With taxi scams in abundance at Hanoi airport we decided to take a private transfer to the city centre for a whopping $30USD (this is supposed to be a third world country!).
After several changes of driver that left us feeling a little nervous we were taken 38km to the city centre to our hotel, smack bang in the old quarter by Hoan Kiem lake. There was a foggy haze to the air and as we approached Hanoi centre it was an instant eye opener. The city has what we would describe as a delapidated French colonial look and it was completely chaotic with people everywhere and narrow roads absolutely jam packed with tooting mopeds crazily zig-zagging all over place. We checked into the hotel, dumped our bags and headed out for dinner at a local cafe.
We were up early for breakfast before heading out in a taxi to the Ho Chi Minh Mausuleum about 2km from the old quarter, one of Vietnam's most revered sites. It is only open for a few hours in the morning so we had to be on time. We were ushered into the huge granite building and quietly walked around Ho Chi Minh's embalmed corpse, which looked a lot like Madame Tussauds had done the designing! It was fascinating to see his actual body as he was such a pivotal character in Vietnamese history. 
We also then visited the palace and the house he lived in as well as his pagoda on stilts next to a small lake. We also walked around a museum dedicated to his life. After the Mausuleum we took a taxi to the Hanoi Literature Temple, a 10th century university with pleasant courtyards and which is suprisingly peaceful to stroll around considering the chaos of the streets surrounding it. The outside wall of the temple was lined with 
local men, some very old, sitting cross-legged on the ground and handpainting oriental symbols onto paper. They were beautifully done. We passed one man who had set up a chair and was cutting hair on the street. Ash took a photo and was later chased for a photo fee of 15,000 Dong. He had completely missed the tiny sign above the little mirror saying "take my photo for 15,000"!!The streets here are a rush of culture in your face and crossing the road is a real challenge.
The old quarter is a myriad of narrow lanes crammed to the brim with traffic and gubby looking shops and eateries. Above these are flats with their washing hanging from the windows. It's utterly mad but fantastic.... until of course the pollution gets the better of you. Our eyes were stinging within one hour of being outside! There are endless streams of tooting mopeds on the roads that appear completely lawless and it is the most amusing thing to see. They don't observe traffic signals and they don't even stick to driving on the correct side of the road. .. it is a complete free for all!! We have seen whole families (eg: up to 5 people) crammed onto the back of one moped, 
tiny babies propped up against the front handlebars which would have the child protection agencies of the western world in a complete tizz. We have seen people carrying trees, doors, up to 7 big water tanks and all manner of things on these tiny vehicles. The streets are lined with shops selling all manner of things that spill out all over the pavement. 
We especially love the lantern shops as they add so much vibrance to the street. There are woman walking up and down in their traditional Vietnamese conical hats carrying fruits and other goods which hang from a long wooden pole carried across their shoulders. They are constantly trying to put these things onto your shoulder so they can charge you for a photo!
We stopped for lunch before spending the afternoon wandering around Hoan Kiem lake in the city centre and then heading out to see the famous Water Puppet show in the evening. We have to admit that crossing the major intersection to get to the theatre was probably more memorabe than the show!
On Sunday morning we headed 3 hours east to Halong Bay to embark on a 2 day/1 night trip to Halong Bay, a beautiful bay containing over 3,000 limestone karst islands and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We boarded a beautiful Vietnamese junk boat called the Halong Ginger Junk. 
We decided to splash out and booked onto a 4* junk seeing as this leg of our travels is doubling as a honeymoon! We had a deluxe cabin with queen bed and a marble bathroom and three huge windows. It was luxury! There were 15 people on our boat and amongst them were two famous photographers from New York who had even had their arrival in Vietnam announced in the main newspaper! 
They were an extremely charismatic pair and great company on the trip. One of the highlights of travelling is the interesting people you get to meet and speak to along the way. So many stories.As we cruised out into Halong Bay, lunch was served......a 7 course seafood banquet (Bi of course going for the vegetarian option!). The Bay is absolutely beautiful and well justifed as a world heritage site. The waters are a complete flat calm and the area reminded us of a hazy version of the Milford Sound in New Zealand. The serenity and tranquility of the area was such an amazing contrast to the frantic chaos of Hanoi and it was so relaxing!
In the afternoon we stopped at Thitop island and climbed 400 steps to the top for 360 degree views over the bay and shortly afterwards we were taken by bamboo raft through a small inlet and cave. The silence of the place was deafening. 
In the early evening, we visited a small fishing community where all the houses are in the water and floating on empty tanks. There was even a floating school!We had a five course dinner at our own candlelit table which was lovely and we treated ourselves to a glass of wine each (wine is exceptionally expensive here and usually a bit beyond our backpacker budget). The two photographers we met kindly topped up our glasses from their bottle of wine after dinner and we sat with our wine and had a game of chess. Ash won but only just!!
We were up and on deck early this morning for a Tai Chi lesson but we got bored within 5 minutes and gave up!
The boat we are on is so so quiet and overnight when they turned the engine off, it was bliss. We both slept like babies, it was so peaceful out in the bay. We left all the blinds open on our windows and it was lovely to wake up to the sight of the water and hundreds of limescale Karsts dotted as far as the eye can see. 
After coffee and pastries, we boarded a small launch boat and visited 'Surprise' cave which was an enormous cave over 10,000 sq m and full of rock formations. It was interesting but not particularly exciting. When we returned to the junk and had a traditional Vietnamese brunch (noodles and broth with various condiments) before packing our things and returning to the port for the conclusion of our trip at 11am. 
We took a minibus back to Hanoi which did the all annoying customary stop at a big tourist handicraft outlet full of absolute rubbish and all at rip off prices!Back in Hanoi, we decided to soak in the craziness of the city and the pollution and sat drinking a beer from a balcony at the city view cafe. Tomorrow we take a very early flight to Hue where we will spent 5 days in central Vietnam.
