24th Feb: On the bus from Laos we met 2 guys who we ended up sticking with for the next few days. We were lured into the guesthouse that the bus got commission from but it turned out really nice. Well the place wasn't that great but the staff were! We got a 3 bed room for 4 of us, i ended up on a matress on the floor but it was actually pretty comfy. We went out for food straight away, 4 large pizzas. Nicely does it. Then bed

25th: Woke up pretty late, went for a burger king for breakfast/lunch. Wondered around the city. Saw the lake and the temple in the middle. Some crazy vietnamese kid was trying to shoot us with his fingers the whole way round the lake. We then saw the cathedral, it had lots of flowers and dedications around it because the preist had recently passed away and everyone was paying thier respects. We didnt go inside since it was soo crowded. We walked back to our hostel along the most difficult road to walk on EVER! There were pavements but the shops all spill out onto them to get more floor space and any other room there is is used as parking for motorbikes. So this means you have to walk on the road where hundreds of motorbike weave in and out and horns are sounding constantly. We were told that on the road in vietnam the bigger you are, the more right of way you have, so we tried to make ourselves as big as possible and it worked....sometimes! We went out for dinner, found a nice cheap (ish) restaurant luckily becuase they are few and far between in Hanoi. Some drinks in a cool bar called Half Man Half Noodle turned into a lot of drinks and we stayed there till pretty late playing jenga...quite difficult after a few cocktails! We headed home and it was pretty sureal seeing NO motorbikes on the roads OR the pavements!

26th: Another lay in was much needed. Spent the day chilling out, had pizza again :) and then booked our Ha Long Bay tour for the following day. Went out again to the same bar. This time played darts and Jake and I won after a very very long match! (i got the last double after about 20 tries from all of us!)

Hanoi was ok but not the best city, if u can get used to the horns and the motorbikes you might like it more than i did.