Here in Hanoi

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Dear All,

I just wanted to let you all know that Jenny and I have finished our first day in Vietnam together!

Jenny came and found me in my nice hotel room this morning (thank you Mum!) and we went and enjoyed a French influenced breakfast before starting the day.

We started by walking around the Old Quarter and to the lake which is said to have turtles in it but, due to its colour, its hard to believe one has ever been spotted.

We also went and booked a three day trip to Halong Bay, leaving tomorrow, which we are very excited about. We will spend one night on a boat and one in a hotel 'bungalow' on stilts in the water. The itinerary includes going kayaking through some of the caves, learning to fish and visiting the floating islands.

After a tasty stir fry lunch we followed the Lonely Planet's recommendation and went to a water puppets show for a bit of culture. It was done to live music which was probably the best bit of the show as the rest just seemed to be plastic figures splashing around in murky water! We didnt quite follow the storyline and we agreed afterwards that it reminded us of 'It's A Small World' at EuroDisney which probably isnt the best review!

We then looked through the various markets and tried to avoid being run over. There are so many mopeds that the first time I crossed the road, it seemed rather intimidating as everyone is beeping their horns. The rule is that anything with 4 wheels has right of way and anything smaller just has to avoid hiting anything so you have to just walk confidently into the road and hope for the best!

Jenny is already upstairs and I'm about to follow her as we are still exhausted and have to get up relatively early for our transfer to Halong Bay tomorrow- although we will probably be up from 0300!

Thanks for reading our first blog and I will upload a few pictures now to set the scene for you.

I hope you enjoy following our travels.

Lots of love to England,

Izzie and Jenny

xxxxx

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sounds like you are having a great adventure.
We loved the water puppets.