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Published: August 5th 2008
So, another day, another country!
Flew from Bangkok to Hanoi, the start of a new adventure we hoped.......Northern Thailand was lovely but compared to our time in India, faaaarrrr too easy and not enough of a challenge!
Well, you hope for something enough and it comes right round and bights you on the bum!!......I'll explain:
We'd read a lot about the touts and hassle for your money in Vietnam and so touched down thinking we were prepared....we took a minibus from the airport into the "Old Quater" of Hanoi with every care not to be ripped off by the driver and to assure our price before even getting on board. Feeling quite smug, we were brought back to earth with a bump......Nothing could prepare us for the pack of hungry wolves that waited for our minibuses arrival at the bus stand(guys wanting to take us somewhere on their motorbikes or show us good hotel - for which they make a massive commission!)......As soon as the vehicle began to slow down they were sprinting along side, trying to get our attention, banging on the windows and shouting at us, and by the time we'd actually stopped we were surrounded
by approximately 12 men (I promise no exaggeration here!)............They were almost salivating at the sight of the letters ATM which had somehow mysteriously been tattooed on our foreheads!
Fortunately we'd already booked 2 beds in a dormitory and managed to wrangle our backpacks free of the rabid fiends and power-walked down the road in what we hoped was the right direction...........any faltering in our confidence here and we knew they'd pounce!!
Straight into the deep end, but we survived and are now quite used to beating them off.........they're only trying to make a living I guess.
Hanoi was a massive relief to us....at last somewhere with a bit of atmosphere, not too spruced up for the tourists and with a generous helping of hap-hazardness....similar to India, we felt at home again! The amount of scooters here is phenomenal and you have to have your whits about you at all times - they dont seem to stick to the correct side of the road, any piece of tarmac is theirs, and that goes for the cyclists too!
It was lovely to feel a bit of tradition still living in this country...I honestly believed that the conical hats
were made purely for the novelty value for tourists, but no, they still wear them hear, and when teamed with the baskets that they carry supported with the wooden bar over the shoulder (like a pair of scales), it's great!
Their wasn't really a lot to do here other than wonder and take in the atmosphere, so for Hanoi I'll call it a day. Our next stop was Mai Chau, home of traditional villages.
xxxxx
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scotty
non-member comment
hanoi
dan you look like a student i think you guys are getting younger! nic those 9p drinks must have been messy lol x