We were a little concerned when we realised that we would be flying in an old-school propeller plane... neither of us had had the pleasure before and the engines didn't look very big. We were pleasantly surprised by Laos Airlines though - everything was shiny and clean and, even though it was just a one hour flight, we even got a snack after take-off :-) We landed in Hanoi late in the afternoon on Saturday 14 August. Even though we had applied for our Vietnamese visa online, we still spent AGES standing around and queing until we were able to get through customs :-/ When we finally made it through to the baggage carousel we were super-relieved to find that our things were still there! We pushed our way through the throng of taxi drivers vying for our attention and, after having to fight with the bus driver driver to get our correct change, boarded a local bus for the trip into the old city.

We found our hostel easily enough - even though it had great reviews it seemed quite grimy but it was late, we were tired and figured that maybe this is just how things are here? Kevin killed the first cockroach before we'd even had a chance to shower and then another while someone was up trying to fix the broken shower. By then we should have known... We ventured onto the streets in search of some food - a serious shock from the chilled out vibes in Laos. There are just scooters and people everywhere (on the roads and on the pavements) that it's actually quite frustrating to walk around. We made it to the night market street and eventually found a street-side restaurant to eat at that had a good mix of locals and tourists. After dinner we walked back to our hostel and went to bed. Just after we turned out the lights we heard a shuffling by the balcony door. Turning on the lights revealed yet another cockroach, which then proceeded to fly to and land on Monique, thus ending our stay. We killed it, as well as his friend who appeared moments later from under a floorboard, then packed our things and went downstairs to checkout. It was now 01:30 and we were out on the street - not a great start to our time in Vietnam :-/ Fortunately there was a space available at a nice, roach-free place just down the road so we took it and collapsed into bed, glad to finally be able to get some sleep.

Sunday we slept in. We've learnt by now that its hardly ever worth it to stay at a place for just one night, so we got up a little before lunch time and wandered around the old quarter (where we were staying) for a bit. This is definitely a city that you can get just explore and get lost in - there are so many little alleys full of interesting things. We had some more local food for lunch and then made our way down to the lake. There wasn't too much else to do besides browse touristy shops so we soon headed back to our hostel, picking up a case (12 x 1.5l) of water on the way - flippin' heavy! We chilled in the room until the evening, when we visited the weekend market again, checking out all the fake stuff (it all looks pretty real!) Then it was back to the room for a shower and bed.

Monday we went in search of a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant which came highly recommended. When we eventually found it were not dissapointed - they only serve one thing beef-noodle soup, but it was delicious. We then tried to take a city tour on these electric buggy things that they've recently put in (kinda like big golf carts, seats 8 people) but the system is still a bit of a mess and the drivers don't seem to care so we were told that we would have to hire the whole thing for just the two of us :-/ So we passed on that and took a leasurely stroll back to our room. That evening we went back to the market to pick up a few things, which was when we realised it was a weekend market as it wasn't there :-( We had some more street food for dinner and, on our way home, stumbled accross the "Bia Hoi" corner - draught beers for 5000 dong (about 2 rand.) So we stopped for a quick drink before heading off to bed.

Tuesday we checked out of our hostel, leaving our bags in the "baggage room" while we went out for a bite to eat. Our train ride out was only in the late afternoon, so we visited a different market and then walked to the nearby train station, firstly so we would kow where it was (didn't want to walk a step further than we needed to with our packs on) and secondly to get tickets in case they ran out later. We headed back to our guesthouse to chill and do a bit of admin, and then saddled up and walked to the station to catch our train to Haiphong, about 3 hours East of Hanoi.