We enjoyed our last breakfast buffet in Hoi An - really one of the high points of the whole stay, with the staff determined to look after their longest staying guests (possibly ever, for this team). We had the hotel organise the transfer to the airport and truly, from Hoi An to Da Nang Airport, it's a solid hour during the morning rush hour and it probably felt like longer. It was a long way. It was a change for us to not be leaving at stupid-o'clock and we had time for a relaxed breakfast between 7 and 8 am, left at 8.15 am and arrived just after 9 am - one of the first to check-in for our 11 am flight.

We religiously ask for the exit row when we travel and so went from Row 36 (of 44!) - the free seats, to Row 28 (exit row) and finally Row 15 (the forward over wing exit) when we enquired if there was anything closer to the front. Life is good with room to spread out and this was the primo exit row with only 2 seats and a crew jump seat. Unless it's Air India, we never pay for special seating and it usually works out perfectly. Flight was good and it was a much newer plane than the chartered puddle jumper that got us from Saigon to Da Nang. All was going well - the bags all arrived and the driver organised by the Hanoi hotel met us with no problems. Speaking of long drives from airports to town - this was another hour in the car and we recognised a few things from our last visit on our trip into the city. The driver however was determined to cover himself in 'below average' vs. 'glory' and pulled up on the wrong side of the hotel street (incidentally one way so he could have pulled into the vacant spot in front of the hotel but chose not to). Then had the cheek? temerity? sheer freakin' idiocy to wave us and 5 bags across the road and pointed at the hotel (remember this is Vietnamese traffic - would have been fine with a handbag but not with 3 large bags and 2 cabin bags). This is what we apparently get when we have the hotel arrange a private transfer. Ropable just thinking about it and was apoplectic when we finally lugged ours bags across the road, albeit with the assistance of the slow-to-react doormen. Suffice it to say the 1 hour massages for us both, free transfers in both directions and no 3% surcharge on the bill for credit card payment calmed us down. Yes. We can be bought. Though if things were just done right, we wouldn't need to be...

We settled in to the hotel, enjoyed our massages, did some research and headed out for an evening stroll and an early dinner at a vegetarian Indian restaurant. The ambiance was of the 'lights bright enough to operate' variety. Food was fine and the couple next to us ordered a paper dosa - huge Indian pancake business. Worth it just to see that. We took a stroll down to the lake, saw the red bridge and had a look in a few shops - nothing too exciting.

Friday dawned and we tried the breakfast at the hotel. Hmmm… Classically, I ordered a plain omelette and it came out filled with ham. The issue is the menu is written in English, but the staff can't read or understand English. Which in a cheap hotel would be fine - but for these final 3 days we paid out a bit more and expect a bit more. Silly us, sigh… Went for a walk, saw a few sights - train street (no train… more run on weekends apparently), the Dong Xuan Market (which was chaotic and really more of a wholesale place), a stroll through the Old Quarter, Paper Street (which was chock-a-block with Christmas decorations, santas, reindeers and polar bears) and did a bit of jacket-looking. Whilst we can play the haggling game with the best of them, the big city has some shady vendors and whilst we found a great jacket on an outside rack with a big sign saying 200K… we ended up throwing the jacket we'd chosen back at the rack after the price miraculously went up to 500K. Trying hard to enjoy Hanoi and the last couple of days in Vietnam, but I swear, they're making it difficult.

Dinner tonight we hit up the Indian restaurant just opposite the hotel and it was dead set brilliant! So yummy - naan bread, mango lassi and some great curries. We were making hugely happy noises as we sat there and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Being Friday it was the start of the weekend and thus the start of the Hanoi Night Markets! Woo hoo! They more or less close off the street that runs from the lake to the Dong Xuan market and we took a long walk up one side and down the other. (I say more or less - but scooters still sneak through and terrorise shoppers.) We were looking for one more puffer jacket, black, North Fake, to take to Europe with us and generally enjoying the market vibe. Eventually we found a perfect one for 350,000 dong or about A$23. Funnily enough a young American woman at the stall was asking if we thought they were genuine… We explained that nothing is 'genuine' per se, but if all the zips work, if the logo is on straight and there aren't rough seams or loose threads - then find a price you're happy with and buy it. Having bought that jacket and a couple of trinkets we trundled back towards the hotel and, of course, tripped over a rack with cute little wet look jackets for only 130,000. Aargh - and we'd spent all the dong we had on us. Ah well - tomorrow night.

Our last day in Hanoi was a Saturday and we had to chisel ourselves out of the hotel as we hadn't had much fun on our daytime walk on Friday. As it turns out it was the absolute perfect last day in Hanoi. The entire lake front walk was accessible as there was a festival on one side and there was a little market set up as well. I had the chance for a fossick at a junky jewellery stall and picked up a couple of second hand rings as souvenirs of Hanoi. We explored the French Quarter which was very pretty indeed (ahhh the good old days) and completed our first ever complete walking circumnavigation of the lake.

We also enjoyed our final night in Hanoi. We had an early dinner at the Indian joint across the street which was fabulous, two nights running. We planned on hitting the night market to find and purchase the little puffer jacket we'd spotted the previous night, so quarantined 130,000 dong for that, spent the rest on dinner and paid for the balance of dinner on a card. (Main priority? Not being left with Dong which is worthless anywhere else in the world.) The night market was slow to get underway on the Saturday night - but we did a lap up and back and finally we spotted the small rack of target jackets. The husband was running it this evening and he was happy to have such an early sale. And that was Hanoi done. With jacket in hand it was back to the hotel, last minute packing, piled the finally dead clothes and Birkies into a pile on the bin and hit the hay.

All too soon the alarm went off at 4.30 am - yep - stupid-o'clock and we showered and dressed and toted our bags down to the lobby whereupon the 'Vietnamese Games' began. At 5.15 am, the lobby lights were off and the 24 hour reception staff were both asleep on the sofas. We had pre-booked the transfer through the hotel so there was no excuse for not actually being awake. They managed as a send-off to cover themselves in 'average' and loaded all the bags into a sh*t-box taxi that happened to be idling outside the hotel… it was only when the driver of the private-transfer car had something to say that they woke up enough to realise there was an actual car booked. Us mentioning it when we woke them up had passed them by. We were counting bags religiously at this point. Two cars instead of one just seemed like a perfect opportunity for Vietnam to shine. But - we made it to the airport and things looked up. A Qatar staff member checked us in and the bags were tagged up to go from Hanoi to Doha to Rome to Madrid and finally to our destination, Porto. Miraculous - it will be great to hit the airport hotel in Rome with nothing but cabin bags. Let the Grande Voyage to Porto commence!