Vietnam, Hanoi
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2007
1
37
88
Trip End
Jul 2008
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Monday, September 24, 2007
Vietnam was our first introduction to one of the crazy currencies of Asia....Upon arrival at the airport we headed to the nearest ATM to stock up on the local cash - Vietnamese Dong. We opted for our normal withdrawal amount (approx 100GBP) only to be sworn at by the ATM - the maximum amount we could withdraw was 2 Million Dong - approx 66GBP, this currency was going to be good fun!! We left the airport with our rucksacks and a small wheel barrow full of Dong and headed to Hanoi.
The temperature in Hanoi was pleasent at 25C - 30C and far less humid than Hong Kong which was a welcome change. We spent four days around Hanoi mainly exploring the Old Quarter and eating far to well as there were an abundance of excellent Vietnamese and French restaurants.
There are hardly any cars in Hanoi, only mopeds and bikes - thousands of mopeds and bikes. So many that it can be pretty difficult crossing the street. Until you learn how to do it that is..... The way to cross a street is simply to slowly start crossing, walking at a steady pace and in a straight line....All the bikes and mopeds will amazingly dodge and go around you and hey presto you are on the other side of the road..it works everytime! The method is a tad unnerving the first few times but after a while you get use to it...the thing not to do is hestsistate!
Fact: Populartion of Vietnam is 85 Million people, however there are over 20 Million mopeds!!
We were due to go to Halong Bay for a 3 day boat trip on an old junk but unfortunately this was cancelled - the Typhoon had followed us from Hong Kong and had hit the coast - we could live with the cancellection considering our past track record with 'unusual weather' and the sea...
