We woke up to our 4am alarm clock and it certainly felt like 4am as we could barely peel open our eyelids let alone contemplate getting showered and ready for another flight. In the end I skipped out the shower part of getting ready and Andrew only managed to get "washed" using water as he realised he had left our shampoo bottle in Christchurch. Therefore, we were ready within twenty minutes so we checked out and walked to the LCCT terminal building. It was still pitch black outside which made me even more grumpy as my body clock was a complete mess. We were expecting a hassle free experience but on arrival at the LCCT we were bombarded by what seemed like thousands of people. The airport was bustling with rather chatty people considering it was only 5am! I really couldn't deal with anything but a lovely member of staff must have seen the concern on my face as they pointed us in the direction of the Hanoi check-in desk. Our first mission was to pass through security before being questioned about our onward travel from Hanoi by the check-in desk member of staff. It was lucky that we for once had onward transport booked, but we weren't actually asked for any form of proof. We were unable to make our way to the departure lounge straight away so we went in search of a place to eat. We were disappointed to find McDonald's closed as the only other restaurant served an omelette accompanied with garlic bread for breakfast which didn't seem all that appealing at 5am. We found a Starbucks instead and so we eventually ordered a coffee. As we made the way to our departure lounge I got fairly stressed out after being bluntly reminded about the lack of queuing that occurs in Asia. I had to protect my broken wrist from becoming battered by body parts, bags, suitcases, trolleys and children! There was a sign to inform people that there was no toilet in the departure lounge and so Andrew and I immediately felt like we needed the toilet. We didn't have too much of a wait before we were asked to board our flight and Andrew made his way straight to the toilet. 
 The flight itself was uneventful and as smooth as usual with Air Asia. However, we managed to be seated amongst the travel-sick people, as the person sat behind Andrew vomited as the person sat next to me vomited, yet only when we took off. The person next to me even managed to drop a used sick bag on my lap instead of in a rubbish sack! We landed and immediately the whole plane stood up as my tender wrist got knocked by a backpack. The apology I received was pointless as I actually had to stand up to avoid the bag continuing to rest on my arm! Andrew simply told me to get used to the chaos as we were after all back in Asia. We stood in the queue to obtain our Vietnam tourist visa but when we reached the front we were told we had to go to a different desk to hand over our passport. We then returned to the initial desk to collect our visa and pay the $25 charge per person. It was all pretty unorganised but we should have expected nothing less. We received a nice sticker in our passport and proceeded to the stern faced immigration staff who asked us our departure airport before stamping and sliding back our passport without another word. Our backpack was already circulating on the conveyor belt and so we made our way out of the airport. There was a sign reading 'AMY FOSTER' and a person waiting to show us to our transfer into Hanoi city. It was ridiculously hot when we left the airport building and it was manic to say the least as the only thing we could hear were beeping horns coming from every direction. The drive into Hanoi city centre was quite nice as we passed lush green rice paddies and we spotted water buffaloes as well as people wearing the straw conical hats that epitomize Vietnam. It soon became apparent that the road markings meant nothing as cars drove anywhere they could fit on the road but rarely in a marked lane. We got dropped off in a narrow alleyway but a member of staff from 'The World Hotel' was waiting to show us the way. We were given a drink on our arrival at the hotel and a plate of watermelon while we filled in the paperwork. We were then shown to our room which looked a little run-down but it had air-con, WiFi, hot water and a Western bathroom for the grand price of six pound per night. The only thing that wasn't worth the price was the painting/clock affixed to the wall that sung a tune every time we switched on the bedroom light. It was the tackiest thing we had seen on our whole trip. We decided not to go to sleep even though we felt pretty tired, so we instead had a nice shower and got ready for a day in Hanoi. 
We began by walking through the manic twisty streets in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. There were things spilling all over the pavement, including fruit, meat, noodles, spices and anything else that was in some way edible. The constant beeping of horns continued as we walked and it became clear very quickly that avoiding the mopeds was a mission in itself whilst walking around Hanoi. Andrew told me off on numerous occasions for just freezing in the middle of the road and confusing the moped drivers as they tended to skirt around people anyway. We found an ATM and withdrew two million dong! We were by this point rather hungry but as we were walking we spotted a 'Travel Agent' so we decided to enquire about a 'Halong Bay' trip. We booked an overnight trip on a junk boat for the following day and the member of staff kindly recommended us a restaurant. We ate and then began to walk around 'Hoan Kiem Lake' which wasn't that pretty but it was the heart of Hanoi city. We sat on a bench for a while to take shade where we could see the grey 'Tortoise Tower' that stood in the middle of the lake. We continued our walk a bit further but then stopped for a cold drink as we were really struggling with the thirty five degree temperature! We completed our walk of the lake and spotted a large, nine metre high obelisk called the 'Writing Brush Tower'. We then walked back through the Old Quarter towards our hotel, but we got slightly lost. However, we did manage to find a small supermarket which we had been looking out for all day. 
We chilled out for an hour at our hotel before getting ready and walking to the 'Green Tangerine' restaurant. It was set in a 1920s Art Deco villa and there was also a lovely courtyard where we chose to sit. We were given a free cocktail and a mouthful of spring roll as we had accepted the leaflet offered to us by a member of staff outside on the street and chose to eat at the restaurant. They weren't to know that we had found out about the place in the Rough Guide! Andrew ordered a steak whilst I opted for scallops in orange sauce. It was the nicest food we had eaten in a long time, so nice that we splashed out and ordered a desert. Andrew was more than jealous of my chocolate desert as it was bitter. We had a drink and then called at the one and only supermarket for a beer to take back to our hotel. We sat in the communal area to use the internet whilst a fuss kicked off just outside of our hotel. We didn't stick around for long enough to find out the problem as we went to bed at 9pm after an exhausting day.