Blimey I hear you cry - Nikki suggesting a plane journey rather than a bus, this travelling lark has gone to her head. So by plane it was - leaving Hue on the 13th Feb a journey of 1 hour to the old capitol Hanoi. We were ready to move, Hue although an interesting place seemed to lose some of its attraction in the dull damp atmosphere and I for one was ready to move North. The prospect of visiting Halong Bay (UESCO site) and then onto Sapa and the mountain of Fansipan re-energised us all.
 
In the end it was pretty uneventful and Nik was brilliant I think this not working business is doing her the power of good. The valium does help tho! So we were in Hanoi needing a bed for the night, we knew that it was only $10 from the airport to the centre, so armed with this and a bit of bartering later we got on board a minibus. This is normally where the fun starts; the driver normally has some sort of scam going and this guy was no exception. Upon arriving in the centre we arrived at what we thought was the hotel we had asked for only to be told that it was full by a very nice man and he would take us to his hotel which had better rooms for $15. I went in and checked with the man who was talking to the receptionist and yes, surprise he said we are fully booked. Slowly it began to dawn on us that this wasnt the hotel we had asked for, the same name but different address. By this point we had unloaded from the minibus and he just disappeared leaving us not where we wanted to be at all. The answer was to visit the most expensive coffee house we could find and feed Nik Chocolate cake! 
 
Eventually we found a hotel settled in and started to wander the streets taking in all the sites and sounds of the new city. Manic would describe it, crossing the road is unbelievable but now we have developed a policy of just relax and go.... or words to that effect. The traffic just drives round with or without lights on horn perpetually going...... has any city been any different though to date?!! Hanoi though was pretty cool, it had the mentalness of Saigon but the french colonial charm and history of Hoi An and first impressions were good despite the noise and smog effect! After food/beer and a hotel room the next decision involves where we going tomorrow. Upon arriving in Hanoi many people were telling us that the weather out at Halong Bay and up in Sapa was very bad - knockon effect from the China storms apparently. The main point with both these places is the view Halong is made up of nearly 2000 limestone island jutting out the sea and Sapa is up in the mountains with a spectacular landscape surrounding it. So it was 50:50 we went for Halong Bay and booked a 2 day 1 night cruise. Having eaten a fantastic curry and a couple of beers an early night and an early start was in order.
 
It was a relief to leave the hotel in the morning there are some places that you just dont feel safe in and that was one of them. On board the minibus with 14 other equally wide awake individuals we headed out of Hanoi towards Halong. Along the way we stopped at the obligatory Handicapped Handicraft Lacquer Wooden toy workshop. Unfortunately due to everyone being so cold we all headed straight for the cafe for hot drinks to warm up. The prospect of a bright and sunny cruise was diminishing with every kilometre that passed. Suitably refreshed back on the bus we arrived within the hour. Imagine the scene if you can this being potentially one of the new 7 wonders of the world thus there is a fair amount of tourist interest so one could expect there to be a few boats in the harbour 1000s of them all shapes and sizes and of varying degrees of luxury. Having been processed we joined the throng and headed down one of the many jetties... Having checked out of the hotel Nik, Zach and I had our full rucksak whereas most had a small overnite bag, this made for climbing over the 6 boats to get to our one quite interesting.  
 
Once aboard passports were taken and free drinks were served. Our guide then informed us that we could go to our rooms once we had manoevred out of the harbour as this was the time most accidents happened. He was right about 10 minutes later we saw a boat crash straight into another one putting a window out.Mad!!!

It was crisp and somewhat overcast and as we set off we were all hoping for a change in the conditions. The crew looked after us and served up a good seafood lunch and then we had got our rooms. The pace of the journey was pretty sedate but very calming and as you moved further away from the harbour the "fleet" began to spread out. The scenery, although shrouded partially by cloud/mist was spectacular, huge limestone islands sticking up out of the sea everywhere- not the usual turquoise sea and blue sky as in the guide books but we were just relieved that we could see them! The campaign on the internet to get Halong Bay listed as one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world is understandable, you can see why it might qualify even with the low visibility it is an imposing scene as you cruise around. Despite the cold most of the people on the trip headed up to the sundeck to take the first of many pictures. The rooms were soon allocated not exactly what we wanted but we have slept in alot worse places.

