Hanoi Boutique Hotel

... a building site, and the drilling starts every day at 7.30am and goes on until after 6pm...

But that's my only niggle. The staff are great, the bed is comfy, breakfast is good and they've helped me book my next few days. I go to Halong Bay tomorrow, and spend one night on a boat and the other on a hotel on Cat Ba Island. Then back to Hanoi and the train station for the sleeper train to ...

... hotel. When I asked the hotel manager where we were, he refused to tell me where another hotel I was looking for was, so I just decided to start walking. The rest of the group followed and we all eventually found a place in the city center for $5 US a night. I had been trying to find a hotel where my other friends from Hanoi were staying and it turned out, the hotel I am at is where these people are, completely random. Last night we all ...

... are now retired. I admire his ambition and dedication to his family.

Once off the bus Hong suggested we purchase hats for the hour long river boat ride under the scorching sun. Naturally I got a traditional Vietnamese conical hat. Others opted for Gilligan-type ones.

The story of the river boat women is quite fascinating. These women have had their husbands, fathers or children killed or injured in the war. For this reason they are given priority ...

... working our way through an indigenous tribal village to some, ok, waterfalls. Only problem was, we then had to walk all the way back up. It was hard work but pleasant all the same and at the end of it all, the only slight problem we had was that our guide was only that, a guide. It turned out he had limited English and gave us virtually no information along the way, something that would prove more detrimental the following day! We did have a nice day though. The views were great and the ...

... and french toast. The kids and I have decided we need a June at home.

Buffy, Mark, Steve and I then went out Saturday night - hard to believe as I am usually in bet at 11 pm not going out. We went to the Raffles Hotel - rooms are $700 US /night which should tell you the quality of the hotel. This is home to the originally Singapore Sling during - which we had. From there we walked around and ended up at the Newton Street Hawker Stall ...

... Bac Ma Temple, Hoa Lo Prison which is also known as the Hanoi Hilton- where they kept all the prisoners from the war. Hanoi has a massive market called Cho Dong Xuon- which has every food imaginable. Found the Backpakcers Inn- an entire alleyway dedicated to a hostel which became a great way to meet people plus we ran into about 15 different friends we've made throughout Vietnam and decided to all head to Halong Bay together on a 3 day boat trip.

... groups. Apply Vietnam visa online - Get visa stamped at the airport - save your time and money. For more details about Vietnam Visa online service check the website. Tien Giang Province also boasts Dong Tam snake-raising station that provides venoms for making medicines and an ecological zoo where different genes of rare and precious animals in the Southern area are conserved and there is a museum of almost all species of pythons and snakes in Vietnam.

... falling out the boat! The paddle back to the junk seemed to take a lifetime and we were all pooped by the time we got back. A few people went for a swim (diving off the boat) but having seen what was floating in the water this wasnt too appealing plus we were a bit tired and cold.  We were met by a second junk and allocated rooms where we could have a shower and put warm clothes on - yeah! I shared with another Helen from Islington. Helen, myself and a Canadian couple were separated ...

... London!

As soon as we got off the bus in the 'old town' area we were almost literally jumped upon by the owner of a local hotel, who was polite but very insistent that the hotel we wanted to go to was "full", whereas his hotel was "just as nice" and "over there". He became very animated when it became obvious that we weren't interested, but we didn't believe a word of it and just wanted to get to our hotel.

We ...

... even in the countryside, as far as they can go without reinforcing steel, at least four or five storeys. Whether this saves rent or taxes or space as of prime importance I don’t know, but in the cities it produces noise and crowding, in the villages extra room for farming, not a bad idea for a small nation of eighty million people… and counting. The noise echoes up to my room and just stays there like a standing wave pattern ...