When the bus pulled into Hanoi i was still sleepy and had to prod Daniel to wake up. A man approached us advertising his hotel with an elevator and air conditioning in a good area of town for $15 so when we got off the bags and grabbed our backpacks we got on the back of two motorbikes and drove to the hotel where we received a warm welcome. We got inside the lift and the boss showed us our room which was amazing, hotel quality. We have a flat screen television as well as a big balcony, large windows and decent bathroom. Once we dropped off our bags we headed downstairs to reception to check out tour options for Halong Bay.
The boss talked us through different options for a halong bay tour with different boats and different periods of time. In the end we decided to go for the Deluxe Dragon Cruise for three days and two nights, one night on the boat and the other on an island in the bay called Cat ba island. The tour includes kayaking, a visit to a cave and a national park as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner. He cut us a good deal and we paid $155 each which works out really cheap considering everything that is included. Before paying i took a quick trip down the road to the ATM machine and back to the hotel to pay. The weather in Halong Bay isn't the best but the boss showed us the weather forecast which was sunny with a bit of clouds.
We went back up to our room for a shower and to change before heading out into town to explore a little.
We wanted to check out the mausoleum with Ho chih Minh's body in a glass case so we grabbed the map from our hotel and began to walk towards it. As we were walking it began to pour, heavily and we were both in flip flops which made walking quite slippery and Dan slipped over by the pavement splashing coke and mid everywhere, including my clean clothes which i wasn't impressed with. When we finally reached the mauseleum it was closed. We asked one of the guards when it would open and he said it's only open during the morning and it's closed monday, friday and the weekend which means we won't have any time to see it which is a shame. We took some photos of the guards dressed in white outside the entrance standing to attention just like at Buckingham palace.

We didn't want it to be a wasted journey so we headed next door to the museum of Ho Chih Minh. It was a pretty odd/ boring museum. The first floor was filled with print outs of speeches he made and one of the sections about scientific discovery in vietnam wasn't written in English which was pointless. Upstairs was a big statue if ho Chih Minh and another exhibition which looked like the science museum mixed with the transport museum, it was all a bit weird and irrelevant to ho Chih Minh. There were moulds of gigantic fruit as well as models of cars and a weird room with bricks and red curtains, which i didn't understand too well.

We headed out of the air conditioned museum and back into the sticky, wet atmosphere. We went to see a small pagoda near the museum with a pond and then left to walk back to the area where our hotel is. It stopped raining by this time. We walked around the old quarter around the lake and ended up in a cafe/restaurant overlooking a roundabout where we were going to eat but the prices were extortionate so we settled with just a drink. The waiter gave us a bell with the menu to press when we were ready to order which is amazing and should be introduced to England. Once we finished our drinks we headed over the road to KFC for a cheaper option. On the menu they have a chicken katsu type thing but kfc style which only cost around a dollar but i went for a zinger burger meal.
There is a lot of traffic in Hanoi but not as much as Ho Chih Minh city which should rightfully be the capital. We sat outside on the KFC balcony watching the traffic weave its way through the roundabout after our meal which was yummy and a guilty pleasure while in Asia but there are only a certain amount of rice and noodles we can eat. We went for a short walk around near our hotel looking at all the shops. There are lots of silk shops and souvenir shops and there's a particular shop that had five small chihuahuas in and the cutest, tiny brown curly haired dog which always brings a smile to our faces when we walk by. As we were both pretty tired we headed back to our room to chill out for a while before heading out later for dinner and to hopefully get something to smoke.
While we were at the hotel, Dan looked online on a marijuana forum in Hanoi where he emailed a few westerners living in Hanoi selling weed. A few got back to him with insane prices, up to $400! Crazy! We tried to bargain with them but it was still a lot of money so we left it until we went out later tonight because as we were walking around before, a man near the lake offered us weed but it wasn't somewhere discreet so we left it.
We left the room around 19:30 to go and find some dinner. We weren't sure what we fancied eating so decided to walk around until we decided. The city is booming at night with motorbikes bearing families and carrying goods darting left, right and centre. You really have to keep your wits about you and be aware that bikes come from all angles. Despite this, crossing the roads is relatively easy as the motorists slow down and drive around you, it's organised chaos. There are lots of women walking around wearing straw triangle hats selling donut type things which Dan bought earlier.
We walked up a busy street with lots of market stalls selling all sorts, wallets, bags, robes, toys and lots of hair accessories. I was close to buying a polka dot head band with ears but i guessed i may look like a bit of a twat, plus daniel walked off so i had to chase after him as usual. He bought a new wallet from a stall for a decent price as he lost the one i bought him back in Kampot. There was a bunch of arabs dressed in suits walking ahead of us so i got Daniel to say "Ahlan wo sahlan" but he was too quiet so i said it louder and saw one of the men turn around i sped passed him to create the mystery of who spoke their mother tongue saying "welcome", it was a little sense of home.
We ended up eating at a street food place that was busy with locals and westerners, always a good sign. We both ordered chicken Pho (pronounced "fah") which was yummy as always. We spied the open kitchen with quite a few people working, including a man tossing something in a pan with a fag hanging out his mouth with ash about to drop right off it into the pan but we tried not to pay much attention.
Once we finished, we paid the bill and headed to the area where Hanoi Backpackers are in the hope of finding some cheaper bud.
Dan asked two guys sitting on motorbikes outside the bike and we were in luck. He got on the back of one while i stayed with the other man making conversation. I asked about his family and their names as i want to familiarise myself with some Vietnamese names but i can't remember them now. I remember his son's name being Lam and his daughter had a one syllable very pretty name too, maybe it was Nay. Dan came back with a small brick of weed, and it's the good stuff not like the green tea we were sold in nah trang.
Delighted with our purchase (which cost 600,000, $30, not toooooo bad) we headed back through the hustle and bustle of the streets back to the room to smoke and chill out while packing our day sacks for our Halong Bay cruise the next morning.