So we had decided to get a flight to save the long old journey to Hanoi. It wasn't just the long bus ride that put us off but throughout Laos, we chatted to so many people about Vietnam and that particular journey, and it was all bad feedback, saying how police got on the bus and demanded more money before carrying on, and other such stories like that. Before we took off I emailed a place in Hanoi who said they did airport pick up if you stay at the hotel. We tried to call them to confirm they got the email but had no luck getting through. But sure enough, when we came through passport control with our new visa stamped, there was our guy holding up my name on a bit of card! Didn't we do well. Yes.
We got to our hotel and settled in. The hotel lady was crazy. She was really lovely and helpful but you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her! Crazy. We went out for a wander and a bite to eat. I didn't like Hanoi already. It really threw me out my comfort zone. The traffic was just ridiculous. Motorbikes upon motorbikes upon motorbikes. All using their horns for no reason. I think after Laos, which was unbelievably calm, Hanoi was going to take a bit of getting used to. Still, we had a tv with satellite in our room so wasn't all bad. Haha. Joke.
We spent a day just milling around and seeing what was about. Walking round the huge lake, dodging people trying to sell us everything including the clothes off their back. Actually that's not even an exaggeration. One night I was walking along and my flip flop suddenly broke and flipped up in the air, and some woman came running over, taking off her shoes and tried to sell them to me! As kind as it was I had to decline. Their feet are tiny!
We found a great cafe with sheets of paper for tablecloth and a bunch of crayons. It's the simple things in life that make you happy. We spent ages in there one afternoon just listening to the chilled music and drawing all over the tablecloth. We had been walking around for ages though so it was a well deserved little break. We'd been to the prisons where John McCain had been kept. He was shot down and arrested in 1967 and suffered several injuries. He spent 2 years in solitary confinement and leg irons as punishment for insulting some guards. There you go. You learn something new everyday.
A favourite part of Hanoi (there really was one) was the water puppet show. It was all in Vietnemese obviously but it was so colourful, and you could follow it anyway. It was an hour filled with live traditional music and great looking puppets in the water telling short stories. We couldn't believe it when people were walking out. We chatted to a girl from Israel the next day who had also been there. She said she found it so boring. Pfff. I stopped talking to her. She was boring.
And another evening we went to the Jazz bar that we'd read about. The music was great. And then obviously we took a bit of advantage of our tv and the film channel. And HBO. And we discovered a show called 'flight of the concords.' Anyone heard about it? It's like the Mighty Boosh but they're from NZ. Pretty funny.
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