Ahem……..Gooooooooooood Morning Vietnaaaaaaaaam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry just had to!! Well I arrived in Hanoi, it’s as you would imagine bodies and mopeds everywhere!! it is all goooood though 🙂 Totally mental. I was warned that it’s really hard to cross the road here but I think Cork being the jay-walking capital of Europe has helped a lot!! Just gotta keep going and they don’t run you over. Really warm here, even some of the locals look a little overcooked these last few days! I reckon it must be 34 or 35 degrees. Pretty hot for walking around in!! Doesn’t help being so white because they constantly try to sell you stuff. Most of it is pineapples or “tat” but I’m determined not to buy any tat!!!! Went to see a water puppet show which wasn’t completely my scene but entertaining nonetheless!

Headed up to Halong Bay on monday just overnight. Got to spend a night on a boat which I was really looking forward to in theory, the reality was hot and sweaty!! Very enjoyable trip though, really beautiful scenery and we had the boat to ourselves which was a real treat. Also had some seriously good seafood straight out of the the South China Sea. Crabs are Gooooooooood!!!! In fact all the seafood is really good.

 

 

Did some cultural things today, including the Ho Chi Minh Museum, got to see the man himself, well in preserved format anyway. Little bit creepy though as his wish was to be cremated. Anyway the man is a GOD here so we went to check him out. Also went to see The Museum of Literature and Hanoi “Hilton” which is the prison where they kept political prisoners. Now that was a bit disturbing considering it wasn’t that long ago.

Tonight we begin our journey south and are getting an overnight train south to Hue where I’m planning to do nothing cultural and just chillax on the beach. The train journey is sure to be pretty nasty so I’ll fill y’all in on that in the next few days……..

There are 8 of us in the group now and everyone seems lovely. We’ll have more joining us along the way!!

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157605298213792/