Howdy Hanoi - Peter

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DAY 1

After nearly 24 hours of travelling I finally touched down in Hanoi ... temperature - HOT. As I stepped off the plane I was hit by the sudden gust of warm air, and it wasn't the normal kind of warm, it was the type of heat that holds on to you and leaves you taking deep breaths to acclimatise yourself.

As I got into the waiting taxi I immediately realised several things.

Firstly, smiling and nodding at everything the taxi man said was the right thing to do, he was right (as he pointed at my belt) I am infact Batman.

Next I realised just how crazy the roads are in Vietnam. There arn't many traffic lights, and they ignore the ones that are here, and the cars use the horns as a sort of sonar telling motorcycles in the way how long they have before they are forced off the road. The motorbikes ... NEVER before have i seen such a constant flow of bikes, it's neverending. I saw one person on a motorbike, as is normal. I saw two people on a motorbike, someone getting a lift - not a problem. I saw 3 people on a motorbike, which looked like a weird friend spitroast ... things getting a bit strange. I saw a 4 person family on a motorbike, a child standing at the front and a baby strapped to the mother at the back. AND THEN, THE GRAND FINALE - FIVE people on ohen my first half hour ne bike (how is that even possible).

Then my first half hour in Vietnam ended and I arrived at the Splendid Suite Hotel in Hanoi. Nadine was in reception waiting for me and it was such a relief to see her as I had no clue what I was doing, as usual. After dumping my luggage in our room, a starving Nadine and I headed straight out for dinner. In a restaurant upstairs from a clothes store I had my first taste of proper cooked vietnamese food. Ok it was only beef and noodles but it was made in Vietnam and I used chopsticks so it counts!!

After a short walk we decided that it was time to relax after the long journey, so with a newly purchased bottle of pepsi we went back to the hotel room to celebrate a successful move with Duty Free's finest litre of JD.

Our hotel room - beautiful. The only downfall was that the ensuite bathroom was separated from the bedroom with a wall of clear glass with a curtain drawn around it. We pondered why the strange set up - I thought it was so that people could watch TV on the toilet. Anyway, im just glad that Nadine and I arn't voyeurs because the curtain was on the outside of the bathroom.

The rest of the night summed up - Airconditioning bliss, a few tipples of JD, cheesy Asain pop groups on TV and a good nights sleep!!

DAY 2

A leisurely day walking around the centre of Hanoi. We saw the Cathedral, which was unfortunately under renovation, and we spent a long time strolling around the lake. Every couple of metres we walked around the lake we bumped into bride after bride after bride - it must be the sought after spot for wedding photos.

Thanks to a sign from the heavens (in the form of a heavy shower of rain) we took shelter in a nice cafe by the lake where I had an amazing birthday

lunch of ice cream and local Hanoi beer.

After a lovely meal out, we tried to see the live puppet show by the lake, unfortunately there was no sign of it. However, because it was Vietnam's independance weeend there was live traditional singing and dancing which was amazing to see!

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Comments

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Welcome to TravelBlog :)
I hope you have a great stay in Vietnam!