Ok so the arrival in Hanoi was somewhat unglamorous! I spent 24 hours being harassed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) by hawkers and street traders who seemed to want to sell me sunglasses, a lonely planet and shine my crocs whilst i sat there, reading my lonely planet in the bright sunshine with no eye strain at all due to me wearing some lovely Oakley sunglasses. Hmmm.

I got to the airport in plenty of time having been scammed (or at least he tried) by the taxi driver who decided to first take me to the wrong terminal then charge me 20000 dong extra for the privilege. Now normally i wont bow to such pressure but because I only had a large note and he refused to give met he correct change (whilst screaming obscenities at me) I called the police over; lo and behold, we came to an agreement. Magic!

So I landed in Hanoi having left HCMC in blazing sunshine to be confronted with grey smog that precluded me from seeing further than a few hundred metres. I was also acutely aware that i was actually 35km away from Hanoi itself. The govt of Vietnam intends to expand Hanoi toward s the airport so has built it miles away from the city. This has the added benefit of providing a ready income for the fleets of taxi and moto riders that hover at the arrivals area, just gagging to rip off unsuspecting tourists.

I did my normal thing of saying, 'NO!' to every person I met and got outside to try and find the 'less rip off' taxi drivers....only there didnt appear to be any. This was quite a challenge as I now had to decide what the hell to do.

20 mins later after much amusement and bargaining, picture the scene - Burroughes mit large rucksack (60l no less) and a day sack (30l) on the back of a motorcycle at 50mph heading the 35 km to Hanoi city centre. Emotional was not the word I would have used - ass numbingly painful is perhaps more accurate. I can only imagine what all the people in their taxis must have thought as they looked out the window to see a helmeted turtle zooming along the dual carriageway!

I arrived, albeit somewhat jaded, at the hotel named in the Intrepid joining instructions and thanked the rider (who immediately took that as a sign that i wanted to tip him) and headed into the hotel to get out of the cold (this was the first time I had been cold in over a month). I got to the desk and was promptly informed (by the third person i spoke to) that this hotel had no connection with Intrepid and I was in the wrong place. Hmmmm! Thankfully the manager came out and set things straight saying I was the 9th person that had turned up like this and that I was to go to another hotel and that the other hotel would pay for the taxi. Added to which, it was only about 400m away so shouldnt be a problem at all. I even offered to walk but was duly informed that taxis were the way forward - so i obeyed!

I got in the taxi and the manager told the diver where to take me and amazingly that 400m journey took half an hour and we must have driven half the streets of Hanoi before we arrived. He pinged the meter and held his hand out for 160000 dong and I took great pleasure in ignoring him and walking into the hotel to find the poor person who would have to negotiate. It appears the taxi driver was dispatched with 20000 dong for his troubles as that is the standard fare for the journey and surprisingly he seemed none too happy! I settled into the what was easily the nicest hotel i had stayed in thusfar and awaited the welcome meeting.

The meeting completed and local (official bribery) payment made, we all hit the town for the meet and greet dinner followed by the famous Vietnamese Bir Hoi. THis is essentially home brewed beer that is drunk on a street corner whilst perching on kindergarten furniture in the middle of the street. Highly amusing and none too alcoholic prompting long bir hoi sessions amongst the locals.

We departed the next evening for Halong Bay which is meant to be one of the jewels in the crown of Vietnam and immensely popular with the locals. An entirely manufactured town, it is split into two halves - the tourist side and the industrial side. The two halves are joined by an enormous suspension bridge designed and funded by the Japanese. Halong city itself is distinctly average but the next day, we set off on a cruise to Cat Ba island and took in the floating villages and the glorious scenery. When we set off from Halong city, the weather was distinctly average but almost as soon as we boarded the boat, the sunshine came out and we all basked int eh heat and loved the entrie day. We got to visit the 'Amazing cave' which was actually, amazing! We then swam in crystal green water surrounded by fish and the odd swimming dog! Finally we headed to Cat Ba which is a glorious little island almost entirely devoted to tourism. It is a lovely place and I might one day return but a tad contrived for me.

A couple of days later, we boarded our boat once more and headed to Hai Phon and our pick up back to Hanoi. Along the way, we had adopted a 50 something yr old named Dave who had been on the previous tour and damaged his ankle so was unable to enjoy all teh delights of Halong and Cat Ba. As the journey went on, it turned out that the way Dave injured himself was due to falling out of the bat having consumed about 20 cans of beer. Something he did every day without respite. This motion continued whilst in our presence and some of the guys tried to keep up. Thankfully im neither macho or competetive when it comes to drinking beer (mainly because im crap at it) so I left them to it and listened to the anecdotes that came out of Dave's colourful mouth. In the 48 hours he was with us, I dont think there is one person he didnt offend but it was all in god spirits. Well, some sort of spirits anyway!!!

We got back to Hanoi and headed straight for the Bir Hoi knowing that what lay ahead was the 'night train to Sapa'! I think that would make an excellent film title but you will have to wait until next time to learn about it and out little adventures.