Crazy Place

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Hello to you all!

Thanks for all your comments it was great to read them!

Well we've made it to sunny Hanoi and it's a head spinning introduction to Vietnam. We thought that HK was busy until we arrived here! Hanoi has served as Vietnams capital for almost 1000 years and its a place of pagodas, temples, french villas and the occasional office block trown in for good measure.

The traffic situation here is unreal. I don't think we've seen anything like it - so many motorbikes. You take your life into your own hands when attempting to cross the road and we're gradually getting to grips with it now with a couple of days practice! You just have to step out into the road, keep going at a steady pace (we find it's best to sing to yourself!) and let the traffic drive around you. If you stop they'll probably crash into you. Scary but hillarious!

We've just got back from a 2 day boat trip to Ha Long bay which is 3.5 hours east of Hanoi. It was so nice to leisurely drift among the thousands of whimsically sculptured islands, which are famously seen in the James Bond film Dr No.

Tomorrow we're flying down to Ho Chi Minh City and then on to the Mekong Delta for some fun on the river!

Just off out now to play chicken with the traffic to get a couple of cheap Hanoi beers - only 80p a pint (strange how we're rating the places we're going to on the price of beer!). Crossing the road on the way back home always seems so much easier!

Take care

Ems and Martin
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Photos

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
This one of Hanoi's most important historical monument, where the great communist leader Ho Chi Minh is burried.