James & Heather Travelogues

On arrival at Hanoi, we grabbed a taxi to the old quarter where we staying. Before arriving at Hanoi, we had spoken to a young couple from Melbourne who told us to avoid the quarter as they had stayed there and hated it. Hmm, not sure how this was going to go...

Things didn't start to well, when they confused me with someone else who had the same first name but a different surname. They kept saying "where are you friends?" and "you are early". It turns out the other person had booked for 7 people on the night that we were due to leave. It also turns out that there room for us, however they had a sister hotel that was a couple of hundred yards down the road, so were able to fit us in there. It was a slightly frustrating time and left us feeling wary about what we had booked.

Once checked in, and had a much needed shower, we went for a walk in to town to book an overnight stay in Ha Long bay We have been reading the 'Lonely Planet South East Asia on a Shoestring' religiously for the last couple of months, and it had identified a reliable agent that we could book with. We found them, paid a slightly higher than normal price and was assured that the boat would have electric fans and air conditioning should we need it.

We continued to wander around the town, visiting the markets on the way and making some necessary purchases: a new pair of reef sandals each - ten dorrar and an England football t-shit - also ten dorrar but I don't think it's an official one at that price

We spent the two days we were in Hanoi wandering around the old quarter and came to the conclusion that it was a wonderful place. You needed to be careful crossing the road so that you weren't taken out by a scooter, but that is par for the course in Vietnam and indeed South East Asia.

Next stop Ha Long Bay.