Day 1-

Our plane only took 40 minutes to get here from Luang Prabang which made it seem worth every penny as a bus from Luang Prabang-Hanoi would of taken 36 hours. I breathe a sigh of relief as we fly through passport control with no problems at all. First stop is an ATM where i withdraw 5,000,000 dong, who knew one day I would be a multi millionaire?

A taxi from the airport to central Hanoi took 1 hour and I got de ja vu from the complete chaos of the roads, it reminds me of Lima but probably 10x worse. Its every man for himself out here, motorbikes dominate the roads and swerve in and out carelessly. We're in the back of the taxi peering through our hands watching the traffic as every second you see a move that was just too close.

There is apparently a two way system here but as soon as you arrive its clear this isnt actually enforced, ever. Our guidebook says theres no actual rules for crossing roads here, the best thing to do it step out into the road and make slow, steady movements and let the bikes and cars swerve around you. This is so true. For the past day we have literally been stepping out infront of cars and bikes going 20-30mph and being dodged, the locals have super power reaction times here.

We arrive into Hanoi city centre at around 7pm and after checking in we go and have a quick walk around. We are both unwell at the minute, I think I have been drinking too many Oreo shakes made with dirty water. The smells of boiled meats is making me heave in the street and I have to go back to the hotel alone to hopefully sleep it off.

Day 2 -

i'm not feeling much better today, my thobbing headache has shifted but Im still stuck with ridiculously painful stomach cramps. This morning we visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Vietnamese army patrol the whole complex and If you step out of line (literally you have to walk in a straight line everywhere) at all you are shouted at through a megaphone. I stood with my arms folded and was told immedietly to put them by my side. This is apparently the holiest of holies for the Vietnamese and I'm not quite sure what to expect I've never been anywhere like this before. We join the queue to the mausoleum entrance and as soon as we entered I got a very uneasy feeling. Everything is so peaceful but so authoritarian at the same time. We step into the room and there is Ho Chi Mihn in a glass sarcophagus. Its an explicable feeling as you walk around his body and see him complete with his whispy white beard.

On the way home our taxi driver tried to mug us off. I was unsure about getting into this taxi as his co-workers were being far too friendly and waving at us as we pulled off. It felt as if they were laughing about something. And we weren't wrong, 10km later after which should of been only a 4km journey our taxi driver pulls over and tells us he has taken us to the wrong place. Tom is fuming and loses his patience with the driver, the meter is almost double what it cost us to get here and we are still nowhere near our hotel. The taxi driver calls his English speaking niece and we tell her where we want to go and well as making it very clear we are paying half of whats on the meter. About half an hour later we eventually arrive 2 roads away from our hotel, we tell the driver we want to get out and that we are not paying for his mistake. He locks us in the taxi! We hand the driver 60, 000 kip (half of the price on the meter) and I unlock my door and jump out, Tom stays in the car and internationally mimes why we are not paying full price. The taxi driver is cursing us but we don't care we win. Don't try and mug us off. This was a bad start to our first full day in Vietnam.

Today we booked a 3 day/2 night trip to Halong bay. Im so excited, another little splurge but thats what Ive been working all those ridiculous hours for to do stuff like this. Its going to be amazing.

Tonight we endulged in a little Vietnamese culture and went to a water puppet show at the Municipal Water Puppet Theatre. This art originated over 1000 years ago in the rice fields of Northern Vietnam. It was, different. Sometimes we would look at other and say " Is this real life?". However, the music and singing that accompanied the dancing puppets was great.

Day 3 -

Today has been a very lazy day, we weren't planning on spending another night in Hanoi but our tour to Halong Bay was full so couldn't get on a boat before the 9th. Today has been spent wandering the streets, dodging traffic and people watching in numerous cafes. I went to the pharmacy and got something to kill this bug whos set up camp in my stomach. No prescription needed here, just roll up the chemist say what hurts and they give you pills. Simple. Lets hope they work.