Week 1 in Vietnam

---

Hey all. Anita and i arrived in South-east Asia last Friday. We flew into Bangkok, from Amsterdam, to find Anita's backpack missing. ANyway, we made our way to D & D Inn on the Khoa San Road: The craziest place ever. The hotel was great with its Air Con Rooms and Rooftop Pool for only 850 Baht or 17 Euro or 25 Dollars.

Hanoi Vietnam on Monday. We flew with Air Asia for 150 Dollars and found a guest house next to the Cathedral for 12 Dollars per night. It's hard to get your head around the fact that the Vietnamese are so friendly and non aggressive. However, our taxi from the airport had 2 men up front and one, the younger of the two, consistently tried to take us to a hotel. We just told him we wanted to see the cathedral and walk around to get to know the place. Good Move I think.

The hostel wasn't great but the people were great and we booked Sapa and Halong Bay from them. Both V
IP for 80 Dollars each. That includes tour guides, sleeping train tickets, accomodation, food and transfers. so much easier when someone else is doing all the thinking. Hanoi was cool but a little quiet for night life: the place itself never slows down for the locals. Went for drinks with two Dutch people one night and it was crazy. Lots of Carlsberg on a barge on the REd River. The follwing day we did the Prison, and lots of walking, eating and drinking. we can sum up Hanoi by saying a fast moving City with serenity for us travellers. Strange concept but you'd understsand after one day here...

Writing now from Sapa. Absolutely beautiful but also absolutely soaking wet. It has rained constantly for the past two days. We trekked down to CAt CAt tribe somewhere in the mountains. It was scary walking across the bridges as the wood seemed like breaking but a moto ride back to our hotel for 2 dollars each was so nice.

Anyway, going back to Hanoi this evening on a sleeper train which is very very comfortable and then onto Halong Bay at 8 am tomorrow morning for our VIP Junk Boat With Kayaks. Write again Soon.

---