Firstly can Daniel and I say a HUGE thank you to the staff at Elegance Hotel 2 in Hanoi. They were out of this world helpful and we may well not now be in Da Nang with our bikes ready to start our cycle tomorrow if it weren't for them. THANK YOU!!
Hanoi was great, we loved it. I was nervous at first as we were collected from the airport by the hotel car and taken to the hotel through terrifyingly chaotic and loud traffic. The drivers here beep ALL the time. I had been told that beeping once meant move, twice meant move quickly and three times meant throw yourself into a ditch. It doesn't. You would never leave the ditch as everyone beeps constantly. Beeps mean "get out the way", "hi", "move", "i am bigger than you", "listen to my cool new horn", "i have a big...car". It is crazy. When walking along the street you simply have to have faith that the bikes and cars coming from behind you don't want to crash into you as it would cause them inconvenience. Beep beep beep. You never know if they are beeping you but generally no one moves when they are beeped anyway, or as i say, everyone would be in the ditch all the time. It is standard on a 2 lane road to see 3 vehicles overtaking at the same time and narrowly missing the truck or bus coming in the other direction. This is normal. Routine. Constant. In fact on our way back from Ha Long Bay Daniel was getting annoyed with the driver because we were going slowly and he was not overtaking enough!
Hanoi is very pretty and the food i have had here has been some of the best i have had anywhere. This has taken me totally by surprise as i was only thinking about the cycling until we arrived.
The Hanoi Opera House in the French Quarter
We took a day trip to Ha Long Bay and met some great guys called Ben and Cheug. It was a hairy 3 hour mini bus ride there and back and the weather wasn't great but we had a wonderful time on the Red Dragon with Soio our tour guide.
Our watermelon boat
I definitely want to come back when it's sunnier. Highly recommend a trip.
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