Chuc Mung Nam Moi - thanks Happy New Year to You in Vietnamese as it's Tet here and everyone is busy celebrating. The streets of Hanoi are busy with mopeds at the best of times. As Evan says all the streets are one way it's just that they have not worked out which way yet.....now it's new year not only does a typcial moped carry mum, dad, a 4 year old and baby, it also carries a kumquat tree, a blossom branch and packages of new year delicacies. This makes crossing the road even more hazardous, like you're being attacked by a forest travelling at 30 miles an hour in all directions. A bit like if everyone in in london decided a week before xmas to stop using the tube, get on their mopeds and go christmas tree shoppping in oxford street.

Some observations to share with you .....

Laos people are incredibly friendly and chilled, and have an amazing talent for clearing flem and spitting really really loudly especially when on public buses.

Thais have been overtaken by the vietmanese for how much stuff you can fit on a moped, but the thais carry more pets that way.

Vietnamese girls like to go out in the pyjamas. I'm not just talking outfits that look like PJs, these are serious brushed cotton with penguins motif numbers, and they are on their mopeds in the centre of town eating Pho ( noodle soup) so they haven't just popped to the corner shop for a packet for fags.

Since we've been in Hanoi we've vcisited a very interesting museum of ethnology - v interesitng exhibt on living under communism. the temple of listerature. And today we went to halong bay which is amaqzing although quite foggy at this time of year. We also saw some water puppet theatre which is hard to explain but really good fun. Haven't got quite into vietnamese food yet, mainly because evan still recovering from dodgy tum and I had a fever on Friday night - naturally I believed myself to be dying from malaria at the very least, but I'm fine now, and am ready to eat my way down the vietnamese coast.

More to follow......

ps - sorry the photo is not hanoi, we'll upload some soon.