31st December 2005 We feel like we have deserved our lie in this morning, especially as we had a relatively sleepless night with the bed creaking really badly and the hotel staff waking us up at 6am by shouting to one another through the hotel. We immediately notice that the traffic here is equally as bad as in Saigon with the one major difference - the streets in the old quater are much narrower than Saigon and although it gives the place much more character it feels like there are more motorcycles here with them parked all over the pavements and screaming round corners and down the streets in a chaotic way. The noise here is defeaning and we pity those who arrive fresh in South East Asia (kind of like us arriving in Bangkok really) straight into Hanoi. The old quarter is quite pretty and it's a real toss up as to which is the better city, Hanoi or Saigon. Everyone is so crammed in here you can't imagine how they live their lives like this. The same pavements they eat and drink on are used by dogs to foul the pavement and to park their motor cycles, it's all pretty crazy. Once more the hassling from the moto drivers and cyclo riders is almost incessant except they have an even more annoying trick here (besides following you down the road even when you have told them no thanks many times over). They start crying out "cooeeee" like we are in some sort of giant bird cage or something. We dare not even look at them for fear of giving them any indication that we want a lift somewhere. After a while this gets pretty annoying so Stu starts to shout "coooeeee" back which just gets them even more agitated. We stop for lunch on 'nice restaurant' street opposite St Josephs Cathedral and plan our next move. Much to our surpise after 15 or so minutes the boy Fergus turns up who just happened to be sitting in the corner having chosen the same restaurant in which to eat. This is hardly surprising seeing that we are both avid followers of the LP guidebooks and there are only so many places in which we could meet if we are restricted to the guidebook. He informs us of his antics in Sapa (he got a bit sick and thought he had Malaria). Bascially we thought this was all a big excuse for his splurge as he stayed in the 5 star Royal Victoria hotel in Sapa for hundreds of dorrars a night. Still it's good to see a familiar face and we arrange to meet up later for New Years Eve party (pub). We take the LP walking tour round town which is more like a "try not to get run over" tour. Many of the streets here (as elsewhere we have visited) are named after the product that is principally sold on those streets. So after we have walked down 'bathroom' street and 'sweets' street (Amy's favourite) we get to 'towel' street and onto 'welding random pieces of metal street'. You wonder how these shops sell anything when the one next door sells exactly the same stuff! Back to the hotel to get dolled up for the evening and we meet Fergus in the pub. We have started to see more and more of the local barmaids being 'sponsored' to sell international beers so whilst they may have a local (cheap) beer on tap Stu keeps being 'persuaded' to go for the more expensive international option. Amy is pretty sure Stu just likes the attention as Stu gets the 100 questions as to why he wanted Halida beer outside and then suddenly wants Tiger beer when we get inside the pub. (Got to keep the locals happy if you can surely?) After a few (different) beers we notice the nice Welsh couple sitting beside looking pretty forlorn, jetlagged and basically wanting to go home. Yes, you guessed it, they had just arrived and couldn't believe this place. We invite them to join us and share our bonkers stories (the smells and the noise, pigs on the back of motorcycles, 5 people on one bike type stuff) about SE Asia and tell them not to worry as we have all been thinking the same thing at some stage, and you kind of get used to it after a while. We walk to the Irish bar which is surprisingly empty, well as empty as any Irish bar I have ever seen. A couple of Carlsberg, yes Carlsberg (the lady was nice and friendly alright!) later and we head for the square just to the North of the Turtle lake. After about 10 minutes we realise we are walking in the wrong direction and walk back, it's now 11.59. We arrive just in time at the lake and are expecting to see some nice fireworks or someone singing the new year in or something but sadly none of that organised stuff is going on. What we actually see resembles some kind of motorbike rally as every Vietnamese person and their dog has turned up at the square expecting something to happen. A small banger is thrown and a crappy firework is set off, no countdown, no flashing lights no big fan fare at all. We all start shaking hands and doing the happy new year thing shouting and patting each other on the back. All the Vietnamese look at us and sit on their bikes. So we initiate a bit of happy new year to those standing around us and they politely reply back, not really getting the whole westernised new year thing at all. Then we begin to realise we are standing right in the middle of the road and there are 100, 000 people on motorbikes looking to go home for a nice cup of Vietnamese tea. We scarper and head off back to the pub. It's not really surprising that they don't get new year as their own is less than a month away. However you feel that the more Hanoi opens itself up, the more the locals will 'get it' and this place will be a much more celebratory place on NYE in years to come. Sunday January 1st 2006 We wake up with surprisingly little hangovers. Breakfast is naturally bread and Jam with coffee. Note to all: The Vietnamese generally don't do breakfast very well at all unless bread and Jam are your thing. Why they don't serve their own noodles for breakfast I'll never know. This though is the only blot on an otherwise fabulous Vietnamese menu. We undertake a bit of shopping for souveniers (stuff's in the post guys!!!) and stumble across the fantastic CD's at 10,000 dong each. Brilliant. Let's hope they work though eh. Stu buys 2 silk ties for 3 dorrar (did I say we were getting good at bartering or what?) We go for the traditional new years afternoon cake and coffee (it's new but I'm sure it will catch on back home). The day seems to fly by in a bit of a haze, in and out of shops and the hangovers finally start to kick in. Tomorrow night we are on our way to Sa pa so we arrange to meet Gaz, Lucy (Wlesh couple) and Fergus for one last slap up meal. Stu has a sort of Italian Sausage hot pot and Amy has Pasta. The wine we have is great. A few beers later we say our goodbyes, It's said to say goodbye to the old fella Fergus as we've had some laughs together. Monday 2nd January 2006. Today we get up and besically have a bit of a sort it all out day. The weather is not too bad, a nice 20 degrees or so. More shopping and an update of the internet later we decide to embark on a tour of some of Hanoi's sights, even though most are closed on a Monday (try and work that one out then?) Ho Chi Minh's mauseleum looks pretty similar to Mau's in Beijing and the Museum looks interesting but is also closed. We walk probably about 6-7km to the North of the City and around another large lake. That's one thing this place has got going for it, lots of lovely lakes. We try the local Beer Hoi once more which is a local beer brewed without preservatives. Amazingly tasty and at 4000 dong (about 15p) a glass cannot be beaten really. Dinner in the evening consists of Cha Ca. You know right? We went to a restaurant which only served one dish, this Cha Ca. They then proceeded to bring out all the ingedients together with small stove. The food was cooked in front of us with the main ingredient being fish. All we had to do was roll all the cooked food into a fresh spring roll, dip into yummy sauce and then eat. Delicious. We get the taxi to the train station and are ready to begin our adventure up into the North Western province and the town of Sa pa. The train is an overnighter and we are due to arrive at about 6 in the morning. We'll keep you posted. Happy New Year everyone. Lots of Love Stu & Amy