Archive for Hanoi

Hanoi to Chiang Mai, the easy way…

// September 25th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Hanoi

Flying over Chiang Mai Thailand

At least one part of the journey back to Hanoi from Bac Ha was good, the sleeper train we took was even better than the one we went on when we left Hanoi, still the staff woke everyone up at 4:30 am to be ready for the train arriving at 5ish… After a few days like we had had it was the last thing we needed but still at least we were back in Hanoi, the only thing left to do before we can get back to Thailand was wait for the card at our hotel and seeing as we felt we had seen all of Hanoi that we wanted to see we took a much needed shower and just rested in our room. (more…)

Stuck in Hanoi

// September 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hanoi

Old Quarter HAnoi Vietnam

Again with the early wake up call at 7am in the form of our tour guide rapping on the door, and despite an earlier night it wasn’t any easier dragging ourselves up to the dining room for polite conversation over breakfast, but as soon as we got a good coffee in us and the sea air worked its magic we were back in the game. The breakfast was nothing short of spectacular of course and once that was out of the way we could get on with enjoying the bay, we took our fresh cups of coffee and sat right on the front of the boat and dangled our legs over watching it all drift by and spotting jellyfish while we gently made our way slowly back to the port. (more…)

Getting lost in the Old Quarter, again…

// September 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hanoi

Hundreds of paper lanterns in Hanoi Old Quarter

The old quarter and all its hustle and bustle has kept us pretty busy for the last 3 days, Friday night we were out wandering as usual and stumbled across a night market, not just any night market either… It was made up of mainly garish masks, brightly coloured lanterns and children’s toys, loud flashing children’s toys. I can’t believe we hadn’t spotted it before because it was just around the corner from where we are staying. Its squeezed down the middle of the already narrow streets running through the old quarter and it spills from the shops on either side as well leaving just enough room to squeeze along and dodge the mopeds. As we ventured further in it got more and more crowded and loads more crazy. (more…)

Hanoi’s old quarter

// September 5th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hanoi

Cyclo tour of the Old Quarter Hanoi, Vietnam

The only way I can describe Hanoi is manic, you are always taking up precious space on the pavement or the road and there is always dozens of mopeds or hawkers that want to use the same piece of tarmac. On our second day in the city that never stops beeping we explored the old quarter even more, Georgie started to feel a bit rough and full of flu so we didn’t go too far, but you don’t need to! In fact its a fucking mission to go anywhere! The old quarter is alot like the Khao San rd in Bangkok only x2… twice the traffic, twice the size, twice the shops, it even feels twice as far from home and there’s generally twice as much going on. We strolled around barely being able to take it all in for several hours, then spotted a lake not too far away so we made a bee line for that hoping for a bit of space for a while. (more…)

Hoi An to Hue and then Hanoi…

// September 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hanoi

Reunification Express Train Vietnam

Leaving Hoi An was a bit of a pain in the ass because we had Georgies many many clothes to pick up and then get them all posted back to the UK, also we couldn’t get the train tickets we wanted so had to break up the journey from Hoi An to Hanoi with a stop at Hue so we could at least do the section of railway we wanted to most. Oh and top of that I thought it would be a good idea to give up smoking… (more…)