Hanoi

We arrived last night in Hanoi and were greeted by our organised Hotel Pickup (for "Mr James").  The airport is someway out of the city so we had some time in the car to the Hotel.  It was immediately obvious there were alot more cars, it almost seemed there was some order to the chaos.  Our hotel is located in the old part of town, a warren of narrow streets.  The car had quite a bit of difficulty pushing through everything, but we got there in the end. 

We went for a short walk around the place, and found it to be at least as manic as Ho Chi Minh.  We found heaps of bars and late night cafes but were weary so we headed back to our hotel.

Today we took the Lonely Planet walking tour which too us through the Old Quarter pretty conclusively.  Highlights being some of the stores along the streets.  Each street is named for what was traditionally sold there, so it was pretty neat walking down the "Blacksmith St" and seeting forging going on right there.  (The counterfeiting street was interesting also...)

We had lunch and embarked on a quest to see a Pagoda, as I hadn't visited one yet and felt I should.  The "One Pillar" pagoda is located behind Ho Chi Minh's Mauseleum so we headed that way.  On our journey we saw some pretty neat buildings in the region (like the Presidential Palace and the Mauseleum itself) but because it was late (and the gaurds weilding AK-47s) we didn't see the Pagoda.

We walked back and had dinner.  Early night tonight as we have to get up early to catch a bus to a boat to a bus to a hotel on Cat Ba island, where we will be discovering Halong Bay!

Cheers,

Michael

ps. photos later, no can do here... ;(