We were picked up from the airport by our driver from the hotel, as we left the airport we noticed the craziness of the motorbike drivers. There were hundreds of them and everywhere, beeping and driving very close to each other! I think we spent most the journey with our eyes closed! On arrival to our hotel the busboy came running out to greet us and stopped the traffic so we could cross the road! Everyone in our hotel was very helpful and friendly, they gave us advice where to visit and the best places to get some local food. Unfortunately the hotel did have some construction work going on which we later found out it started at 6am then stopped at 10am and restarted at 2pm till 7pm! this actually didn't bother us too much though as we were either out all day or we used ear plugs haha!!
We went for a walk around the hotel and tried to cross the main road with all the motorbikes coming at us, it must of been so funny to watch as it took us a while! We noticed they do not stop for you you just have to go for it and hope for the best!! We got a tip from one of the locals to just walk across with your eyes closed and the motorist will go around you - for some reason we weren't brave enough to do this!!
The next day we walked to the Hanoi war museum took us over an hour and the heat was incredible much hotter than Beijing! On the way we got to see the train tracks that go through a row of houses, its crazy they can live so close to the tracks. We was so happy to finally arrive only to find out the museum was shut for lunch so we decided to rest in the cafe next door. We ordered some drinks and I went for the special on offer which looked like frozen hot chocolate, it actually turned out to be chocolate milkshake with huge chunks of coffee jelly inside - disgusting!!! Eilidh enjoyed her cookies and cream milkshake laughing at me trying to drink this awful stuff which just tasted like it had been curdled! After a 'refreshing' drink break we headed to the museum again and had a look around. The museum was incredible to see parts of the war planes and real clothes of the soldiers that they had captured. It was a real insight into the history of the Vietnam war however I think it was a slightly biased view they showed us!
In the evening we headed out and decided to have some Vietnamese traditional street food (not dog or frogs though!) the pavements in the old quarter are filled with make shift restaurants, you sit in these tiny little stools and cook your own meat on a BBQ stand. We had chicken and beef with loads of vegetables, with this sauce made from chillies, lime juice, pepper and salt. It was very tasty and we both really enjoyed it, it was also very entertaining people watching as they walk past you down the street! You have a lot of food sellers in Hanoi asking you to buy fruit or cakes, we both got attacked by the pineapple lady on separate occasions who made us stand and hold her pineapple carrying pole and wear a hat to pose for a photo then they con you into buying the fruit! We smartly caught on to this after a day and walked around holding our shoulders saying we're allergic so they couldn't force you to hold it!
We got caught in a monsoon rain one of the days and had to run and hide under a street shop to wait for it to stop. It was amazing how the motorist just put their ponchos on and carry on speeding through the rain when you can hardly see in front of you. We ended up talking to these guys also hiding from the rain from South Korea we had one thing in common with them - Choco pies! These chocolate cakes which are sold everywhere in Vietnam and very popular but actually come from Korea, they thought it was hilarious that we knew what it was!
We both really enjoyed Hanoi, its a very traditional city although its extremely busy with motorbikes everywhere but strangely also has a relaxed feeling about it and we both felt very safe walking around. I will be back to visit again.