Imagine Bangkok on acid, add about 7 million mopeds and you’ll get a pretty good idea of Hanoi! It’s mental. Narrow streets combined with kamikaze drivers, pavements full of people squatting on tiny stools eating pho (noodle soup), motorbikes parked on every available square inch of concrete and gutters brimming with food scraps and grimy water. You’re so busy trying not to get killed that it’s impossible to appreciate the (somewhat tardy) French architecture. And this is where we’d chosen to spend Christmas….luckily for us we met Richi and Louise from NZ, who were all too happy to spend Christmas Eve holed up in the safety of an English Pub! Pretty much a trend that lasted through Christmas Day and on into the New Year. Hurrah.
With 32,000 Vietnamese Dong to the pound, conversions were proving to be tricky but Kristian very much enjoyed getting his dong out to pay for things all the same. We spent the rainy days shopping, dodging human excretions of all kinds, mooching around a few museums (dull) and watching a water puppet show (suprisingly good). Halong Bay beckoned….and not a moment too soon
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