Hanoi

In Hanoi I ended up staying at a place called Kangaroo hotel in a triple room since the first place we were brought to turned out to be full. Myself and two English guys stayed here and it was nice but we were looking for a dorm because they are the best way to get talking to people. So we spent the entire next day in search of a place called "The Drift". They have posters up all over Laos so a lot of people knew the name and asked about it. The problem is that its a new hostel and its not in the same area as most of the other ones so very few people know where it is. Myself, Craig and Tom (all off the Laos bus) walked around Hanoi for ages. Its a pretty confusing place and we spent most of our time lost and trying not to get runover as we crossed roads. Hanoi is a big bustling city with mental traffic so not designed for walking around. However it wasnt a total waste of time as we did find the Irish bar and played some pool over a few pints. By the late afternoon we had given up on this hostel and made one last attempt to ask someone its location. Of course, this time we had success and managed to find the hostel and reserve rooms for the following night. Happy with our day's work (kind of) we had grub here and hung around for an hour or two. We then returned to our hotel with the intention of showering and changing before hitting the Irish bar for the football game. I got a skype call from home and said hi to the folks and happy birthday to my dad. So i got the second half of the game and had some craic with the lads. We even found a little spot later that sold 'Bia Hoi' which is basically homebrew but everyone seems to make it. Its sold for a pittance as well which suited us as we gulped a few glasses of it.

The next day we switch over to 'The Drift'. Upon arrival we meet the owner/manager (?), Tiff, and the two boys talk to her about buying motorbikes. They want to travel the length of Vietnam on bikes and she was full of info on the subject. I left them to it and scoped the place out. And what a place. For a backpacker place and dorms to boot it was pretty luxurious. The beds were big, we had aircon, the showers were great, there was a pool room, a movie room, a massage room, a good restaurant downstairs and free wifi. For the price we paid it was a bargain. Now after settling into our new home the three of us decided to upgrade from pedestrian to cyclist for a day wandering the city. As i mentioned traffic is a bit mental in Hanoi so this was quite the adventure. On three shitty bikes we proceeded to get lost and confused on the streets of Hanoi, going the wrong way up one way streets with motorbikes zipping past us and trying to cross roads that seemed to have an endless stream of heavy traffic. We survived though and felt better for the experience. Later that evening we played beer and bucket pong (dangerous) in the hostel before moving on to another bar called 'Hair of The Dog'.

The next day was a complete write-off. Most of the hostel was hungover, including the staff. The only thing of note i did on this day was watch some movies and book my trip to Halong Bay for the next day. This was one of the main places i wanted to visit upon coming to this part of the world so i was really geared up for this. It is one of the natural wonders of the world after all!