Hanoi Feb 19th - 21st

Hanoi was fantastic, you can really see the French influence in the architecture, and it has a real buzz about it, but it was blooming freezing and we did not have heating in our room, nor any of the restaurants we went in.So as great as it was, eating and drinking with gloves on was no fun.One funny incident was when Jonnie slipped on the kerb and went flying in to a street cafe and knocked over their cooker. He tried to gain his footing and went flying again in to some chairs. It was just like a scene from a carry on film. He really hurt his knee, but i was way too busy laughing. No one at the cafe said a word luckily.

Also there is a big lake right next to where we were staying as well, so we went for a wander to try and warm up one night. It was a bit dark but we headed towards the water to have a good nosey.

Something was not right but we could not work it out.Then as we started to walk by a woman stood on her own Jonnie nudges me and jokes "if she is ugly enough we might get happy hour" and then i noticed a policeman right behind us and then another one opposite her.

Well we soon stopped laughing as it looked like she really was a hooker and we were heading straight towards her!! Might even have been a set up.

No big deal, only that we would go to prison. So we soon left the lake i can tell you, and noticed absolutely loads of coppers everywhere.The food was nothing to write home about either, especially when you come straight from thailand.It lacked flavour and all tasted a bit similar, jonnie and i would declare as we leaned back in our chairs and tossed our napkins on to the table like a pair of Egon Ronays.So despite 4p a pint beer, we decided to head to sunnier climates and booked a plane back to Ho Chi Minh and then would get a bus through to Cambodia.The flight was a bit pricey but we were just too cold, and sitting in bed watching tv like an old couple just to try and stay warm was not really rock n roll enough for us and was also a bit gay seeing as we were sharing, and the only movies were romcoms.We had to be out of the hotel for 6am so jonnie had to kick the bloke asleep on the floor at the lobby to let us out and then it was taxi comedy all over again.we had already paid in advance and did not know if the joker that stopped was ours or just a passing taxi. You can try all you want to verify it by asking him to tell us our names, showing him the booking slip, saying"no money", etc etc but again all you get is a blank expression and then "ok ok"anyway as we set off having hopefully played taxi roulette for the last time, i noticed it was the same cab that had took us for a ride (in more ways than one) by dropping us off at his mates.here we go we thought, so we were ready for another big row. he had not put the metre running but that is not necessarily a goodsign on a 40 minute journey.but to our amazement jonnie never got to head butt him and he just drove off.happy hour incident............

so we get back to ho chi minh about 11am and managed to get a coach to Phnom Penh for 1pm, so had an hour or so to kill while we waited.

Trying to use up all our dong we looked for the cheap beer hoi bar, but could not find it for our lives.had we dreamed it last time we were here?so we stopped at the bar next to the pick up point, and seeing the happy hour promotion on fosters we took shelter from the hot sun.

the beer was 20000 Dong each, but it was buy one get one free.

Good thought Jonnie, looking at all the money we had coming to 39000.jonnie: "2 fosters"barmaid: "no fosters.... Tiger"Jonnie: "happy hour as well?"barmaid: "ok ok"so we drank the tiger faster than a ferret can go up a poachers trouser leg...barmaid: "40,000 dong please"jonnie: "you say happy hour!"barmaid: "yes, me happy all day long!40000 dong please"we should have known. stitched up again.luckily i had a couple of dollars to get us out of her reaching for the baseball bat.so the coach turns up and it was a bit of a squeeze, but my reclining seat had broken, so everytime we went over a bump, my seat reclined back.If you have ever been to Vietnam you will know that there is a bump in the road every 5 foot, so i spent the next 4 hours rocking backwards and forwards in a cross between Lawrence of Arabia on his camel, and one of those bucking bronco horses.And then we came to the Cambodian border......."No problem Ok Ok we help you with your visa".......Next Installment.....Cambodia..................Andy and Jonnie running after the coach as it leaves them at the border..............oh yes it is true.