Thailand to Vietnam (Hanoi)

Up early (11am) to catch our mini van to the airport at 12 noon. No dramas at all which was cool. Arrive at the airport to check in and realise that our flight does not leave until 5.45pm.....nice one Carly!!!

The flight (When the time arrived) was short only 1hr 25min. Landing in Hanoi (North Vietnam) we were scanned by this heat devise that checks to see if your running a temp. If you are you have H5N1 (Bird Flu) and won't be let into the country....we did not have a temp so were let through.

The weather here in Hanoi is vey much like NZ....cold!!!! The man who was to pick us up from the airport was not there so had to pay a local taxi $20USD to get into the City. He dropped us at the guesthouse (as we has a reservation) and I was explaining to the manager that his driver did not meet us and had to pay for a taxi to which he replied he has no driver....? Another look at the name of the place and we had been dropped at the wrong Hotel....neat....back into another taxi over to the correct one. Checked in and all sweet :-)

The next morning we walked around the old quarter of the city....very very busy with motorbikes!!! You just have to walk out into the road and hope you don't get hit reaching the other side. That night we went to The Water Puppets show....neat but did not understand a word that was said as they say "while in Rome" or Hanoi for us. We caught a couple of Cyclos back to the hotel. I felt very sorry for the guy carrying me :-)

The next day spent very much like the first, walking around defying all western road rules taking in the sites of Hanoi. After much trouble that I won't go into we managed to book a trip up to Sapa. Sapa is in the very north of Vietnam bordering with China. It is (from what we can understand) a hill village where the surrounding villages come to sell handicrafts in the local markets. I can't wait to get there as it is in the mountains and the village is meant to be above the clouds...very very cool!!!!

That night we went out of the old quarter to the circus.....yes again Wendy, Carly was singing her songs :-) The circus was really good. We had people bending over backwards, people flying through the air, other people were bouncing on their bums on the tight rope plus heaps heaps more. The second half of the show brought out the animals...this we did not like as much. The animals were entertaining but we prefer to see Zoos where they would have a better life. The whole way through the show Carly had a big grin on her face and could not stop clapping...I have now dubbed her Clappy :-)

Well it is now the third day in Hanoi and time to move on. We are catching the overnight train up to Sapa at 10pm our time. I don't know if they have internet up there (I'm sure they do) but will update this site when we get back including photos. I have tried to update this site at some internet cafes here but it seems to be blocked at a lot of places...so please keep checking.