Saturday 23rd January 2016

After a lovely train journey into Hanoi (probably the best overnight journey we have had), we immediately saw how cold it was going to be. We had seen on a weather forecast that it was going to be about 12•c but when we saw how grey and wet it was, we were kind of upset and annoyed. We thought we were going to be missing out this winter. Oh well won't be for long.

We walked quickly towards our hotel, I was still dressed in shorts but we both had our coats on and Woolley hate on. Hanoi is nowhere near was manic as Saigon, even though it is the capital. It also doesn't appear to be as nice.

We reached our hotel and tried to check in, the lady took ages and gave the impression she didn't have our booking. Eventually she found it and gave us the key. Our room was at the very back of the hotel on the top floor, up some very steep winding stairs which felt like the room in the attic that nobody wants. The room was very basic, it had a tv, fridge and lamp. The lamp was plugged in on one side of the room and the tv and fridge were on the over side of the room with no where to plug in. It's almost as if the hotel looked up what makes them a 3 star and just put things in the room without realising they still need to work. Absolutely stupid and annoying. The room was also cold, the hotel had no heating and we could not get the air con to blow warm air.

We decided to go for a walk around the old quarter, which is lots of narrow streets with shops and restaurants. All of the restaurants were open faced so had no shelter from the cold, the locals were all sat in front of the shops or restaurants just lighting fires in the street to keep warm. A bit Stone Age like but clearly they don't get much cold weather here as it is not geared up for it.

We mainly came to Hanoi to visit Halong Bay which is a modern wonder of the world, we found a tour agency and booked a 2 day 1 night tour where we would get to sail around the hundreds of limestone rocks and then sleep the night in the bay. We paid £100 for both of us but got told it might be cancelled due to the weather.

We then went for a walk around this lake situated in the middle of the main part of time. It was so far the only really good thing we had seen in Hanoi. It had lights all around in the trees and looked beautiful. After about 20 minutes we both started to really feel the cold and decided to find an enclosed restaurant to get away from the cold and have some dinner. We found a restaurant that sold a dish local to Hanoi called Bun Cha which is basically a warm sweet and sour dipping sauce served with BBQ pork and cold noodles, you then dip the noodles and pork into the dipping sauce. Very nice and a good choice restaurant as we watched food tour groups come and go so clearly a popular place in Hanoi.

As it was so cold and Hanoi didn't really offer much to do we decided to head back to the hotel. Room was still very, Isla went and asked if anything could be done and was just handed a duvet and made to carry it up the stairs whilst the staff member followed. Don't know why he followed because when he got to the room he just left again. Oh well we wore as many clothes as we could, out the extra duvet on and went to sleep. It sounds silly writing this saying we were cold in 12•c, 8•c by night but we had just gone from 35•c for best part of 6 weeks to 8•c in a matter of 18 hrs also it was a wet cold due to the humidity which felt like it hit you right in your core and we just couldn't get warm.

Sunday 24th January 2015

We woke up to the sound of rain and knew that the trip to Halong Bay would be cancelled. We showered in the cold and went down to breakfast, hopefully waiting for our tour guide to pick us up. The time came and went and the hotel receptionist said that the trip would be cancelled. We felt so low from the cold and uninterested in what Hanoi had to offer that we wished we could just get back to Thailand and get on with the rest of the travels. We sobbed over breakfast for a bit then decided to just pay a little bit more for a hotel room to hopefully get a warm room and then book 1 day trip to Halong Bay but have a back up tour that doesn't rely on weather. With a lot more optimism we checked out of the hotel and went to collect our money from the first tour agent. On arrival the tour agent was closed so we just walked around Hanoi. There really isn't much to do in Hanoi, a few museums about the war which we had seen in Saigon and some monuments. We decided to get in from the cold in a coffee shop and ordered some drinks with a cheesecake. Across the road we saw a tour agent so went to check on prices. We found a 1 day trip to Halong Bay for a very good price and also a back up tour. We headed off to collect our money, the man was in but said his friend had the money and told us to come back in a few hours. Great, not the best answer and to be honest a bit cheeky. Started to think that we wouldn't get it back.

So off we go again walking around Hanoi which has nothing to shelter you from the cold so we decided to go to the new hotel to try and check in. On arrival they told us that the room wouldn't be available until 1900hrs, about 4 hours away. We sighed and showed our frustration which the receptionist clearly picked up on as she then offered us an upgraded room if we would stay with them. We didn't have any other choice so we went back out into the cold and went for lunch.

We found a pub called The Moose and Roo which was an Australian pub but like one you would find at home, it was warm and comfortable and sold tea.... Sold. We took our seats and ordered a pot of tea for two and two burgers. The burgers were amazing, the staff did check backs on our meal which is unheard of in Asia and they filled up our tea pot. Amazing, nothing like a good old pub to cheat you up.

After lunch we again tried to get our money back and again got told the man with the money wasn't there. This time we dug our heels in and said we needed some money. The guy gave us about £15 pounds worth out his own pocket and told us to come back at 1800 to get the rest. With this money we went to the other tour agent and booked the 1 day trip. Hopefully this one doesn't get cancelled otherwise it would feel like a wasted trip.

We went back to the hotel to sit in the lounge to wait for our check in as the hotel was warm. The staff took pitty on us, brought us tea and allows us to book in like 2 hours early. What a result. We got our upgraded room which was lovely, felt warm and the air con blew warm air. We thawed in the room for two hours then went back out to try and get or money, this time it was a success and we got a full refund. We then went for dinner in a restaurant that overlooked the lake as we were promised it had heating and would be warm. They lied but the view was great so we stayed.

After dinner we went back for an early night, mainly to get warm but also to be ready for he trip in the morning which we were much more confident about as the weather was forecasting a sunny day. Fingers crossed we get to see the wonder of the world.