So we arrive in Hanoi at 1am after our flight from Shanghai – we flew through a giant lightening storm it was lighting up the whole sky the view from the plane was amazing although pretty scarey for a bit.

We had paid $25 dollars ($15 in the daytime)for a prepaid taxi through the hostel as we heard so many horror stories of dodgy taxi drivers and since we were arriving at 1am we figured it was easier so we were surprised to see that we were sharing a taxi with another girl who had also paid $15 – cheeky sods . Anyway we arrive at the hostel and met a guy just leaving to go to China who had scraped all his face – he warns us not to go out after midnight as people on mopeds try to grab you bag or in his case ipod out of his hands – he had grabbed onto the bike but fell hence the face!! Welcome to Vietnam !!

The next day we mention the taxi incident and the hostel manager was quick to call the driver and then refunded us $10 as he had the other girl too he was overcharging us – maybe its ok here after all :-)

We got our stuff together we were sending home (souveneirs and stuff from China) and found the post office and got it all sent home with no drama – snail mail so it will take 3-6 months to get there – fingers crossed haha.

We spend the next day just wandering around exploring – there are moped everywhere its mental crossing the road, we ate Pho their street food noodle dish which is delicious sooo nice to have yummy noodles again. The place is rather hectic with markets and you have to be careful not to get run over not loads to see here we have been a bit lazy as we are exhausted we really need some down time to chill out and relax and have some long lies with no sightseeing. Roll on beach time.

We have free beer at the hostel 7-8pm and we get free breakfast which is a hot baguette with bread and jam – any free things are good though – we hear yet more stories of people getting robbed.

We met up with our friends we met in China to watch the Man City game - free beer at the hostel but there wasnt enough to drown poor Marc's sorrows when they got beat in the last minute - it didnt help that our mates and the wee guys in the hostel bar were all Man United fans :-(

We arranged our open bus ticket which takes us from Hoian down to Ho Chin Min City stopping off where we want along the way - we have heard good and terrible stories of these buses but its cheap so its the way to go - we met a couple Zac & Jodi from Australia on the Halong Bay tour so we all leave tonight to head off to Hoi An - let the journey begin !!

Costs
Double room with a toilet at a hostel - £16
Open bus ticket - £26 per person
Taxi from the airport through the hostel - £16
Bowl of Pho Bo (Beef noodles) - 89p
Large glass of draught beer on the street - 18p per glass