Viet Anh Hotel Hanoi

Well back to Hanoi for another couple of days. We're staying in a different hotel (the Viet Anh, Ma May st, thanks to the Right Hook radio programme for recommending that one) than the last time, the last one (Nam Hai 2 Ma May st) got a bit noisy sometimes. I woke up last night to this really loud rustling noise and out of the corner of my eye saw something black run to the corner of the room. Haha can you imagine what I was like!! Vinnie wouldn't tell me what it was because he has this idea ...

Old Quarter Mel and I are staying at the Viet Anh hotel in the Old Quarter. Finally had a chance to relax today - breakfast buffet, internet and sleep. The Viet Anh hotel where we are staying is in the Old Quarer in Hanoi. It's very hectic and there are hundreds of cycles, motorbikes, scooters and cars. All tooting their horns every few seconds (all you can hear are horns - beep beep). One of the hotel bell boys, Cuong, took us on a little walk along the streets to get money from an ATM. Do y...

Spent 4 days in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). It's a bustling city - more motorbikes, more cars, more dirt and dust and a helluva lot more street kids selling to tourists. Spent time soaking in the history - visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Mekong Delta and the War Remnants Museum. Made friends with the street kids, and took them to eat in a restaurant a few times. I know I'm a sucker but they were so cute and it's very sad their parents sit around the corner to push them to sell cigarettes when some ...

Right so we left Hoi An very early in the morning of the 14th. Actually ended up having an early night the night before. Well myself and Brian did anyway, I wasn't feeling the best and Brian's a lightweight so we were back by about 12. Cormac and Ciaran stayed out with two lads that we'd met, Eoin and Kevin. Woke up in the morning to find that Cormac had returned at 5 and Ciaran stayed out all night without getting any sleep. Not a bad idea it turned out to be in the end. He slept a good bit ...

After an easy flight to Vietnam, I enjoyed a day re-acquainting myself with the hubbub of the city, before I headed up to Sapa in Northern Vietnam. Watching the peddlars on bikes is one of my favorite pass-times in Hanoi!

Eunice writing now... We arrived in Vietnam yesterday after a 7 hour bus ride which was not bad at all! We expected to have to find transportation and get ripped off several times before we got here, but we got here fairly easy and only got ripped off once! =) For the past month or so, all I have been looking forward to was Vietnam and Thailand. Not because of the culture, history, scenery, etc. It was purely due to the food (I am a fatty, I know). So for the past week or so, I was getting ev...

Stayed at Viet Anh Guesthouse in the old quarter. Great location, safe refuge from bedlam but very pushy tour desk..."I book everything you need for three weeks?" Hanoi "WHERE YOU GO?", "WHERE YOU FROM?", "BEEP BEEP, HONK, HONK!" Say these in any order, over and over again, and as loud as you can, and you'll begin to get a fairly good idea of what it is like to arrive in Vietnam for the first time. Add in the terrifingly addictive adreanline rush that is crossing the road in the 35 degree hea...

We arrived in Hanoi on 30th August, flying in from Danang. We needed to fly to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand and could only do this from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh. As we had already been to Ho Chi Minh, we thought we would go to Hanoi, even though it is just a short visit. We checked into our hotel about 11am - The Viet Anh. This must be the narrowest hotel in the world - very strange place. Even though Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, it doesn't feel it. The streets are very narrow and there is...

Well here we are in Hanoi, made it without too many dramas, spent way too long looking for junk to spend on money in Singapore Monday and yesterday, and Ryan had a spew at the hotel an hour before we were to check out, was a bit of worry but he sparked up pretty well a bit later. Flight was chockers, unlike flight from Darwin to Singapore that was about 30% full, everyone spread out and had 3 seats to themselves. Hotel stuffed up booking last night and wasn't much better for tonight so we'll ...

Sadly, we're leaving Luang Prabang and Laos altogether today but we're excited to get to Vietnam for a whole new experience. Our flight doesn't leave until 3, so we have some time to sleep in and chill out before leaving for the airport. We got up at sunrise in order to view the local monks' daily alms procession. In Laos, where a majority of the country is Buddhist, most boys spend at least six months as a Monk, and those that are devout follow a lot of rules (~260), including only eating on...