Hanoi

The train from Lao Cai to Hanoi wasn't too bad, although it was no where near as good as the Chinese trains. The beds were incredibly hard and the A/C barely worked, but I was so tired that I fell asleep pretty quickly and didn't wake up until we arrived in Hanoi at 5am. As I left the train station I was met by the usual array of taxi touts, but I just wandered around for a few minutes before I bumped into Marion and her friend. We shared a cab into the Old Quarter of the city; the girls already had their accommodation sorted, but I was going to find somewhere when I arrived. At 5am the place was dead, nothing was open, not even the hotel that the girls were staying at, so we walked around the streets and found a bakery that was open. We were approached my a hotel tout offering a room; I went to check it out, but it didn't look anything like the brochure so I declined. I decided to head for a place from the Lonely Planet guide, a little guesthouse a short walk away. When I turned up, that place was also closed, but I knocked on anyway and they answered. They didn't have any rooms ready but they would later, so I dumped my big rucksack and went for a walk around the Old Quarter. I found some street food and dug into a steaming bowl of beef noodle soup, before taking a stroll around the lake that forms the centre of the Old Quarter. It was only 7ish but the place was now buzzing with people; people doing Tai Chi alongside the lake, running, playing badminton and generally just milling around. After a while I headed back to the hostel but my room still wasn't ready, so they let me grab a few hours sleep in a room that had already been reserved.

Hoa Lo: aka the Hanoi Hilton

Later that day I booked to go on a boat tour of Halong Bay, 2 days, 1 night; everybody talks about how beautiful Halong Bay is so I thought I'd check it out. I also sorted out most of my transport for Vietnam. For $20 I had 4 bus journeys starting Hanoi and ending in Ho Chi Minh City, that stops are fixed but the dates are completely flexible. Compared to China, this was going to save me a lot of cash!

Hoa Lo: Death Row

I don't really enjoy big cities; I prefer places where I know my way around, and it's not too busy, but the Old Quarter wasn't too bad. Everything was centred around the lake so it wasn't too hard to find your bearings wherever you went. For the rest of the day I didn't get up to much, grabbed some food and spent a little time on the net.

The bus for Halong Bay was picking me up at 8ish, so I was up and packed early, so I wouldn't be late. When I went to check out, the lady who runs the place told me that due to the typhoon hitting Vietnam that my trip would most probably be cancelled. I headed down to the tour office, carting everything with me as usual, only to be told that it had been cancelled, but would hopefully go ahead the next day. I headed back to my hostel only to find that my room might no longer be available, even though I'd checked out 10 minutes earlier. Eventually they let me back into the room after checking with some other guests who wanted to reserve it for their friends.

Hoa Lo: Prisoners in the main room

So I had to spend another day in Hanoi, but after doing so much sightseeing in China, the last thing I wanted to do was to do anymore. But so not to waste the day, I decided to head over and check out the 'Hanoi Hilton', a French Colonial prison that was initially used to hold Vietnamese, but later American soldiers. It was quite interesting to walk around it, checking out the rooms where the prisoners were kept, death row and the guillotine used to behead prisoners who were sentenced to death. Only a small part of the prison still stands as most of is was demolished to make way for the Hanoi Towers; a shopping mall and appartment block.

Hoa Lo: Quick and painless...

Yet again I didn't get up to much after that, aimlessly wandering the streets. That evening I headed out with a couple of Enlish lads I met the previous day in the hostel. We ended up sitting in a local street bar where they sell a beer called 'Bia Hoi'. It comes in small glasses, doesn't taste too good, but only costs 2000 dong (about 7p), but we didn't have to pay for it as some Vietnamese guy bought all our drinks (about 8 each!). Afterwards we headed to the Irish bar. No matter where you are in the World, there's always the trademark Irish bar! Here we splashed out on draught Carlsberg for 1 quid a pint, seriously expensive, well it is almost Christmas...

Motorbikes everywhere!

View across the lake in the Old Quarter