Arriving at Hanoi's new airport is a breeze. The airport is large and all systems work. For the first time I had opted for the "Visa on arrival" option. In the past I had seen the counter where this was processed but had been glad that I did not have to wait for perhaps several hours. Many times I had seen people sitting on the floors waiting for their names to be called. Visa on arrival costs $25US as against a normal visa fee when applied through the embassy in Canberra at a cost of more than $100 plus the cost of registered mail. New laws give many countries a 15 days visa free entry but Australia and Holland are not part of it. Processing was fast. Just hand in your passport and wait while sitting on comfortable seats until your name is called and it is done.

My Dutch friend Eric, who runs his www.getupandgovietnam.com business, had arranged the paperwork and a taxi to collect us from the airport. The drive to Hanoi’s old quarter was eventful to say the least as we had an absolute idiot for a driver.

There is a new wide road where scooters drive on the extreme right hand side. (Vietnam drives on the right) Close to the city, a large scooter driven by a man with a woman on the back, rode in the car lane in front of us. Our driver just kept on driving until I shouted HEY!! Very loudly. He slammed on the brakes - we were just a few cm from the back of the scooter. He then made up excuses pointing out that they shouldn’t be riding there.

The second time we stopped for traffic lights, we had to warn him again as the car rolled forward towards a truck in front while he was looking at his phone – what an idiot!

Meanwhile he zig-zagged all over the place and even overtook a car over double lines with two buses coming towards us, one of which had also crossed the double lines. Dodgem car driving but… you don’t see cars with dents or scratches or accidents in general.

Gert was overwhelmed by it all. When we left the hotel, I wondered how he would cope with the very busy streets, scooters and noise.

Entering the streets for an evening stroll is not a relaxing past time if you are not used to it. Immediately you have to deal with narrow streets where people and scooters fight for space. Every building is about 3 to 4 meters wide and consists of a shop where 25% of the merchandise is placed on the sidewalk leaving hardly any room to walk. So, the only is walking space is along the side of the street with scooters passing a few cm from your body. The sights I can photograph but not the smells which consist of a mixture of spices, restaurant and sidewalk cooking, occasionally mixed with the smell of the sewer beneath the street. The sound is mainly people talking and the very frequent use of horns on scooters warning that they are coming behind you. The traffic: There is no right of way (Voorrangs regels for the Dutch) so at each intersection everyone just makes their path like spaghetti on a plate and ... I love it!

Although Gert was a bit taken aback by it all, by the following day had started to enjoy it, especially crossing 15 lanes of traffic without problems as the traffic flows around you like water around a bridge pillar. The trick is to cross in a slow but steady pace so you become predictable to the oncoming traffic which just passes in front or behind you. Over the years I have written a lot about Vietnam and the places I have been. I am now at risk of repeating myself so perhaps my readers who are really interested may refer to previous journeys to read more about this Country. However, there are always new things to explore and new adventures waiting. Although we still had sore legs from walking the very steep descent in Hong Kong we opted to walk most of the way as we have set our goal of doing at least 10.000 paces per day which Gert records on his phone. There are some “must see places” in Hanoi were I have been several times but are new to Gert so we combined our sightseeing with places I had not been to yet. For the past two days we have been visiting the war museum, some temples and pagodas I hadn’t seen yet, and the mausoleum of Ho Chi Min.

We were told that the mausoleum is only open in the morning but never mind. It seems that everything you look at (clothing, watches, bags - you name it) is a copy. I assume that Ho Chi Min’s body is a wax copy and not the real thing. As it was, the place was closed as it is only open during the morning hours. Nearby is the one pillar pagoda which is over 1500 years old. Another pagoda was more interesting. The setting of this pagoda is on the edge of a lake and a peaceful place to spend some time.

There is a street in the old quarter which looks like an ordinary street through the day, until about 5 o’ clock when it turns into one big series of outdoor restaurants. I think it must have started as a place where tables and seats were first put on the sidewalks and later moved onto the roadway. When we passed this street there was less than a meter space left in the middle which was shared by people walking in both directions and…? Yes, more scooters.

We found a nice place in another street which was less hectic and had a cold Tiger beer and Spring rolls.

Anyway, on the morning of the fifth we boarded the very comfortable bus to Sapa in the far north were we – at long last - will be back on two wheels again.