Have fun on the outside

So many times hotel staff have said this or when we have been waiting for transfer pick ups have said have you booked the tickets on the outside? And have checked our reservations! There is a lot of fun to be had on the outside and in Hanoi you take your life in your hands as you cross the street. Unlike HCMC where your slow steps across the road cause the traffic to gently swerve round you the Hanoi motorbikes head straight for you and your nerves of steel are tested. If you  can cross the road here you can cross the road anywhere!
Coming back to Hanoi after a beautiful three day cruise in Halong Bay was an assault to the senses. The noise of the traffic, the smell of food cooking in boiling vats of oil on the street corners or BBQ sweet potato sizzling, and streets lined with shops crammed full to the rafters, this is crazy intoxicating Hanoi.
Halong Bay is a stretch of almost 2,000 islands scattered in the South China Sea. Each uninhabitable and mainly unnamed island juts out of the sea covered in green foliage, hiding monkeys and birds of a variety of species.  This has been designated as a natural wonder of the world and quite rightly so.