Day 44 - Hanoi 

We woke up today feeling a bit more human than we had done when we went to bed and went out to explore. Hanoi was totally different from the impression I had got when we arrived at midnight the night before! It was mental, the traffic is more crazy than you could imagine. Trying to cross the road is like a suicide mission every time.
We walked around to get our bearings and see the city which is really nice. We are staying in the old quarter which has a huge lake in the centre, it's really nice but is completely surrounded by chaos! We decided to visit the Hanoi Hilton today, which is the prison used during the war for vietnamese and Americans. It's now a museum and was interesting but very creepy and sad. We walked through the cells which had signs on the wall telling who had been imprisoned in each one, for how long etc. Many of the signs said that people had escaped from this cell. We came to an area which was basically death row. Each prisoner was shackled at the ankles which was attached to the floor, meaning they couldnt move at all. The signs said they would be made to stay there at all times, meaning they did the toilet where they lay. In some of the cells you could still see the stains from where people sat. It was interesting but when it came to showing anything of the American prisoners, it felt a bit like the whole story wasn't being told! Who knows what really went on there.
After the museum we walked around the lake and the streets for a while before going for dinner and some drinks. We sat in a bar which has a balcony a few stories up and was in the middle of one of the busiest junctions. So we spent a good while watching the traffic. It's hard to describe, so we took a couple of videos to show you all just how mental it is. We went walking around the streets to see some other pubs. We bumped into three English guys who had been on the bus with us from Laos. They were sitting at a road side bar (basically a shop that puts plastic stools on the road and sells bottles of beer) drinking Bia Hoi, which is apparantly the worlds cheapest beer. Unsuprisingly it tastes rank. We stood chatting to them for a bit and found the funniest woman. She owned the shop, and was absolutely crazy. She seemed to be mad at the whole world and was shouting and swearing at everyone, she even spanked Michael cause he was standing in her way haha. One of the guys told her to smile and she said "what for?!!!" and started to tell us how much she hates the place. She kept us entertained anyway. We had to move on because the stools where placed In the middle of a busy crossroads, and in the 15 minutes we stood there I reckon we lost 6 months from our lives with the pollution. We ended up in a bar called Le Pub playing pool all night.

Day 45 - Hanoi

We had a bit of a lie in today before going to Kfc for lunch. Definitely immersing ourselves in the vietnamese culture haha! We went around some tour companies  to try and book a sailing trip to Halong Bay. We booked a 3 day and 2 night trip for the next day. It was very hot so we went to get some ice cream. Michael had a quick look at the menu and said he was going to order mema surprise. I went with it, and he chose good! We had raspberry, strawberry and cream ice cream, with chocolate and cinnamon biscuit underneath and hazelnut sprinkle on top. And my mouth is watering while I write this thinking of it it was that good!