The first stop is the "Amazing Cave" nik poked her nose in and took a few pictures but soon returned to the entrance to be picked up later once we had walked through the cave system. Pretty impressive loads of stalactites/mites and rock formations. 

Next on the agenda was the kayaking with about an hours worth of light left, Nik and I boldly paddled out, it was stunning and you get a completely different perspective of your suroundings being so low on the water. All around us were the limestone karsts and numerous houseboats with women rowing around with boatloads of goods to buy - very surreal. We bought a beer from one lady and she said we could take her picture. She was most chuffed when she saw herself on the screen! As dusk was approaching we paddled back in the half light having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The evening saw a wonderful seafood meal followed by beers and many hands of gin rummy with an Ozzie couple from Canberra. Our original cabin had flooded when the shower was turned on upstairs, so we were moved to some of the crews quarters which was much nicer! With the heater turned onto max we slept brilliantly in the middle of this stunning landscape.  

In the morning it was time to head back to the harbour and avoid the cold we braved the deck for a few minutes before heading inside for coffee and warmth-the view we woke up to gave you such a feeling though... Even though we had only had 24 hours in this area it was truly worth seeing and it was amazing cruising through more of the limestone islands as we headed back. The journey back was uneventful thankfully and having pushed in between several boats we moored up some 50 yards from dry land. After scambling over another few boats we finally reached dry land! We then returned back to the bus for the 3 hour ride back to Hanoi...although this time we managed to have picked up even more travellers (including the most bizarre Japanese guy wearing pink gloves with love hearts on and a detached white fur hat from a completely different coat!) so the bus was packed to say the least. After more good food we passed back through what is I can only call a more industrial part to Vietnam... we still saw the beautiful rice padddies set amongst more limestone mountains but the main part of the journey was industrial.
 
On arriving back in Hanoi we headed to find a better hotel than the last....but in true Hogarth and Betts style that never happens! In the end it was a bizzare place called the 'Wing Hotel'. Two rooms left and one of them being on the roof that where we ended up. It was definitely quirky and one of the best places we have stayed just for its sheer oddity. The roof is where all the washing is done but despite this the views from outside our room were awesome. That evening was spent wandering around hanoi drinking beer Hoi on the side of the street for about 10pence a glass. One of the crazes is for the kids to attach airhorns to the bikes and cover them in fur and feather boas then proceed to cycle around the streets playing music and generally trying to impress the ladies. At the end of the nite we chilled out in a Jazz bar drinking some very expensive lager.
 
We now had a choice head upto Sapa in the mountains where it was blooming cold or save that for another time and move onto Laos and the warm weather. The sunshine won, the morning saw us soaking up the local cultures and wonderful characters on the streets, old ladies sitting on the side of the road displaying their red teeth from eating too many watermelon seeds and girls laden with fruit to sell as they walked the streets.... We also walked past the mystical Ngoc Son Temple in Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of the city...
Due to having an extra day we got on with the blog and admin stuff, the internet cafes here are really cheap but this is where the kids hangout in the day smoking and playing very loud computer games. Being the tolerant sort I l asted about 1 hour before my head exploded - we moved onto a quieter cafe. That night saw us eat another fantastic mea, still cant believe I am losing weight with the food we are eating. Must be the stress! We met an english guy who told us that England was having the best february weather wise for a really long time..bet everyone is glad we were now in the rain and cold!! So pleased we were heading to Laos early the next morning and that elusive sun. All in all Vietnam had been a marvellous experience but we were ready now to move on to our nxt adventure.
This is perhaps the most fulfilling part about our trip visiting so many countries eery day is different and we never know whats around the corner. Next stop Laos.........
 
When the alarm went off at 4.30am I was not happy but we packed and then checked out thinking we would find a taxi no problem.....we were wrong It was like a different place, the place was deserted such a change from the hustle and bustle we had seen during the daylight hours. We did find a taxi who seemed to go a very long way round to the airport but on route we saw the local madness of the market outside Hanoi already in full swing with everyone selling and buying flowers, food, you name it and all at 5am in the dark!!!A great sight to see as we were saying goodbye to Vietnam.... I for one was still in a state of shock though that I was at another airport with Nik ready to get on our second flight in the space of 7 days or so. I think I should have taken the valium. The flight went very smoothly and 50 minutes later we were in Laos ready for our next adventure. The visa process went reasonably smoothly after some pooling together of funds all 3 of us were allowed to enter the country.DESTINATION 4 HERE WE COME!!!