Hello Hanoi!

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After a 10 hour flight with the very excellent Cathay Pacific we landed in Hong Kong… Whilst waiting for our connecting flight we stocked up on Starbucks! We finally landed in Hanoi a few hours later… We already arranged for our hotel, Hanoi Elegance 2 to pick us up at the airport. We found our driver and off we went. The drive into central Hanoi was an eye opener of what was to come! We saw all sorts of moped drivers carrying the most awkward things on their bikes. The best of the bunch were, pigs in a basket, ducks, fish, huge panes of glass. Those guys have a great sense of balance.
The car dropped us off on the other side of the street to the hotel… So, the adventure began… We had our first attempt at crossing one of Hanoi’s old quarter’s busy streets. All went well, we made into the hotel safely. In fact I am surprised how well we did throughout our stay in Hanoi. There were close calls, but we soon realised that the street chaos, was actually organised chaos.
Our hotel was really great, it was cheap as chips and it had internet access in the bedroom, great stuff. We were slightly bemused that the room didn’t have a window. After our first day in the old quarter we were soon grateful that the room didn’t have a window. The hustle and bustle of the street vendors, the constant honking of horns seemed a distant memory when we made it back to the hotel room in the evening. Our highlights of Hanoi included exploring the old town, tasting the superb Vietnamese coffee , the temple of literature - we were lucky enough to be there on a day where a group of young Vietnamese students seemed to be celebrating passing their exams. Their beautiful brightly coloured traditional outfits seemed to jump right out of the ancient backdrop of the temple. Drinking 6p beers was also a highlight of our stay there, the memory of taking a cyclo taxi to a restaurant by a man who look 105 will stay with me forever. He was completely fearless and seemed to have a never ending supply of power in his legs. We over took young moped drivers, we weaved in and out of the traffic, burning all red lights… he got us there safe and sound, we gave him a huge tip! The food was delicious, I was all up for taking a seat on one of the miniature plastic chairs which the street food stalls have dotted around, but Martyn, was a little bit more reserved and insisted on us eating in proper establishments. Good restaurants we visited included, Tamarind Café, Green Mango and Koto’s.
Enjoy the pictures!

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