I got into Hanoi Wednesday and arranged a pick up from the airport. This is the easy option I know but for $14 to take me to the hotel that I wanted without all the other hassle I think it was worth it. I didn't do much on my first day apart from have a look around and get my bearings. This is what I do on the first day in every city. I genrally just write the day off as a walk and wander. I actually ended up in a pub quiz on this Aussie couple's team. It's as good a tactic as any to get the inside track of a place.

Any way the second day was a tourist day. I was up at 9am, booked my excursion to Halong Bay and my hop on bus ticket for the rest of my visit in Vietnam. Everyting here is priced in Dong and USD so you can pay in either, and the bus ticket that took me everywhere I wanted to go cost $50, job done.

It was then off to Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum to take in the sights and a bit of history. To see the actual guy himself embalmed in a glass coffin set me up for the day and I found myself quite interested in 'Uncle Minh' and how he shaped Vietnamese society and lead the resistance against the French and US aggressors as they are commonly known. I then had a snoop round his house which was all very modest and took the tourist photos. I the had a look round the Temple of Literature which I didn't find that stimulating.

I was expecting the worst when I got to Vietnam as so many people had warned me that the haggling was pretty intense and did get unpleasant at times. This hasn't been my experience at all and I think the Vietnamese have a good sense of humour. I've even had people try and flog me stuff with a nudge and a wink, and God knows I love a cheeky winker ;-)

For example I went for a walk after my tourist day in the old quarter, when all of a sudden the heavens opened for a torrential downpour. Along with all the locals I dashed for some cover. Two minutes later numerous umbrella sellers came out of nowhere. Like a sitting duck the first lady comes over to me in my tee shirt and shorts flogging her wares. However, unbeknownst to the sales woman of the year I had an umbrella held behind my back that whipped out, with the appropriate comment "Aha...I already have one!!!!". She then, bold as brass, just chuckled and offered me a 10% discount. Even the local lads beside me had to smirk at the audaciousness of the woman.

One other thing that I did in Hanoi was have lunch at KOTO (Know One, Teach One) a Vietnamese version of Jamie Olivers Fifteen restaurant, it was plugged in the Lonely planet. It's basically a non profit organisation to train budding youngsters in the catering trade. The food was great, service excellent and the restaurant wouldn't have been out of place in London. You paid twice the usual food price but I still only splashed out the princely sum of 5 quid for starter, main and two beers. It was full of westerners supporting a good cause but it did get me thinking that I've been really bad at tipping on this trip. You can't really support things like KOTO on one hand and not tip other normal restaurants on the other when food is this cheap.

I think travellers and holidaymakers clear their conscience because the lonely planet might say something like tipping is not the normally done thing, but it's not really right when we tip 10% in the UK regardless.

So tipping has to go back into the travel budget for me across Asia. It's 10% standard service, 15% for good service, and a cheeky wink of any kind secures 20% tip!

Anyway Hanoi is great and the locals good fun. Picked up a few DVD boxsets to send home and off to Halong bay for a 2 day trip next. The rain is still following me everywhere though!