We arrived back in Hanoi ready to explore Vietnam's capital city and to see if we could survive its notorious roads.
First on the agenda was a trip to the Laos embassy to sort out yet another visa and then we hopped onto our first cyclo (a tuk-tuk powered by a bicycle) to take us off to see the man himself Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Mihn for those of you less well acquainted!) The poor old cyclist struggled up a couple of inclines to get us to our destination and we finally hopped out leaving him panting and sweating. With our impeccable sense of timing we had failed to realise that the Mausoleum is only open during the morning and we rocked up just after midday - bugger! We did see the one pillar pagoda and Ban Dinh square which make up the complex around the final resting place of Vietnam's favorite uncle.
We continued on foot and were stopped by some Vietnamese tourists for a photo opportunity, we are minor celebrities in these parts it seems. Next stop was with an old guy who flagged us down and insisted we smoke his pipe and drink some of his Vietnamese whiskey.
We are, by now, wary of any one who appears to be offering us something for nothing but we spent a lovely 30 minutes sitting on the pavement with this man and he did nothing but wave us off and insist that he and Dave were actually 'Same Same'.
We then made our way back over to the attractive old quarter of Hanoi where we had arranged to meet up with Jess and Andy and introduce them to the famed Bia Hoi. We grabbed ourselves four chairs and found a prime spot at Bia Hoi junction.
We spent an enjoyable evening watching the world go by Hanoi style and sinking several of our favourite Vietnamese beverage. After around 4 hours of drinking we came to settle the bill and were amazed at the tiny sum of £5 which was demanded! We waved goodbye to our new Australian mates and staggered off back to the hotel.
The next day the highlight was our visit to the Water Puppet theatre which is a traditional art form and has its origins in the flooded rice fields of Northern Vietnam. We enjoyed the short show and applauded the soggy puppeteers when they appeared from their hiding places.
We were surprised by how much we liked Hanoi as we hadn't heard great things about the city and we found ourselves wandering down quaint little lanes lined with fancy boutiques, bakeries and admiring some of the city's cathedrals and parks.
Food vendors huddled down every alley way, filling the air with the smoke from their bbqs; although we steered clear of anything wrapped in banana leaves after an unfortunate encounter with some raw pork when we thought we had ordered the North Vietnamese spring rolls, Nem. We unwrapped our parcels to be faced with what looked like uncooked meat and wondered if our attempts at Vietnamese were really that bad or if the people serving us were testing our foreign stomachs.
Our Vietnamese adventure was over and it was time to make the killer journey to Laos. We tried to find the most comfortable way to make this 24 hour jaunt but it is nigh on impossible to find reliable information as every person you speak to in a tour office has the ulterior motive of selling you a ticket on their bus. We ended up with tickets for a 'sitting' bus opposed to the 'sleeper' bus but with the promise that this would take us all the way to the Laos capital, Vientiane. It did indeed take us all the way along with an aisle full of rice, fridges, bags and numerous extra passengers lying on top of all this produce.
We had to clamber over all the things in the aisle every time we wanted to leave the bus
First on the agenda was a trip to the Laos embassy to sort out yet another visa and then we hopped onto our first cyclo (a tuk-tuk powered by a bicycle) to take us off to see the man himself Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Mihn for those of you less well acquainted!) The poor old cyclist struggled up a couple of inclines to get us to our destination and we finally hopped out leaving him panting and sweating. With our impeccable sense of timing we had failed to realise that the Mausoleum is only open during the morning and we rocked up just after midday - bugger! We did see the one pillar pagoda and Ban Dinh square which make up the complex around the final resting place of Vietnam's favorite uncle.
We continued on foot and were stopped by some Vietnamese tourists for a photo opportunity, we are minor celebrities in these parts it seems. Next stop was with an old guy who flagged us down and insisted we smoke his pipe and drink some of his Vietnamese whiskey.
We are, by now, wary of any one who appears to be offering us something for nothing but we spent a lovely 30 minutes sitting on the pavement with this man and he did nothing but wave us off and insist that he and Dave were actually 'Same Same'.We then made our way back over to the attractive old quarter of Hanoi where we had arranged to meet up with Jess and Andy and introduce them to the famed Bia Hoi. We grabbed ourselves four chairs and found a prime spot at Bia Hoi junction.
We spent an enjoyable evening watching the world go by Hanoi style and sinking several of our favourite Vietnamese beverage. After around 4 hours of drinking we came to settle the bill and were amazed at the tiny sum of £5 which was demanded! We waved goodbye to our new Australian mates and staggered off back to the hotel.The next day the highlight was our visit to the Water Puppet theatre which is a traditional art form and has its origins in the flooded rice fields of Northern Vietnam. We enjoyed the short show and applauded the soggy puppeteers when they appeared from their hiding places.
We were surprised by how much we liked Hanoi as we hadn't heard great things about the city and we found ourselves wandering down quaint little lanes lined with fancy boutiques, bakeries and admiring some of the city's cathedrals and parks.
Food vendors huddled down every alley way, filling the air with the smoke from their bbqs; although we steered clear of anything wrapped in banana leaves after an unfortunate encounter with some raw pork when we thought we had ordered the North Vietnamese spring rolls, Nem. We unwrapped our parcels to be faced with what looked like uncooked meat and wondered if our attempts at Vietnamese were really that bad or if the people serving us were testing our foreign stomachs.
Our Vietnamese adventure was over and it was time to make the killer journey to Laos. We tried to find the most comfortable way to make this 24 hour jaunt but it is nigh on impossible to find reliable information as every person you speak to in a tour office has the ulterior motive of selling you a ticket on their bus. We ended up with tickets for a 'sitting' bus opposed to the 'sleeper' bus but with the promise that this would take us all the way to the Laos capital, Vientiane. It did indeed take us all the way along with an aisle full of rice, fridges, bags and numerous extra passengers lying on top of all this produce.
We had to clamber over all the things in the aisle every time we wanted to leave the bus
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