Hanoi

Arrived on the train at around lunch time got mobbed by over eager mototaxi drivers, they got less eager when I got them down to 8,000 Dong (50 Cents US) to the old quarter, where I got a $2.50 US dorm bed.

Spent quite a few days in Hanoi, my excuse is that I was waiting on my Chinese visa, but really it was because of Bia Hoi, the fresh beer, that as you see by the photos was 2000 Dong a glass (10,000 Dong = $1 Aussie Dollar), its weak, and usually tastes slight metallic with a piss like tang (wicked hangovers to) yet I drank bucket loads of it. Cheap is my second favorite beer after all (right after free). Plus Bia hoi corner in the old corner is a good hang out spot, meet loads of travellers so its a good place to pick peoples brains, which I did as I had not looked into china much, and its not as easy to travel as S.E Asia. Its ended up saving me $200 US to with my cheap Oasis Airlines flight ($250 US) from HK to London, Gatwick in England. Cheers Pete and Mike for that info. Plus its an almost spot to watch the world go by... or watch crazy Vietnamese on there scooters.

The old quarter of Hanoi is, well old, the streets are very narrow and the footpaths generally get used as a scooter park, so its dodgems with scooters, cars and taxis. Lots of horn honking, even more prolific than the rest of Vietnam (baring Saigon rush hour). You kind of get used to it, becomes background sound, much like traffic noise in a city back home. The streets don't have a very easy to navigate layout and it very easy to get turned about and lost. Carrying a card from your hostel/ hotel is a good idea.

Visited a few sites in Hanoi as well, once I had dragged myself out of bed after a few to many Bai Hois. The War museum was good, as was the water puppet show I watched. The highlight though was just walking around checking out the many lakes around the city and watching the Vietnamese going about there daily life, which included trying to part as many dong out of me as possible.

The food in Honoi was good, with plenty of options to choose from, I was way past the point of sticking to Asian food so got a fair amount of burgers and chips down me.

Met loads of cool people in Hanoi mainly at my Hostel and at Bai Hoi, ran into Ronan there a Irish dude I had met in Hoi An over a month earlier and was destined to run into him a few times more on my travels as he was heading to China as well. We ended up on the same sleeper train to Sapa in the same cabin.

All in all enjoyed Hanoi alot, the sights were not as good as Saigon but the atmosphere was alot more friendly and the Bai Hoi while tasting worse had a better location.