After a day of cycling, beach and a last stroll through the picturesque city of Hoi An we pack our bags for an early morning plane ride to Hanoi 800km away.

We arrange a pick-up from the airport with a travel agent as Hanoi is notorious for scams, especially with taxis from the airport - and as the Golden Sun Villa Hotel took so long to reply to our email requesting a pick up. Although we emailed the hotel back declining their pick up, we walked through arrivals seeing two boards with our names on. Logically we went with the one that didn't have the hotel name on it and we set off. Driving down the highway towards Hanoi we can't believe what a contrast it is to Hoi An - It's sooooooooooo grey and overcast, it reminds me of John Major's Spitting Image Puppet ( yes that bad). Passing boring grey architecture we continue the 37km journey to the centre ( it's got to get better). Half an hour into the ride it gets worse as we are pulled over by the police; our driver gets out and is taken to their car out of our view. By this time David and I are feeling quite anxious, especially for the driver. However, after a bribe we are on our way; welcome to the communist world?. Five minutes later the driver hands David his mobile phone, it's Kevin the manager from the Golden Sun Villa Hotel telling us that the car we are in was sent by him and that the agent had contacted him wondering where we were. To cut a very long story short Kevin thought he'd send a taxi just in case ours didn't turn up!!! and we took the one that didn't have the hotel's name on it - logically. On arrival all was sorted out amicably - we hope.

Heading out on to the streets we can't help but notice the difference between the commercial capital HCMC and the political one Hanoi which has always swayed towards communism. It's buildings are sparse and quite run down and the Old Quarter is not full of eastern vibrancy as described in the guide books but a maze of small over crowded streets and lanes chocka-block with motorbikes riding both the streets and the pavements. There is absolutely nowhere for the pedestrian to walk but in the road. We thought HCMC was bad enough but the boulevard's have wide pavements to accommodate the few bikes that ride the pavements. The shops and businesses are very rundown and to the western eye sell nothing of beauty or value.

Late afternoon we book tickets for the famous Water Puppet Theatre for tomorrow and walk around the colonial area which thankfully is more suited to the traffic. The area is much nicer than the Old Quarter which gives us hope for the next few days of sightseeing.......

Up early and off to The Temple of Literature; the oldest university in Vietnam dating back to 11c where the doctrines of Confucius the revered Chinese philosopher were taught. It is set in tranquil gardens with ponds and has beautiful old traditional buildings.

Off to the Water Puppet Theatre for the matinee performance. It's a traditional show where puppeteers hide behind screens waist deep in water working the puppets. The stories are of rural life and legend set to live music and singers. The size is comparable to half scale normal theatre and the movement of the puppets is full of life and is totally engaging with fireworks and smoke.

As it's very grey (no change there then) and raining we head off for a foot massage which turns into a full body one (clothed) and very good. Suzanne has a cold due to a combination of air -conditioning and the pollution of the city but the massage has given her a new lease of life.

Another early start and off for a walking tour with Thu who is part of a university student volunteer group. We visit the notorious Hoa Lo Prison built by the French in 1896 to hold political prisoners and later downed American pilots who ironically nicknamed it 'The Hanoi Hilton'.

Originally intended to hold 450 prisoners, by the 1930's the number had soared to 2000. The exhibition includes a horrifying array of shackles, whips and other instruments of torture as well as tiny solitary confinement cells. By contrast the US prisoners (including senator John McCain) were shown to have faired well in contrast to the brutality shown to the Vietnamese by the French.

Had a stroll around the French Colonial Quarter getting an insight in to Vietnamese student life through our very friendly guide, then head off for a well earned coffee and cake break at Joma Café.