Wow - first major balls up of the trip - mayyybb missed my flight! haha I finished last night with the people from the hostel after having a great dinner and headed to bed to ensure I would make my early flight - however my body had other plans and I woke up as my flight was departing! Couldn't believe it! My mum had to endure a good early phone call of a desperate child!

Nevertheless I managed to secure another flight, and although it may have cost at least half an arm.... I experienced pure luxury! Unfortunatley the only seats left on the flight were business class... after checking in via the red carpet I yearned and slightly jeered at with Sam in Heathrow I was escorted to the speedy security checks - oh yes, I checked in along side the pilots. From here I made my way to the business class lounge, however tragically this was out of order so I had to make use of the 1st Class facilities - as I am sure you can imagine I was appalled.

Having dug in to a tasty breakfast consisting of fresh fruit, pies, pastries, cakes, sandwiches and cappuccinos I made my way to the exclusive facilities - and my my! Even the toilet roll had been folded into a point! This is certinally a step up from India! I then proceeded to my gate for departure (not before popping a few sanries and a banana into my handbag for later snacks!!). I arrived at my seat - Many of you will know how I fight for extra leg room on the Ryan Air flights - Well, this was extra extra extra EXTRA leg room! My chair turned into a bed for gods sake and vibrated for a mini-massage! I had a virtually wide screen TV with proper heads phones... .and was waited on hand and foot! haha The plane food - well Heston Blumenthal has obviously never traveled first class! - was exquisite - chicken with baby carrots and green beans followed by fresh fruit. my my! After priory disembarkation of the plane (and a free toothbrush from the bathroom) I proceeded through immigration and hunted down a taxi.

Vietnam is exactly as I imagined.... only much much better. The irregular rickety buildings sporadically in between the fields and waterways, workers in the fields with their pointy hats. The houses, all in different colors, many duck-egg blue with terracotta tiles. The raw nature and beauty of the country hit as soon as the tires hit the runway. As we traveled further into the city of Hanoi the buildings became bigger, brighter and sturdier. A sea of motorbikes engulfed my taxi with horns a blazing all dodging one another! As we pulled off hte main road the motorbikes and people increased - shops selling everything you can imagine spilled out onto the roads. The street my hotel is on was too narrow for the taxi to go down, so we had to circle around to try and find it! Eventually we got close and I walked the last bit. One thing that really caught my eye was a lady lifting her bare-bummed child over the drain for a wee! Strange to see in a way, yet filled me with excitement too!

In my hotel I was greeted by a warm Vietnamese lady who is the same age as myself and studying English. She showed me a map of the area and I was blown away - I have never seen so many streets on an A3 piece of paper! She told me if she goes more than 1Km away from the hotel she gets lost! I best carry some breadcrumbs tomorrow......