Rainy, rainy day in Hanoi today. But what does that matter? It's not the same sort of rain as at home. You wander through the downpour with an umbrella shielding you..... to an extent..... and if it's really torrential you just bunker down in a cafe and watch the Vietnamese world pass by. Lateish to get up and out this morning as we had to pack our belongings by 12 to release our room to its next tenants. Also, we had to finalise our plans for next week which are a few days in Sapa and our 3 day cruisei in Halong Bay. I've read that you get what you pay for as regards Halong Bay, so we will be pushing the boat out....not literally of course! We had an afternoon to spend in Hanoi before returning by 5ish to the hotel for our transfer to the railway station at 6. Through the rain, we aimed for The Hanoi Hilton passing groups of locals sitting on their "infant school" sized plastic chairs around minute plasic tables. As they wait to sell an occasional something to someone, many seem to spend their time eating or playing board games or cards. Anyway, we found out that the prison museum closes for lunch between 12 and 1.30 so we found a cafe where we bought some local juice and watched a lot of wet souls pass us by from our window seat. We were accosted by a few people telling us that they were students as we attempted to cross the road which was very busy near the prison. Either an attempted scam or a genuine attempt to practise their English on us. Probably a scam! Anyway, they received a polite but firm "no thank you" from us which seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, it seems that most people here who approach you without invitation are likely to be attempting to get you to part with some of your money and hand it over to them. For less than £1 each we entered the museum. Very graphic in parts and it didn't take much imagination to get a feeling for the horrors that had taken place here. Well worth a visit to get a reality check. Certainly, the Vietnamese suffered greatly under the cruel French regime that was imposed upon them.There were some nasty items of torture on display which were used on those who did not obey their French masters. Strong images of the prison remain with me - the guillotine with a bucket to catch the sliced heads, photos of severed heads and the death row cells. Mankind is capable of immense inhumanity. There's also a smaller section devoted to how kindly the Vietnamese treated the American prisoners of war there in the 60's and early 70's. Maybe they did but I am awares the victors of war always write their own version of history. Another Italian meal which pleased my daughter before we got back to our hotel. A much classier joint this time....which pleased the adults! I would recommend the Hotel Elegance Ruby again here firstly because they gave us shower facilities between 5 and 6 so that we could freshen up before our night train journey to Hoi An .......even though we had booked out at midday. In addition, they sent someone out to buy croissants for us for the train journey and top of that they made sure that the price of the taxi to the railway station was fair by sending one of their staff in the taxi with us to the station here he took our luggage to our carriage. Amazing service at a very reasonable price without any expectation or desire for receiving tips too. Best service I've ever had. Train journey from Hanoi to Danang? We left at 7 p.m. and arrived next morning at 11. Although we are a family of three, I'm glad that we were able to pay the extra to claim the extrra bed in the four berth compartment. Slept quite well too. But I must advise anyone doing this journey to practise abstaining from toilet visits for a sustained period as the facilities weren't nice. Travellers seem unable to avoid missing the target and soiling where they shouldn't. Enough said! We were fortunate to have a family in the next compartment to us who were willing to share a little apricot liquor, tales of travel and thoughts of how to sort the evilsof the world with us. Chewing the cud does help pass the time. For the last two hours or so, it seemed that half of the occupants of the train were clutching their cameras and pointing them towards the unspoilt scenery to be seen below as unspoilt beach followed after unspoilt beach. At 11, 20 minutes later than due in, we reached Danang. Pleased, to say the least, that a driver holding our name up was ready to whisk us away to Hoi An where we will be staying at the Betel Homestay for the next 3 days. I think that our careful reading of tripadisor reviews has paid off again. Nice bungalow, nice pool, nice people.... and nice shower! Hopefully, more details to come about our stay in Hoi An in the next few days.