Frantic Hanoi , Vietnam 

Hanoi is a massive assault on all of the senses. There are 6 M people and 4 M  scooters and motorbikes in the city and all of them want to be in the same street as you. They all blow their horns simultaneously so the noise goes straight through you. I found myself eyeball to eyeball with a guy on a scooter who as blowing his horn at me and I was shouting "toot,toot,toot,toot,toot,toot!"  His face was a picture. It made me feel better.

Crossing the street is a nerve wracking experience. The massed ranks of scooters just keep on coming. The technique is to step out into the flow and walk at a steady pace and they will avoid you. Really scary the first few times but it seems to work.

We made the mandatory visit to see President Ho in his mausoleum. Queuing was strictly controlled by the army. Everyone lined up in twos, stood to attention, hands out of pockets and marched smartly between the marshalling points.  Under close supervision we were ushered into his presence and then quickly out again. Outside, Frank caught up with us. In his French Canadian drawl he said, "Robin, who was that guy?" Frank had thought we were off to a museum. We walked through the city to the Hanoi Hilton, a French prison where they kept political prisoners. A testament to man's inhumanity to man.

In the afternoon we went to a performance of the Hanoi water puppets. The music and singing were great and the puppets told the story of Vietnam's origins and culture.

Then off to Halong Bay for a cruise around the islands and a night on the junk.  The old rust bucket turned out to be more comfortable than it looked from the outside and the food was some of the best that we had had in a while. The crew produced a cake and a gift for my birthday, Laziz produced a bottle of Vodka and a very nice evening was had by all. It was a pity that the weather wasn't better - overcast and a bit cool - as the scenery would have been even more spectacular against a blue sky. Exploring Halong Bay included a visit to the biggest limestone cave that I have ever seen and an early morning climb to the top of one of the karsts to enjoy the view of all of the boats in the bay.

Then sadly, it was time to get back on the rusty old bus for the 4 hour journey back to Hanoi in order to board the overnight sleeper to Hue. This is supposed to take 13 hours but usually runs late. We will let you know in our next post.