Northern Vietnam: Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa (Sa-pa)
After passing yet another airport swine flu test we entered Vietnam and arrived at our surprisingly nice hotel right in the heart of the old quarter of Hanoi.

First impressions were of an incredibly chaotic city where the scooter rules with literally thousands buzzing, beeping and bumping their way around the narrow streets. There are few pavements and those there are, are used for parking scooters leaving pedestrians to fend for themselves along the edges of the roads. This is a city where if you followed the green cross code you would never get anywhere - Tufty must be turning in his grave.
The main sights of the city are Lake Hoam Kiem, the French architecture (which is easily missed as you have to watch the road so carefully), Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and Palace, and the Army museum. Our original plan to stroll around to see these sights was swiftly abandoned and we took refuge in a cyclo. These are a bit like a tuk tuk but pedal powered and the passenger sits on the front, meaning you get right in amongst the traffic! The driver took full advantage of our 'newbie' status in the city and charged us at least 3 times the going rate for the ride. Unfortunately this was not the last time this would happen - I'm beginning to think there aren't many advantages to being married to a procurement professional!
The Mausoleum was a bit of a let down as Ho Chi Minh is on his annual 'holiday' to Russia for repair works. The Russians would seem to be the experts in looking after embalmed leaders. That said, the building was pretty impressive. The most interesting bit of the army museum was the proudly displayed US equipment which had been captured/shot down during the conflict. A short distance away (but an exorbitant taxi fare) we also saw the remnants of a B52 bomber in a lake where it has been left after being shot down over Christmas 1972.
The next day we set off for a boat tour of Halong Bay which was a journey of about 3 hours in yet another very cramped minibus. Halong Bay is made up of nearly 3,000 limestone islands and is certainly an impressive sight, though it can be hard to see through all the tourist boats at times. Our tour guide took us round the largest cave in the Bay which is an impressive 10,000 square metres.
After a pleasant night spent on the boat we headed to a slightly quieter part of the bay where we could take kayaks out. This was by far the highlight of the tour as we found a couple of caves we could paddle into and also an arch (for all those geography graduates reading this!). David also had a couple of unplanned dips in the water when getting both into and out of the canoe. On the first occasion, he also managed to take one of the Vietnamese boat staff with him into the water - I don't think they saw the funny side.
The tour was unfortunately cut short the following morning as a typhoon loomed closer than anticipated. This meant that we were evacuated off our Junk and transferred to a normal passenger ferry which made for a fairly uncomfortable 30 min crossing back to the Vietnamese main land.
That night we headed off on the night train to Sapa in northern Vietnam. This was originally a market town for the various hill tribes that live nearby and was then later developed by the French into a holiday resort to take advantage of the cooler climes that the hillside location offers.
After catching up on some sleep at the hotel after our 5am early morning arrival we headed out with our local guide to one of the nearby tribal villages, followed by a posse of local women who wanted to sell us stuff. We spent the morning learning about the daily life of the tribe and having a go at harvesting some rice. We also saw the indigo plant from which the indigo dye comes from and which the tribe use to dye all their clothes - if you crush the leaves in your palm you end up with a blue hand for several days…　
The second day dawned with rain and we set out for a wet days hike through 3 more of the tribal villages. Seeing the school buildings in each village was particularly interesting as in general these were the largest, and often only, brick built buildings in the village. As we were ahead of schedule we also stopped off to have a look at one of the numerous homestays in one of the villages which we weren't brave enough to try, but which looked more like guesthouses in our eyes.
Another night train back to Hanoi (this time arriving at 4am) and a tedious full days wait in the hotel and the immediate surrounds before catching another night train for our 23 hour (!) journey south to Nha Trang and some well deserved (although you may not be too sympathetic!) rest and relaxation on the beach…