Having arrived in Hanoi we were met by a load of taxi drivers offering to take us to our hotel (which we had already booked). Our hotel was in a perfect location (right in the middle of the Old Quarter) but the hotel itself was a bit shabby. We originally booked 2 nights although later added another one so we were in 2 rooms. The first room had no lock on the door, no hot water and an immense amount of vermin in the walls which made such a racket it sounded like they were in the room!!! After one night of not sleeping and coming home after a morning out to find a light fitting all over the bed covered in dust etc etc I swapped beds with Sam and managed to sleep convincing myself they were not in the room! The second room was better although the bathroom was completely covered in damp and we got dripped on as we entered the room!!!! Hanoi itself was great - we wandered around the Old quarter on the first day and went out for a few drinks in a couple of bars called Mao's Red Lounge and Half Man, Half Noodle!

The second day we spent the morning looking into booking a tour to Halong Bay as well as an open bus ticket through the rest of Vietnam and retrieving our $250 refund for a tour through the Mekong Delta we had booked but no longer wanted to go on due to dates and being totally overcharged! Luckily for us though they gave us a full refund so we weren't completely out of pocket! We also bumped into Jacon and Cathrine (from the China tour) randomly and arranged to meet for drinks in the evening. In the afternoon we went to the Temple of Literature and the Ho Chi Minh complex. The mausoleum was closed by Sam and Karl went into the museum. We got a cyclo back to the hotel which was an experience! We were heading straight into the path of oncoming mopeds and the driver (with one arm) didn't want to lose momentum so didn't stop wherever possible - overtaking on the other side of the road where he could! It was a really funny experience!!! After a really good curry we met Cathrine and Jakob for drinks and managed to find a place on the street corner where beers were 3000dong! (25 000 to the pound - so about 15p!!!). It was shocking to see how young the children begging on the street were! They must have been about 4 or 5.

The next day we did the Halong Bay tour. The weather was rather misty but still warm. We had lunch on the boat and then moved into a cove where we got off and looked at the caves which were amazing. After this we had a go at kayaking! I was sharing one with Karl and we ended up grounded on a rock! Managed to get off ok though and continued round into a neighbouring cove then turning back. When I got out though I was soaking as the action of the oar meant water was trickling into the kayak everytime! So I spent the return journey on the top deck drying off!!! When we got back to Hanoi we had dinner then went to bed.

The next day (fri 19) we went our seperate ways to do Christmas shopping for each other! We had arranged to get each other small presents, which me buying for Sam, Sam buying for Karl and Karl buying for me. I ended up on roads selling the strangest things....like oven hoods and industrial kitchen equipement! In the end though I found what I was looking for and bout Sam: Snake vodka (a small bottle with an actual snake in!), Badges for his recently purchased army looking bag, a feather kicker thing (used in both China and Vietnam), a sun hat and flip-flops. We met up for lunch and then Sam and I went to go and get Karl an army bag like Sam's. After walking in the wrong direction for 30 mins we got a cyclo who took us in the wrong direction on purpose to try and add to the fare but we were having none of it when we finally got to the street selling the bags and gave him the original agreed fare before walking off.

We went back to the hotel and got picked up for the night bus down to Hue at 6pm. These buses were an experience and were literally coach seats stretched out! The width was therefore the width of the seat and not much room!!!!!