Arriving in Hanoi after a night on a bus was like a scene from an old war movie or George Orwell's 1984, as the streets were deserted and propaganda-sounding music and messages were played into the streets over loud speakers.

This was our final experience on the open bus, which took us from Saigon to Hanoi (about forty hours of travelling) for just $17 each, and we were glad as they were anything but comfortable.  The air-conditioning barely worked, the driver would stop at horrible little cafes at ridiculous times and drive off to change tyres without telling the passengers, and on one overnight journey some people (luckily not us) had to sit on plastic chairs in the aisle.  All night!

Annoyingly the bus dropped us outside of Hanoi, but luckily a free taxi had been arranged.  As we stepped out of the taxi though our bags were already on their way into some guys hotel.  We grabbed them back and walked off to find our own hotel (not one subsidising the bus ticket) with hotel touts in hot pursuit.  An hour and a half later we found a hotel and checked in for three days.

Hanoi was without doubt the busiest, craziest, noisiest and most polluted of all the places we've visited so far.  Walking down the street is impossible due to motorbikes parked or driving on the pavement, hawkers selling things, people sat at plastic tables and chairs eating or market stalls sprawled across the pavement. 

Traffic lights are a waste of electricity as nobody uses them and people drive down streets the wrong way.  Crossing is done by walking very slowly so bikes and cars see you and drive around you.

The sound of car/bike horns is constant day and night, as people just drive and overtake where there is space (on either side of the road or pavement) and announce themselves with constant and annoying beep-beep-beeping. 

After an hour out of our hotel we found our throats were sore, we had headaches and could taste the pollution.  Yep, you guessed it, Hanoi is not our favourite place!  All of Vietnam's pretty hectic in truth, but the busyness never felt so bad until Hanoi.  Everywhere else the craziness is infectious and enjoyable, but Hanoi we found the opposite.

After our first day we booked ourselves onto a day trip to Halong Bay, eager to get out of the city.

Halong Bay consists of 3000 vegetation-covered islands dotted with grottoes and caves.  Ha Long means ' where the dragon descends into the sea', as legend says the islands were created as a dragon headed out to sea, it's flailing tail carving out the crevasses which filled with water. 

Our day trip took us on a four or five hour cruise passed a number of the beautiful islands and to Sung Sot Cave, the largest in the area.  The scenery was stunning and the trip a lot more relaxing than being in Hanoi.

Hanoi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the home of the Ho Chi Minh Mauseleom, where Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body lies, despite the fact he requested cremation.  Unfortunately the day we visitied the complex was closed.

Also whilst in Hanoi we had planned to visit nearby Sapa, a beautiful location in the mountains full of hill tribes, but after a few days the frustration of us not being able to organise anything got the better of us and we left.

Unfortunately our time in Hanoi was overshadowed by the fact that we had no Chinese visa, no Indian visa, had no idea how we were going to get to our next stop, and had no idea where we were going in China.

The easiest option was to change our flights and fly to Hong Kong, but this would cost as much as buying a new flight.

Next we decided to take the train into China, but the Chinese Embassy was closed for a holiday unti the 8th May.  Arriving at the embassy on the morning of the 8th we were greeted by a huge queue, and after three hours it looked like they were only letting in non-whites and the doors closed at 10.30am for the day. 

The next day promised to be much of the same, so we went straight to the Vietnam Airlines office and paid the 300 pounds to fly to Hong Kong that night.

Unfortunately our time in South East Asia ended on a sour note in Hanoi, but all the pollution, people trying to rip you off and hassle aside, we had a great time in South East Asia.