Hanoi

Tired of buses and presented with the offer of a cheap flight northwards to Vietnam's capital, we travelled in style and comfort landing in Hanoi with plenty of daylight left to go hunting cheap accommodation. We were deposited from our Vietnam Airlines bus near St. Joseph's Cathedral in the Old Quarter. Now if anywhere thus far in the country has felt French it's Hanoi. The Cathedral looks down onto a busy intersection that wouldn't be out of place in Montemarte but for the steady stream of cyclo's and bikes laden down with anything from full kitchens to small one bed apartments (see photo above).

So we strolled along through the dappled side streets around the Cathedral and found a room. I've been the subject of some merciless slagging over my last haircut (which was on the cruise down the Yangtze) so this time I did the sensible thing and found a barber on the side of a very narrow street to do the job for about 2 euro. Harry the Snipper and I discussed all matters follicular as he snipped and shaved away, moving politely to my side every couple of minutes or so to let a moped whizz by. He did a better job than the ship's butcher, lets leave it at that!

A few minutes walk directly opposite the front of the Cathedral, and you are in gastronomic heaven. We settled on Paris Deli where I had my first steak in over three months. Oh Dear God. Unbelievable. The bulk of my meal nearly got the better of me as I descended the stairs from the balcony on which we ate, but brave little soldier that I am I managed to pull myself together. Bless.

We were anxious to find out as much as possible about trips to Halong Bay, so bailed into the Backpacker' s Hostel nearby to try and find some people who had done it already. Instead we met a bunch of lads from some hellhole in the north east of England who were absolutely delighted to be anywhere but home and thus made very enjoyable company. A gangly Canadian girl suggested a bar called Le Pub which was celebrating it's 4th birthday that night, so we all made our way through the mentalness of Dong Xuan night market to this little place that was heaving. We talked shite with Frenchies, Swedishies, Aussies..I played a bit of Elvis outside with a bedraggled yank and his guitar for a bit,.. good night. Then on to one of the few establishments that keep their doors open past 11.30, the bizarrely monickered 'Half Man Half Noodle'. Lots and lots and lots more shindiggery and gin later, myslef and Sarah found two moped musketeers outside to cling to as they hurled us along empty streets at breakneck speed through the lashing rain to our hotel.

The following morning/afternoon...ugggh. Bad bad hangovers. Sometime in the mid-afternoon the boozey haze abated enough for us to venture outside and walk around as much of the Old Quarter as we could manage. The Hoan Kiem lake front is beautiful, and we wandered through the various corners of the quarter where those 'agglomeration affects' I was so bored to tears with in business studies classes in the CBS were plainly evident (a shoe street, a tin box street, ..even a headstone street for godsake!). What makes the quarter so quaint I think is the multitude of trees that line the boulevards and seem to grow impossibly out of cracking pavement and shelter whole neighbourhoods.

We ate in the airy marble tabled Cafe Mocha and found a travel agents to arrange a trip to Halong, which we booked for the following morning.