Hitting Hanoi

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Hey y'all
So here we are in Hanoi! Vietnam is nothing like what we expected, and our flight was at a ridiculous hour in the morning so it was tough going for a bit. However, for one of our friends it was even tougher as she was declined entry at the airport as she thought she could get a visa there but couldn't! She's joining us tomorrow, and currently we're spending a lot of time with Kirsty (another friend from Cocos) who was the girl who won her thai boxing match - we've met lots of nice people too.
Bangkok was cool as well, the humidity impressive and the bartering necessary but we definitely made the most of our day! I've bought some of those ridiculous harim pants which i know both mum and hannah will hate 😉 but yeah it was all good and not even a whiff of political protest.
Back to Hanoi: first impression was that, at least in appearance, it is extremely like Bangkok - busy, humid and the mopeds are insane! As we wandered around on our first day I was surprised, well more shocked, at the dirty looks I was getting. It turns out Hanoi is still extremely traditional, and particularly the older men have a huge problem with white women; so its back to the good old days of covering up but it seems to no avail - you can't hide being white, taller than most of the women (I know!) and a woman so Kirsty is sticking to her guns and her short denim skirt. Once you get past the shock of this the city is really cool; it's so alive with people and the traffic is mental - there seems no system at all, but don't worry we're being careful. Lots of markets, shops and a huge and ridiculously cheap mall which is more importantly air conditioned. We've also come accross many art galleries which are interesting and there is loads of tourist based activities coming up. When Jen arrives tomorrow (the visa girl, probably should call her a woman actually - she's 30!) we're planning seeing the water puppets, visiting the temple in the middle of the Hoa Kiem Lake, going to a snake restaurant (shots of blood and bile after you watch them kill the cobra!), three day cruise to Halong bay from Friday so you probably won't hear from us for a while, and going to the Temple of Literature. We shouldn't run out of things to do!
Gotta go to the bar's happy hour now (2 for 1 cocktails tonight I believe - get in there!) but you should know this place is incredible with its apparently rude men, amazed women and sometimes a seemingly bizarre culture - you can't stop learning or misunderstanding their way of life, but Ed and I are getting to grips with it so everything is good 😊
Hope you are all well, and are enjoying the freedom of no more exams! Hope Spain is good Hannah! Thanks for transferring the money mum, love to all the family. Its great hearing from all of you but we won't be on here for probably about 5 days as a warning after this. lots of love to you all, take care xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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