Just arrived - already someones tried to scam us by arranging for us to be taken to the wrong hotel. Luckily wee had our trusty map and nade it to our prepaid hotel safe and sound.

Update soon,

Steve x

Hi guys, Shanita here with some reflections on Hanoi: CRAZY CITY!

We are based in the old town which is really the heart of the capital. The roads are mad: filled with motos beeping constantly. You basically have to walk on the roads as no real space on pavements and trying to avoid motos is a nightmare. Ive taken to holding steves hand, closing my eyes and trusting him to looking after me and get me across the road safely cos i panic too much when i see the bikes everywhere. Actually, they are pretty expert at swerving to avoid pedestrians as it turns out.

We wandered round the lake and visited the Ngoc Son Temple on the middle of the lake with its giant embalmed turtle. We also went to the famous water puppet theatre: it was strangely enjoyable, really entertaining and a great thing to see in Hanoi.

Very very cheap to eat and drink here, 40,000dong (less than 2 quid) for a meal and 60p for a beer! Stevie loves it! Lots of nice bars and restaurants.

Took a long walk to the Ho Chi Minh Complex- went to his mausoleum but sadly he's on a 3month trip to Russia for body maintenance so missed out on seeing his corpse. We did see the beautiful one pillar pagoda though!

Love Shanita xxx