We arrived and checked into Victory Hotel..it was such a shock to be in such a busy place again so to begin with most of us didnt warm to Hanoi straight away!

We had a free afternoon so we headed to the Old Quarter with Laura to look at the shopping area. Bags, Bags, and more bags...Jaynes heaven not so much Lisa's. Dara had explained to us how you cross streets here.. so here goes.. Bicycles to Oxford is like motorbikes to Hanoi and there is not many places where they have traffic lights.. well the ones that do they say is just a suggestion (they dont really have to). So back to our advice from Dara- "The safest way to cross is to walk out and keep at a steady pace, then they can judge the distance and they go around you either side" ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!! you have to be joking surely. No she wasnt and to be honest we got better and better at it until Lisa was an inch away from getting run over.

That evening we met back up and had a cyclo tour. A cycle os like a tricycle backwards and you sit in a small carridge at the front while the guy pedals behind and we had to go on our own... It was scary at first but even worse when we got to junctions as they all just go and come on it was like being at the bottom of the food chain in one of those things.. you are never gonna win! All was going ok until Lisa's cyclo broke suddenly, as a taxi screeched and stopped 2 inches from her feet. Luckily she was holding onto the side bars (as there are no seatbelts). Not having a great day for Lisa and safety! We happily got off of the cyclo's at The Water Puppet show. The show was strange and not how we expected it to be. It didnt help that the seats are made for Asians (meaning there is absolutely no leg room). It was so well done and the quality of the puppetry was fantastic. We were all getting in cabs to meet at a restaurant called Kotos, we gave the address to the driver and off we went with Laura. Well after 20 minutes we realised we were back at the piggin' water puppets! what?! he tried to charge us 34,000 dong and telling us to get out exactly where we got in 20 minutes previous. Lisa was in the front and having none of it! We pointed at the Kotos address and said go, he claimed to speak no english but he slipped up a few times.. anyway after a very stressful long ride around the corner and seeing Hanoi lake 3 times we arrived. Had a debate about not paying the 34,000 and in the end the restaurant staff came translated. As it turns out we paid 15,000 less than everyone else who got a cab. haha. Dinner was lovely but we definately needed our beds.

Early next morning we grabbed breakfast and walked to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Dara said it was a 20 minute walk... we have since learnt that Dara says EVERYTHING is a 20 minute walk....hmmmm a while later we were standing in a queue waiting to see Ho Chi Minh's body preserved in a glass case. It was quite strange and hard to describe but definately something you have to see while you are in Hanoi, also jayne got told off by a guard for talking.. for once it wasnt Lisa! We then walked around the grounds of the palace and his stick house where he lived etc... We spent some time in the museum after the grounds mainly interested in the quotes on the walls and the huge statue of Ho Chi Minh.

That evening we had dinner in the Cyclo Bar.. safe this time as they are pretend ones that you sit in at the table. Much Better!. Headed to a few other bars before trying to get into a club where the police had just raided and were on megaphones shouting. Soon got out of there and decided to just have a beer back at the hotel.

That brings us to today...we are finally on top of this again...we are currently sat in a boiling hot internet cafe after updating 4 blogs and uploading 4 photo albums! In 2 hrs time we get on the overnight train to Hue.