Wow, not a good start to our visit to Viet Nam, as we land, a pair of stupid Yanks on our flight mistakenly take my bag from the over-head compartment on the plane, I'm convinced my bag's been robbed, 'cos i didn't see them take it, and I'm panicking like Michael Jackson's Doctor! Then, magically, my bag re-appears, with someone else's guide-book in it, and I'm now convinced the Yanks have planted drugs in it! That wasn't the case, as it turns out, they weren't criminal masterminds, they were just a dozy pair of idiots.
All's well that ends well, and hopefully they'll have all their money robbed and have to go back to the USA!
The journey from the airport to Hanoi was interesting too. I realise that most cities can look a bit rough on the outskirts, but imagine if Birmingham was nuked, yeah, like that, but dirtier!
We got to the hotel, and they couldn't find the booking, but we sorted that out, and now have a really nice room (with free WiFi, yeah, 'straya, in your face!).
We decided to go out to get our bearings, and it nearly blew our minds. It's so busy, crowded, noisy, and dirty, but also exciting and exotic. It's only 3 hours from Singapore, but it seems a million miles away. We did a tour of the old town in a little electric-car ( it was a milk-float with seats), whizzing in and out of great swarms of mopeds, it was great! Got a full day tomorrow, so Sal is now compiling an itinerary for us, the highlight being a trip to see Uncle Ho Chi Minh, wonder if we should take him a pressie?