Noisy Hanoi!

Hi all,

Arrived in Vietnam a few days ago through the border in the mountains. The difference to Laos is almost immediately noticable. Instead of the wooden shacks and and relitively quiet streets we were used to we were now greated with lots of concrete buildings and many, many motorbikes. It seems here that there aren't really any road rules (an invisible middle lane that both sides use to overtake) and all you hear is the constant beeping of horns.

We started with an overnight boat trip around the many islands around HaLong bay. This was so nice, amazing scenery and we were treated to some really great food and even the chance to swim. We both jumped off the top of the boat which was incredibly high, Becka gave herself a water enema and I smashed my nose so it bled and possible attracted the resident shark population.

We're in Hanoi right now but leaving tonight on an overnight train into Hue I think. Hanoi doesn't really float my boat (Simon) as its big, smelly and noisy (you walk down the street and you might as well be sucking an exhaust) but we've seen quite a bit (Ho Chi Minhs masoleum, water puppets, museums etc.) and had a bit of a drunken night last night celebrating one of our groups birthdays, ending in a karoke bar with our own private booth! Becka is stuggling this morning with a sore head and lack of vocabulary.

We will try and put photos on here as soon as we can but that hasn't really been possible at the moment due to the very slow internet connections and stoneage pc's.

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