We arrived early off the sleeper train which was slightly confusing as we expected it to be on time or most likely late not early! I asked a train conductor if this was Hanoi and he just looked at me like I was being very stupid.

Our hostel was meant to pick us up but they were a no show which means we paid £3 for a taxi that probably should've cost a pound. The man also took us on a big tour of Hanoi and as he could speak no English and we were on the meter it was very frustrating. After showing him that we droid have a map and circled our hostels street to prove we knew we should not be by the giant lake he was driving past he eventually dropped us where we wanted to go. It really annoying that the humidity really stops you doing everything yourself. It would've probably been a half hour walk but with giant backpacks in this heat its just not feasible.

When we arrived I was really mad and rather than apologising for not picking us up the woman just tried to sell us tours which was even more frustrating. We ended up booking 2 doors down just to purposly not give any more money to this horrible hoste, with a guy who was really nice and booked us a 3 day tour with kayaking.

We went to hoe kiem lake ( the same lake we had been shown by the taxi man) where theres a temple in the middle of the lake dedicated to a giant turtle that lives in the lake. It does actually exist and had to go to the vets last year for treatment due to water pollution. There's always been a turtle in the lake though and a long time ago one fished put a gold sword and I think that's how the city was founded. We went back to the room because it was sweltering and later went out to the old quarter. We ate deep fried cheese sticks and drank beer as it only cost 20p for a glass and enjoyed some people watching. I bought the sequel to hunger games as the first was so good from a guy that sold fake books. Literally they have every popular book in a big pile and some one must sit at type writer copying it all out. It wasn't that bad actually I was worried I would get halfway and the story would just stop. Sometimes it wouldnt tell you whos saying what and paragraphs were few and far between but it still wasn't bad!