Hello everyone,

So on the Tuesday before last we arrived in Hanoi from Vientiane. We flew with Lao airlines which to be honest I thought was going to be a bit dodgy, especially since the plane had propellors but it turned out to be pretty good. While we were in the air we could see that the rivers were really high and a lot of farmland had been flooded because of the typhoon. When we arrived we went through immigration and got a taxi into the city, well I say taxi, I think it was just a man using his car to make a bit of money. This was probably a bad idea in hindsight but he was actually really nice and took us to where we wanted. Unfortunately though the hotel we wanted to go to was fully booked but the receptionist was really nice and phoned up her friends from a nearby hotel who picked us up and took us there. At first we were a bit worried that it was going to be a bit of a hole but it turned out to be really nice and they only charged us the price that it would have been for the other hotel, bargain!

On the Wednesday we walked to Hoen Kiem lake, otherwise known as the lake of the restored sword. It's a nice and peaceful escape from the mayhem of Hanoi. It apparently also has some rare species of turtle living in it. We walked over a little bridge and went into the temple the Jade Mountain which sits on a an island in the lake. Afterwards, we wandered through the park that runs along the edge of the lake and through the city to the Hoa Lo prison which was built by the French to hold Vietnamese prisoners. Here they were treated pretty badly to say the least! The prison was also used at one stage to hold American prisoners including John McCain. Next we headed back to the hotel. I've never seen so many scooters in one place as I have in Hanoi and the roads are mayhem. Everybody uses their horns a lot as well, not aggressively but just for things like when they're overtaking or when they're pulling out but its constant and really noisy. It's amazing the sort of things that people manage to carry on their bikes, we saw wardrobes and even pigs being transported! Crossing the road was interesting, similar to how it was in Bangkok but maybe worse. You have to walk out in front of all the bikes and just go at a steady pace so they can drive around you which is pretty crazy. We were staying in the old quarter of the city which is where
most of the backpackers are. Here the streets are smaller and more windy, it's also quite pretty. We thought it was funny how all of the shops are grouped together. For instance you can walk down one street and all of the shops are selling sunglasses and then turn down the next and all of them are funeral parlours, we were on locksmith street!

Lots of love,

Jo and Ryan xxx