Last Day In Vietnam

We are off! In about 2 hrs from now Ross and I will be getting comfy in a bus heading for Laos – a 20 hr bus journey away. Back in Hanoi the novelty of heat, sweat, noise and the constant “you take motorcycle” has worn off and Im looking forward to the next phase

Hanoi is full of shopping opportunities for the buying public, but if your not into this (or more reasonably, do not have any room in the pack) there is little else to do but eat and drink. Finding your way around Hanoi (or any where else for that matter) is realitively easy as most shops have the name of the street and number on them … the only problem is that alot of streets change names half way thru and they are not always the same as on the map!

Easiest way to get around is by taxi – as long as it is a metered one. Its abit more expensive in Hanoi than else where but generally pretty cheap as taxis go – $2-$3 a trip. Mind you, for the first time (when arriving back from Ha Long) a taxi driver tried to rip us off. I asked him twice to turn his meter on but “it broke” and the fare was over twice what it should have been. As we had already taken the same trip before I told him he would get 50,000 rather the 100,000 he was asking for and after alot of carry on from him and laughs from the bystanders, it was take it or nothing…. he took it and probably still made a healthy profit. Before doing this however, always make sure you have all your gear OUT of the taxi or they are likely to just take off!! 

We have been back in Fawlty Towers for our last evening and, yes, something else broke down – the lift! Unfortunately when we were leaving this morning, when crammed in to the lift with our packs, the doors jammed and I had to force them open to get out. Not an easy thing to do when, with the both of us and our packs in there, you can barely turn around. BUT we are both claustaphobic and lack of air with 30+ temps gets you moving . Managed to close the doors again (with us outside this time) and the whole system jammed up one floor down. We decided to walk the four flights!!

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