The lighting was impressive.

Sam sniggering behind our guide.

We took a 3–day two night excursion and it was worth ever cent of the $54 (each), that included the boat (1 night), meals and other excursions to the caves, Cat Ba island (1 night) and hiking in the Cat Ba National Park.

We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, it really was a fantastic experience.  You can see many more pictures here.

UNESCO World Heritage Site #8

As expected, it gave a one sided view of the war which was very interesting. A great collection of photographs showed the destruction and devastation caused by the American bombings. 

My favourites were the last two: (1) un-deterred by the war, a lady happily watering her flowers amidst the wreckage of a B52 bomber, and (2) a self-made short gun made by Vietnamese guerrillas – how did the Americans ever expect to defeat an army that had the skill to whittle their own weaponry.

Having chatted with a few couples, it appears that it is tradition to go to the gardens a month before the ceremony to have their whole album completed so it can be displayed at the reception.  It was like snow drops on the grass from a distance.  The whole process looks rather laborious. Only the bride, groom and bridesmaid attended – so much for seeing the dress before the big day!

It was Europeans versus the Chinese and I’m pleased to report that we kicked their asses.  They are absolutely mad – every time their player missed a crucial volley, they he knelt down while the rest booted him in the ass – strange.

As an example of how silly they are just look at the last photo – they did provide entertainment for all which was good and it was all in good humour.

Imagine a city where the exotic chic of old Asia blends with the dynamic face of new Asia.  Where the medieval and modern co-exist.  A city with a blend of Parisian grace and Asian pace, an architectural museum piece evolving in harmony with its history, rather than bulldozing through like many of the region’s capitals.  Hanoi is where imagination becomes reality (lonely Planet).

Couldn’t sum it up better ourselves – throughout our stay we have dodged the swarms of crazy motorbikes, weaved our way through the tangled web of streets in the old quarter, watched synchronised t’ai chi along the Hoan Kiem Lake and got a real taste for cafe culture while sipping bia (beer) and sometimes coffee with the locals.  Hanoi has it all, you couldn’t but enjoy this great city.

For us above all else was the buzz and character of the old quarter – you will see by the photographs - it has a real mix: an ancient history, a colonial legacy and a modern outlook.  We wished we could stay longer than five days but we must move on.  The further north of Vietnam you go the better it gets for sure.

This about sums us the motorbike scene, sometimes as many as four children are transported by a guardian, madness!

Hanoi is a bustling city with plenty of commerce, vibe and culture.  Will provide you with more over the next day or so – now it’s back to my bia and you get back to work .

We waited 3hrs before we got to the front of a very short queue.  Not sure how substantiated this is, but were told that the embassy has an agreement with many travel agents and preferred that applicants use this service rather than visit the embassy itself, but they charge double and in some cases triple the price.  So as to deter, they only let a trickle in at a time.

Anyway, when we got the front we were told that we could not enter because we were wearing sandals and not shoes – a root through the backpack, a quick change and up to the front again, “sorry you need to change your top, it’s too revealing”, are you having a F***ing laugh.  Did I mention that all the Chinese could wear what they F***ing wanted, flip flops, sandals, see through tops, mini-skirts etc…  There were about ten of us ‘westerners’ changing galore just so we could move from the queue and enter the building.  Bear in mind most had no additional clothes or shoes with them, so those who had successfully submitted their applications were swapping clothes and shoes with those waiting in the queue – a sight for very tired eyes!

Appropriately dressed and having moved to the front again, we were then told that our documentation was insufficient – not according to the signs – apparently we were missing a photocopy of our Vietnamese visa.  This was complete bollocks as the visa was in our damn passports, why would we also need a photocopy.  By this point the gate was locked so we had to kindly ask those outside to go a few blocks down to photocopy our passports, thankfully they did.

During this time several brawls had broken out between security and those who had been refused entry, batons were drawn to usher them off the premises. We kept our heads low and done what we could to ensure we got in.  We were laughing throughout so it wasn’t all bad.

These photos are pretty tame, we wouldn’t dare take out our camera once we got near the front of the queue where most of the comotion happened.

We find out on Friday if our visa applications are successful. 

This journey has been the most comfortable we’ve had to date.  Half the bus was your standard upright seats for the short distance travellers and the remaining for long haul. We watched two movies, played on our ipods and talked to our neighbours for the most part. We slept an uncomfortable four hours in total and when we arrived we went to the Chinese Embassy (next post) had a few drinks, a meal and a good 12hrs sleep to catch up.

As I write this post, we are both sat eagerly awaiting the 3^rd US Presidential Debate, and hope that Obama can outmanoeuvre that tosser McCain.  America and the wider world could do without a repeat of the Bush administration.

We cannot speak highly enough of this amazing place, it’s so beautiful, friendly and relaxed, it’s contagious. In addition to the photos detailed below, we have coupled a few more here on our picture tab to give you a taste of what we’ve had to endure over the last few days – it might take a few days to upload them all.  We had only planned on staying a couple of nights but have stayed four.

We rented a couple of bicycles for the few days and headed to the beach – unbelievably it’s not mentioned in the Lonely Planet – we swam in the hotel pool, eat and drank till the early hours and window shopped till we dropped – life cannot get any better than this.

We are off to Hanoi today on the dreaded sleeper bus for 16–18hrs, so there may be an ever longer delay in the posts for a time.

Just to give you a flavour of how chilled this place is we’ll start with a photo of the local bank, absolutely incredible!  Hoi An is the perfect holiday destination, without question.