HOLY s***, first words spoken as I step outside the airport of Hanoi. We have been pushed, pulled, tormented, harrassed and yelled at, and we haven't even left the airport yet!! SARS, obviously it has taken its toll on Vietnamese tourism. We have managed to find ourselves a very nice hotel for $4 a night!! It's crazy, everyone is dropping their prices because there are just no tourists around, I feel like we are the only westerners here. It's good because it makes it very cheap, but it is sad because it has taken such a chunk of tourism away from the people that rely on it to survive. Hanoi is a huge eye-opener for me. About 3 million motorbikes here, and there is only one road rule - small gives way to big - OR ELSE! We found out the hard way that you just can't expect anyone to stop for you at a 'crossing' .. because they wont. You just have to walk out and make a beeline for the other side, everyone else will just drive around you!! You cannot afford to stop, you'll confuse the drivers and they will crash! It is an exhaustive walk to our hotel, I think the idea is that they get you to walk up 4 flights of stairs, show you a smelly filthy room in the hope that you're so exhausted and hot that you'll have to say yes!! Didn't work for us I'm afraid!! We have toured around the city for the last couple of days, being harassed around every corner we turn. We visited the prison museum, very scary place, there are still finger marks on the walls from where prisoners tried to escape. We have organised a tour to Halong Bay with an Australian man who owns a cafe type restaurant WITH VEGEMITE and everything!! Fabulous!!