After hearing horror stories we decided to pass on the 24 hours bus trip through Laos to the Vietnamese border and take a 50 minute plane directly to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. We had heard great things about this city so were really looking for forward to this leg of the trip! After an elaborate attempted scam where a man posed as the Hotel owner and escorted us to the wrong hotel we eventually arrived at the Hanoi Value hotel. With a super king sized bed, computer, flat screen tv and a large shower we were pleasantly surprised given the name of the hotel! On our first day we headed out to a tailors which had been recommended to me. It took us about 10 minutes to cross the first junction due to the number of scooters going in every direction possible - including the wrong way! After an hour and a half walk we realised that we were in the wrong city! The tailors were in Hoi An not Ha Noi! Nevertheless we looked at our guide book and noticed that there was an old French prison nearby which was now being used as a museum. The museum illustrated how awful the French, Japanese and the Americans were to them and how heroic their communist revolutionaries were! A little one sided we felt but worth the visit! That evening we headed out to the old town for dinner. Although we only travelled about 500 yards the walk was made partularly stressful as we had to share the road with the scooters. This was due to the fact that the pavement was blocked by parked scooters and locals having their dinner. The next morning we headed out to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and presidential palace. On the way we stopped at the war museum which was informative and interesting. When we arrived at the Mausoleum and palace they were both shut! However the walk there was enjoyable and we were fortunate to see the beautiful buildings the French had built during their time here.