(25 October)

This morning we got a bus back to the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi! It was a bit mad, especially after Halong Bay! Very big city, it has very small streets and millions of motorbikes everywhere! So much going on it actually felt pretty claustrophobic after a few days.

We went almost straight out from the bus and ended up staying out all day because the hotel was quite a walk away, which was a shame because I hadn't changed out of my bus clothes! We went straight to book tickets for a water puppet show at 5pm, then went to get lunch. When we asked Bom for suggestions for lunch, he said there was an expensive Thai restaurant down the road...when I asked if there was anywhere more local and cheap, he shrugged and said KFC. This is around when I decided Bom was definitely not getting a tip! Useless! We went to the Market and had some noodle soup from a stall which was alright, but not really my thing! Good experience though, eating with the locals surrounded by chicken bones etc...don't think it needs repeated. Afterwards we went for a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake. We were a bit gutted to pass loads of nice looking, cheap restaurants on the way, but oh well. The lake was really pretty, and a bit quieter, but still surrounded by a chaotic main road! I couldn't find my camera memory card for a while and had a brief heart attack, but had it in the end thank god! We went to Ngoc Son Temple on the lake which i thought was supposed to have a real turtle in it but I think it was fake...pretty cool to see anyway. By that time it was time to go to the water puppet show!

The water puppets are a traditional show where the puppeteers are waist deep in water behind a screen. There was also live music with it. It was a bit mad, but I enjoyed it! The traditional singing is maybe not to my taste haha, and it probs would have been a bit better if we spoke vietnamese, but it was definitely worth a watch! Afterwards Bom met us and took us for dinner, at a really nice (and cheap!) place which was good. It was susanne and holly's last night which was weird!

After dinner we went to a Bia Hoi corner, which is essentially almost like a tiny stall where they distribute beers, and everyone sits on the street on tiny plastic chairs! The more people that come, the further the chairs spill out on to the chaotic Hanoi roads. Mad, but good craic! There was one point where we all had to jump up and stack the chairs while a police tuk tuk went past...then all sat down again. I'm not even sure why? Crazy vietnamese! Then Bom took us to his friend's bar and we had a cocktail, and finally got s bit of a dance which was awesome. Fiona taught us the Sidney Samson - Riverside dance and the Saturday night dance...I had everyone shuffling...and Rory was doing a dance to a song about "tommy k's a DJ"...it was really good craic but the locals must have thought we were absolutely mad. At around 10 we went to the Bucket Bar because there was free cocktails for girls, and we danced a bit more to slightly more normal music haha. The boys were really good minding our bags haha, Graeme actually had about 11 bags on him at one point...really funny to see haha. Had a good night overall!