Hanoi - where to start? Arriving in pouring rain wasn't a good start, nor was the 5:30am arrival at the hotel and being told we had to wait till midday for our room! Luckily, Claire and Charlie had told us about Hoan Kiem Lake so we wandered down for a look. Well, at 6am the whole world and his dog were there, doing Tai Chi, playing badminton, running, lifting weights, stretching, hat waving classes, dance classes - you name it, they were doing it. This kept us entertained for quite a few hours!
It wasn't until the afternoon however, that we learnt to cross the roads. I have never seen so many bikes and our rules of the road do not apply. No-one stops at zebra crossings - just decoration our guide said! And there are no give ways, everyone just pulls out onto a roundabout and the others slow down to allow them to join. So, to cross the road you just walk out amidst the millions of bikes heading towards you. Just walk at a constant speed, our guide said, and the bikes will adjust to go round you either side, the cars won't! So we followed her across the middle of a busy square that we hadn't even attempted to cross before - we just walked out and she was right, the bikes avoided us (went either side but missed us!) and we made it to the other side. We got used to it but it was quite unnerving having to rely on people to miss you, rather than be in control.

The Lotte Tower was another highlight, with its glass Skywalk on the 65th floor. This modern tower block, with shopping mall underneath, was a complete contrast to the Old Quarter, where we were based, and the French Quarter, full of embassies and old crumbling, once glamorous, villas. Bob loved the glass floor of the Skywalk - took pic after pic, selfie after selfie and even pretended to skydive on it (we did have it to ourselves!). On the other hand I was a wuss, clung to the pillars, edged out to about a foot, had my pic taken, ran off and cried from relief - BUT I had done it, and was so pleased with myself afterwards.

Hoa Lo Prison was a sombre reminder of Vietnam's grim history, but an eye opener even so. But, to us, the real eye opener was the way the average Vietnamese lives. There are so many rules as to who has to provide for who, that 3-4 generations of the same family live in the same house with no privacy whatsoever, maybe a curtain hung between the beds!

But our abiding memory of Hanoi will be the bikes, the tooting (everyone uses their horn to warn people they are coming!), the heat and humidity, and the amazing food!! Oh, and the lack of white wine!!