Tuesday 6/10/9 Enroute to Vietnam

We checked out of the hostel and caught the 6.15 bus to the airport. After a straight forward check in we had a couple of hours before boarding the flight south to Brisbane. Unfortunately we weren't on a direct flight and would backtrack across Australia from Brisbane to Hong Kong for a transit stop. After 1 hour waiting in Brisbane we got on our plane headed for Hong Kong. We had a nine hour flight but had fantastic views over the barrier reef and the East coast. The flight went quite quickly after we had watched a few films and eaten a couple of meals. All very good with personal entertainment on each seat back. We arrived at Hong Kong at 8.30pm and were both really impressed with HK airport. It is like a huge smart shopping mall or hotel with two long wings. It took about 40mins to walk the length of the airport and we did a spot of shopping for camera discs (bargain price). Phil had a very expensive toastie and we had very expensive drinks then found the resting area with lounger style chairs. We settled down under our acquired airline blankets to try and get some sleep over the 12 hours we had in the airport.

7/10/9 Hong Kong to Hanoi

After a fitful nights sleep on the recliner seats we went to board our plane to Hanoi. Phil had a seat next to two enormous women who left him alittle bit of his own seat to squeeze into...nice!!! The flight was only 2 hrs long and we had some food and watched a little TV on the way before we landed at Hanoi at 9.40am. We went through to passport control where there was a huge queue for visas on arrival. We were pleased we had made the effort to get ours before so we avoided that wait . We went through passport control without any trouble and collected our baggage. We went through the exit to look for our driver into town but couldn't see Lizzies name amongst all the signs being waved around. We looked around again and spotted our smiing driver waving his sign at us. We got into his car and started the drive to town. As we drove from the airport we immediately saw the scenes we had expected in Vietnam with workers in the fields wearing traditional Vietnamese round pointed hats, water buffalo and many people on bicycles. It was so exciting to see life here just as we had imagined and we looked forward to the next few weeks here. Hanoi has a 6 million population and approximately the same number of mopeds, they are everywhere, tearing around the place never stopping. To cross the street you have to walk out slowly and confidently and they all drive around you even though you feel you are about to die it seems the system works. We passed a few mopeds carying animals in cages on the back including pigs and chickens....fantastic real life stuff. It was a welcome change to the western life in Australia. We drove to the office to see our tour organiser Jennifer who had bus and train tickets for us to collect. She told us our train and hotel had been upgraded which was good news. We then went to check in at our hotel which was really luxurious and smart with lovely staff too. We stayed inside our cool room for a while so Phil could check the finances and we could both have showers then went out to explore. While in Vietnam we are officially millionaires as thirty pounds equals one million Vietnamese Dong. We walked through the buzzing streets feeling like giants as all the locals are very short and really tiny... Phil felt like one of the big boys!!! Hanoi has a population of 6 million people and just about the same number of mopeds driving everywhere in all directions and never stopping. Small children are standing on the seats between mum and dad while the bikes whizz through the busy streets!!! Amazingly we weren't run over by mad moped riders or cyclo rickshaws or taxis or anyone else wandering across the roads. We must have looked like fresh blood walking around and were approached by quite a few people selling stuff. They were all polite and took no for an answer without too much problem. We stopped to find our bearings and before we knew it two fruit sellers had placed their Vietnamese pointed hats on our heads and their fruit baskets on our shoulders for a photo. We took the photos of ourselves then were stalked for money for about ten minutes until we lost them. Its a steep learning curve thats for sure. We walked past the Water Puppet Theatre which is a famous Hanoi attraction but all the shows were sold out. We were going to try another time but we did find out that the price for superior seats was 2 pounds so we might treat ourselves!! We went for a wander around the lake which was very pretty with all the surrounding trees lit up with coloured lights. The lake is called Hoan Kiem lake and is a hub of activity for the locals who had exercise and dance classes all around the lake as well as people walking with friends and families too. In the middle of the lake is the Ngoc Son pagoda, a buddhist temple translated as Jade Mountain. There is a bridge accross to it also lit up with lights and with lots of coloured flags waving in the evening breeze. Also in the lake is another lit up pagoda called Thap Rua (tortoise tower). we sat and ate dinner and had a few drinks in a bar ovelooking the lake. It cost us 6 pounds for dinner and drinks which is a pretty expensive for Hanoi. From the bar we could hear some music, singing and loud drums as well as big lights from accross the lake so went to see what was happening. Hanoi is celebrating 999years of its founding when it became the capital city of Vietnam and what we could hear were the rehearsal for a huge concert. We would be out of Hanoi for the actual concert so were really lucky to see the concert practice. there was loads of dancing with beautiful traditional costumes and song. We watched for about half an hour and then found our hotel for bed.

