Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi - the city of TRAFFIC TERROR!!!! Never have we encountered roads like it. There are approximately a billion mopeds and motorcycles on the roads here, and there are no pavements as they park them all right next to the shops when they need to dismount. There is a special knack to crossing the street: walk extreeeeemely slowly! Completely opposite to your natural instinct to run for your life, you actually have to step into the line of oncoming traffic in order to cross and then (hopefully!) they will swerve perilously around you. It's been...life affirming.

There's so much to say for this entry, we've had a rather eventful time in vietnam so far! Let's start at the border. Mmmmm the border. Well, we arrived at 6.30am off the wonderful disco night bus (we loved it, it was eventful too but in different ways! and that's another story...) to glorious weather - it was chucking it down! We waited literally 3 hours for them to process everything, and were finally on our way, soaking wet and rather disgruntled with Vietnamese authorities. We arrived in Hanoi in the evening and scooted off to the Kangaroo Hotel! Very apt. It's been a good little place, even though we've nearly died every time we step outside.

On the positive side, Hanoi has quite a few cultural things to offer, and there are a few nice little restaurants. We went to a performance of traditional water puppetry "as performed in the 11th century by Vietnamese farmers!!!" with v gd live music. P especially liked the scene where the farmer drowns his wife with a bucket. Yes. I liked the bit with the special shiny dragons, swirling in the magical watery dew and shimmering in the dark... No, we are not drunk right now. The puppetmasters stand behind a screen, chest-deep in water, and move the puppets with long bamboo poles.

There's also a rather lovely lake in the middle of the old quarter which becomes the centre for lovey dovey couples at night time (so, naturally, P and I gravitated towards it). Legend has it that there is a magical sword in the middle of the lake, but I haven't seen it. Anyone else a little dubious??

Our first impressions of Vietnamese people, as opposed to the Thais, is that they are quite serious and a little leery! Personally, I've felt like I'm walking round in a human zoo which was funny at first but does get a little tiring. People will literally pull us over to them to compare skin colour "You're so white!" They think it's very beautiful, which makes us feel a lot better for still being pasty white! On the whole they are lovely, but perhaps not as cheery to 'falang' as the Thai people, and the potential for getting ripped off has definitely increased. We're trying to keep our wits about us, but sometimes you just cannot tell if you're in the middle of some ridiculous scam!

Tomorrow we head south with an open bus ticket, aiming to take in Hue, Hoi An, Ntrang, Mui Ne and Ho Chi Minh City. Quite a lot to grapple with in 3 weeks but we reckon we can do it!