Let the Tour Commence!

---

Geo: 21.0243, 105.855

We rose early and went for another perfect breakfast in our perfect hotel, with its perfect staff. Stacey is now getting into the swing of the pill crushing, it's only taking about 4 spoons of jam and sugar for each malaria tablet now; only another 17 days of tablets to go! 😊

Hanoi itself is made up of several areas the old quarter, the French
quarter, the lake etc. Most of our experiences in the city have seen us
navigating the maze of streets in the Old Quarter: each street sells
only one type of produce and every shop in that street sells the same
style of item: there's Silk Street, Pots and Pans Street, Jewellery
Street - you get the picture. We are currently apparently residing on
Plastic Toy Street (a la Toymaster, not Ann Summers!)

This morning, we decided to head to the shops in the Old Quarter in search of souvenirs and nick-nacks for home. Ben wanted a Communist star t-shirt, while Stacey favoured the Same Same... but Different and I wanted to buy a i-Pho; made in Vietnam shirt! Winding
our way through the old quarter, we have had an (incredible) assault on
our senses: constant meep meep sounds come from every direction as the
crazy motor-cyclists warn you that they're about to run into you. The sizzling of bun cha (pork patties) on tiny barbeques throws out an aromatic smoke that creates a hazy, exotic feeling to the entire area.

Shopping in the area is a great game! You have to barter with a smile for the items you want, and it's impossible to choose from the huge array of items on offer. We could have kitted out several rooms in the house in Vietnamese homewares, but restricted ourselves to a couple fo decorative plates and bowls, some pho bowls and some chopsticks! (And of course, the t-shirts!)

Waving a sad goodbye to the wonderful staff at Holiday Diamond Hotel (we can't recommend the place highly enough!), we strapped on our backpacks and headed, like Kamikaze tourists, into the Hanoi traffic. It was one of the longest five minute journeys of my life and, finally arriving at our new hotel, we could not help but be disappointed. I think we had been so spoilt by the Diamond hotel that anything even of a slightly lower standard would have been terrible. However, this hotel is not of a slightly lower standard..... it's like comparing the Ritz to a Travelodge. No, that's unfair to Travelodges.... the Ritz to....... well to Hoang Ngoc 2!

The hotel clearly has grandiose visions of itself, it's opulently decked out in dark wood and gold, but the overarching effect is a dingy and claustrophobic atmosphere. The staff are not as friendly as in the previous hotel, yet there was one friendly face to greet Ben on his arrival in his room. A cockroach the size of an armoured tank raced across the floor to welcome him as he opened his door! Fortunately, Stacey and I are in the dizzy heights of the seventh floor where the oxygen supply is clearly too low for the critters. It's clearly too low for the elevator to function too as the lift has deserted us! Sweaty times ahead (who needs spinning classes!?)

Our tour leader has put the fear of God into us about being mugged or raped. We should not carry bags and should keep our money and valuables in our bras, or for Ben in his "man-pouch." However, we're going to take the advice with a pinch of salt and just remain our usual careful but realistic selves. Nothing we carry with us during the day has any huge value that cannot be replaced easily! What we have also got to be careful of is effectively grooming the children here by smiling at them or touching them. In doing so, we apparently make it very easy for the paedophiles who come to the country to gain the trust of the local children and thus this dark underbelly of SE Asia increases its grasp on the area. I had never thought about it in this way before. It's a real shame when the Western perversions affect the local people in such a drastic way.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of food (as always! All three of us enjoyed delicious noodle or rice dishes in a large restaurant made up of smaller kitchens, each preparing regional street food from the vast culinary range of the country. Sadly, we were unable to source our beloved white rose, but one day we will return to Hoi An and enjoy them in all their authenticity again!) We then wandered through the more modern part of the city.

Finally we were able to meet our tour grou for cocktails at a 7th floor bar overlooking the lake. It was a stuning location for our first encounter and everyone seems to be friendly, well-travelled and happy to spend time in diverse locations actually engaging with the local culture. We were worried with this being a YOLO tour that everyone would be 18 years old and wanting to drink every night, but out of the 13 people on this tour, 9 are teachers, 1 doctor, 1 accountant and of course Ben and Stacey business bods. So, all is good!

We went out for a group meal and continued to chat with our new group about our various adventures, and then home to bed to pack for the final morning in Hanoi and then out flight to Laos. Now the adventure and exploration of new horizons for us all begins...

---