Begining of the end

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Ok Kids,
Where to start?... I have to admit as far as low cost airlines go Jetstar is pretty good! No delays and a cheap seat to Asia is all I asked for. As for airline food jetstar is the worst of the worst but i found myself strangely excited every time the food cart was rolled out. At 30 odd thousand feet when your hungry any food will do... even to the point that aeroplane food can satisfy!

Our transit in Malaysia was smooth and we got to experience the wonders that a strong Aussie dollar can offer. 33 degree humid weather aside the 3am wakeup was not so welcome as we staggered our way onto our Airasia flight to Hanoi trying to keep our baggage below 15Kg. It is on flights such as these that provide the few cases where shorter is better. Brendan aside... my other travel mate Dan the man is 6 foot + and must sit bolt upright throughout the flight with knees sandwiched against the seat in front. Amazingly we were greeted upon arrival by an enthusiastic flight attendant proclaiming that not only were we on time but 10 minutes early. Not a small feet for anyone who's been regularly delayed up to 6 hours by airasia!

Our arrival in Hanoi provided quite a change from the quieter efficiency of Malaysia. Stepping off the plane into an unexpected 11 degrees in shorts and thongs is not a pleasant experience. After busting through a mob of taxi drivers we made it to the local bus depot and after some fussing about finally made it onto a buss bound for Old Hanoi. At just 40 cents we were quite chuffed at the savings we had made over taking a taxi which would have had a flag fall of more than twice this. Our bus even came with on board entertainment as we counted the seconds between each blast of the horn... while amusing at first this quickly turned to bewilderment when we realized this would occur almost every 10 seconds for the 40 or so KM journey which when combined to the Viet Hip Hop played over the speakers became quite intolerable.

For a person who pride himself on his map reading skills, Hanoi has proved to be my undoing... getting lost 3 times has perhaps been a boon and allowed us to eat in places we wold not have otherwise. Lunch was spent in a corner restaurant bustling with locals who were probably there for the cheap beer rather than the good food! This theme continued for the rest of the day meeting up with people at our hostel who took us to a roadside bar which consisted of a Keg... and thats about it. As more people arrived, more chairs were placed into the street diverting larger and larger amounts of traffic.

After drinking two pseudo bars dry we decided to call it a night. So good night or good morning, hope all is well... off to Sapa tomoz so probably won't have internet for up to a week. Will Write more when I can.

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