Our 7am arrival into Hanoi after the over night bus journey truly introduced us to Vietnamese city life. 30 Moto drivers all queueing up and vying for our attenition. We found a dude to our liking and got on a moto he showed us to a resonable hotel and we settled in for a well deserved sleep.
We saw the famous hanoi water puppets which was very impressive they have a traditional band snd the puppeteers are behind a big screen and they make the puppets dnce on a big pool of water...very skilled.
We had a bit of a mooch round the shopping malls (mainly because my epilator broke..eeek, which in a country of women with hairy legs is a big problem!) and Si brought a smll rucksack for a fraction of the cost at home.
Next day we nealry died on motorbike taxis going to the museum of ethnology that tells you all about the minority people in Vietnam all 54 groups of them! It was very intersting though and had some good exhitbits. We spent the afternoon walking near to the big lake in the city centre legend has it that a big turtle came and stole a local heros sword (sorry i cant remeber the legend in more detail!) but every now anad again this turtle makes an apperance (about every 10 years) rumor has it that the government pops him in there once a decade or so to keep the legend alive, we looked and looked from the temple in the centre but unfortunatley no turtle :(
The following day we set out for Halong bay, nd it didnt let us down...beautiful! The limestone Karsts were every where. We went kayaking and found this huge lagoon that was surrounded on all sides by cliffs apart from a small cave that we paddled through and found it! We saw a fish farm that had loads of crabs and fish that bite in nets and we went swimming too. The wter was warm and Si (of course) was the first to jump off the top of our boat, the only thing the guide warned us to be carefyul of was the jelly fish! Our boat was ok, they were incerdibly stingy with the electric and it was very hot, but it was ok for one night. The second day we went to Cat Ba Island for the night. The hotel was really nice with a huge balcony and the weateher was nice and sunny. Before we got there though we went to the national park and went for a nice hike, only 800m up an incredibly steep hill and a climb over about 10 ladders! It was very very VERY hard work abut was worth it for the views at the top, accross the valley and the park it was amazing! There was a rather rickety looking viewing tower at the top that SI braved but i didnt and from the photos the views were even more amazing. By the time we had climbed down, we were all shattered and sat down for 10 mins for a drink. Then the fun started, a tour guide came over (very friendly smiling and happy) and says ok if we go to the bus now well take you your hotel, and this Spanish woman kicked off. "no smiling no friendly im sick of this and you..blah blah blah" so was really rude, then the two guys who were on our tours (you know the sort of people who just LOVE to compain about everything and they had for the last 2 days) started kicking in saying he wanted to go and the spanish woman didnt so in the end we just left and they all followed, the two guys still complaining about how crap everything was and how the climb to the top of that hill was a waste of time! Anyways after our hard days work we went to the beach for the afternoon,we walked for ages along this rickety old concrete path stuffed onto the cliff side but the beach was brilliant! The tide was coming in so the waves were HUGE and we had so much fun in the water for ages trying to stay standing when they hit but it was impossible youd end up near to shor and have to run back out again before the next one! Our final day in the bay was a boat trip back to Halong city and a bus back to Hanoi,the scenery though again was fantastic and we stopped for another swim!
Bck in Hanoi in the same hotel the woman gave us a room key and told us the room we were in last time was gone and this room was $2 more expensive...until we pointed out shed given us the same room! Next day was our last in Hanoi and we went to go and see Ho CHi Minh (or unlce HO) himeslf along with Lennin and Mao Unlce Ho Is kept preserved in his very own glass coffin for all to see. The queue was so long it was almost a waste of time cus we though wed never get in before it closed, then the vietnamese police kwept sending us round in cirlces to get to the end (ie when we were 5 meters from the end they made us was round this flower garden in a big cirlce to get to the end ratehr than just join it!) they take it very seriously and you hand uin your bags bar camera's and money (which you carry to another counter inside the complex in a little red bag!) you cant put you hands in you pockets and have to walk side by side in two's and there he is. It was worth it just for the aircon inside it was freezing, but ther he was looking very pale and fake to me, like a madam tussards just not quite right. You cant stand still you just have to keep moving and you file past him then its over, all that queueing for 20 seconds past the coffin.
After this we went to see his wooden house, the palace, all very nice.
Next was the temple of litterature, which when the country was ruled by emperors was the countrys universtiy and they keep recors of all the people that passed and whats they went on to become written on huge stone tablets huge stone turtles.
After this it was KOTO which is a restaurant that akes disadvantaged youths in and gives them a home, a bike and trins them to become chefs, then they can get jobs in the big hotels and have the prospect of a future. It was so obvious that they were incredibly grateful to be there they couldnt do enough to help you and the food was brilliant (even had carrot cake..mmmmmmmmmmmmm!)
Last order of the day was the HO Chi Minh muesuem. The guide book warned us it was abit out there...and it was...waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there. It contained supposedly the entire history of the vietnamese revolution but just had loads of newspper clippings and huge peices of abstract art (like a massive table with really big peices of plastic fuirt on top!) so we hurried through and by the time we were done it was pissing it down! We got a cyclo and its agood job as most of the streets were flooded and we got soaked even covered with a plastic sheet a fot up off the ground.
Our bus picked us up late afternoon so we still had 2 hours to kill and where better than bia corner, whcih sells surprisingly...beer! But not just any beer its called bia hoi whihc means fresh beer, basically the owner of a shop gets 20 plastic chairs and outs them on the street, one keg of beer, and just chrages 3,000VND a glass (about 7p) HA! so quite happily we wiles away the two hours and Si even got a kebab, then it was off to Ninh Binh!