had a nice breakfast, said goodbye to our hosts and got the bus to Hanoi, an altogether pleasant experience as we actually had a whole seat to ourselves and nobody was throwing up!
In Hanoi we got in a taxi, wrote down the destination, set a price, wrote that down, agreed, all smiles, and then we were taken to the wrong address. When we tried to complain using our phrasebook the lady driver flipped out on us and demanded another 200,000 dong to take us to the right ...

... preparation than our
arrival in other cities), we'd pre-arranged accomodation and airport
pick-up with the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel...for we had been forewarned
about the abundance of airport taxi and hotel scams. After all, in
Vietnam there are no copyright laws which means that there are
literally ten-identical copies of every successful business and hotel,
usually located directly next door to or across the street from the
original ...

... you could see the fish in the little ponds that were netted off under our feet. We were all aboard and ready to rock when we were told the boat was broken, no worries said our guide and we set off in our kayak's to the famous Monkey Island (we were meant to go by boat there and then kayak around the bay). We had a great time, although Amy thinks I need lessons at steering, I tend to agree!! On Monkey Island we enjoyed time with the locals and other tourists ...

... we were leaving for KL the next day. DAY 10 DEC 27 HANOI - KUALA LUMPUR DAY 11 DEC 28/ DAY 12 DEC 29 KUALA LUMPUR We were transferred to the airport rather early for our 9.00am flight to KL. In KL it was shopping frenzy for me and Lucy till time to go home...........! We came with 5 bags, went home with 8 (three large extras!!) and Lucy came with 2 bags, went home with 5. Such a Happy Holiday.......so looking forward to our next one in 2009!