8/10/09 Hanoi Thursday

We woke up and after breakfast we went to see Jennifer, our travel agent to clarify a few things for the next few weeks. We popped into the market which was huge and full of everything and anything on stalls absolutely bulging wirth stock. When we got to Jennifers office we booked a trip to see the Perfume Pagoda complex South West of Hanoi in a few days time. We decided to head for another of Hanoi's lakes ,Truc Bach Lake, with another pagoda on it called Tran Avoc Pagoda. On the way out of town towards the lake Phil was taking afew candid shots of the locals and we got talking to a Vietnamese man siotting in one of the many locals bars set up on most street corners. We decided to sit and have a beer with the locals and sampled a gless of the local brewed beer for 30 pence a glass. All the chairs in Vietnam seem to built for tiny people and we felt like giants when we sat down, it was like being back in primary school. One of the men on the next table was an English speaking guide and spoke to us for a while about Hanoi and our travels. We had spotted the cooked dog in the cabinet in the front of the bar and were convinced by local man to give it a try. We only ordered one plate as we weren't sure we could stomach any let alone two plates full. Dog is a very expensive, luxury food in Hanoi and the locals love it (apparently cat is better though !!!) When the dog arrived it looked like lamb and was served with herbs and a chilli sauce as well as slices of liver, We drew the line at dogs liver, even we have limits!! It actually tasted really good and quite like lamb, with a bit of mince sauce it would be perfect. The only problem was the cooked dogs head looking at us from the glass cabinet. When you ask what breed of dog is cooked they just answer dog, but apparently if a dog is too difficult or stupid to train then it gets cooked, pet or not!!! After our very expensive lunch (2 pouds 70 pence) of four beers and dogs dinner we carried on towards the lake passing a whole line of mobile barbers along one road. We called into a furniture store where there were people making some amazing pieces in the street. If we could carry the chairs and tables we would have as they were so fabulous and cheap. We arrived at the lake and pagoda after a walk through some back lanes and streets and had a look round. It was very peaceful and picturesque there with an eleven step pagoda representing the Buddhas eleven steps to enlightenment. We crossed the lake heading towards the Ho Chi Minh complex and stopped off to look at another temple called Quan Thanh which was under repair but still lovely. After the temple visit we passed through a park where we sat and watched sopme children playing in a fountain. They were quite funny and loved having a photo taken. At the park a cyclo driver pulled up and asked iof we wanted a ride to town, we declined but he started to stalk us round to the Ho Chi Mihn complex. we went inside and walked around the buildings that were open to the public,his house, garage, car collection, house on stilts and his gardens. Ho Chi Mihn is revered here and his home was a demonstration of the simple life he led while making Vietam a better place under his communist ideals of hard work and few possessions. We were unable to visit the mausoleum in which his body normally lies as it had been taken to Russia for its yearly repair and clean but we could see the building itself...very iconic. As we were taking photos we realised the cyclo man was still stalking us, it had been almost two hours !! We had a laugh keeping on changing direction to see if he would follow and he did so we thought we should put him out of his misery and give him some business. He drove us back into town and dropped us off nearby our hotel when he had enough of peddling the fat foreigners about!!! We relaxed back in our room for a while and went for another wander to the lake. The puppet theatre was again sold out as we passed by to stroll along the other side of the lake. We saw some more rehearsals of the concert then walked back through Hanois maze of streets in the old quarter towards our hotel. we called in at a bar called Le Pub for a nice cold beer and ended up staying to have a few cocktails and chatting to the English owner. He had been in Hanoi for 6 years and the bar was great with draft Guiness too!! We shared a plate of fried rice and disappeared off to bed. Liz visited the toilet thet evening and Phil said she had, had a dog s**t after todays lunch !!!!!