So, overall impressions of Hanoi? Well there are a few ways of looking at this. It is, if you will, a city of two tales.

On the one hand I would have to say that it is definitely the place on earth that I've visited that has most made me lose the will to live. On the other hand I have never ever been so grateful that I grew up on such a lovely island with lovely people with great opportunities. (Okay, okay, I love to exagerate- it's really not that bad, but it's not heaven on earth that's for sure.)

Similarly, there were some amazing little cafes and restaurants, particularly ones overlooking the lake, and great ice cream places that we went to! On the flip side there were some of the most vile smells coming from food stands and 'restaurants' I've ever experienced and you could barely walk on most pavements for people sat on little plastic chairs eating foul looking broth and drinking coffee at all hours of the day, forcing you into the constant streams of passing mopeds.

My views on Hanoi greatly peaked and troughed from hour to hour, generally depending on whether we were being leered at, almost run over, being pampered in a beauty salon or eating ice cream at that time.

Overdramatisation aside, it was something which I'm so glad to have experienced- it was absolutely mental and much more like what I'd thought Bangkok would be like.

We visited Hoa Lo prison which was an eye-opener and made me realise 1) how much I need to learn about Vietnamese history and 2) why the Vietnamese perhaps aren't as friendly to Wrsterners as they could be. Who would blame them! The prison has a really interesting history- French colonists built it to hold and torture the Vietnamese in early 20th century and then they in turn used it to hold US pilots as prisoners of war (who nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton in an ironic fashion) until 1973 when all remaining prisoners were released.

We went in search of the 'bar street' one evening (apparently in rush hour in the busy part of town) with no luck and decided to call off the search in fear of our lives.

All things considered, I wouldn't want to spend a day more here. After Kelly and Kim paid 2000 dong to use the public toilet (a communal tiled area with no hole to even aim in to) and more inappropriate male attention at the bus station, we were ready to go. Bring on Kat Ba island!