Day 1 - Hanoi

Plane touched down at 1830hrs. Was met by Anh, one of the tour guides, and bundled into a waiting private car. Anh spoke very good English and seemed quite happy to give me a running commentary of Hanoi and its people and culture, while his partner deftly manoeuvred the car through the masses of motorbikes that clogged the roads. In KL, it's not uncomon to see a driver with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a phone / cigarette / arm tapping the outside of the car to whatever beat was playing on the stereo, but in Hanoi, one would generally drive with one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn! And I could see why... the roads were full of motorcycles! Hundreds of them, barrelling down the highwaym in a never-ending stream, weaving in and out of traffic, some packed on with 4 passengers and no one wearing a helmet. In this city of roughly 4 million, each household apparently has 3 to 4 bikes. That's ALOT of them.

Traffic here is chaotic at best. Road courtesy is non-existent and they're dare-devils, suddenly popping out of side-lanes, cutting from one side of the road to the other, even the women in their fashionable pencil-skirts and pumps on their way to work. To survive the streets, you need nerves of steel and be constantly on high alert... if you're a foreigner that is. The locals merely breeze along, chatting into their mobiles, SMS-ing, even flipping through a book!! I am not kidding! 2 yr-olds sit quite comfortably on the back, quite oblivious to the harum-scraum that goes on in front.

Anyway, stayed at Eden Hotel on Tho Nhuom St. Small but clean. HUGE bed. Lovely staff, very helpful. About 15 min to 20 mins away by foot from the centre of the Old Quater, which is where most souvenir shops and the Water Puppet Theatre is located. But that first evening I decided to try one of the motorbike taxis or the 'Xe Om drivers', which was also my first of many bargaining experiences. His opening price: 20,000 Dong. I countered with 10kD. He offered 15kD. I thanked him with a smile and walked away (read that one must always smile when in Vietnam, even when in a disagreement. Vietnamese consider anger a sign of weakness). He called me back and we settled for 10kD. I probably still paid a bomb but who cares. Was dropped off at Hoan Kiem Lake and proceeded to wander through the brightly lit streets, taking note of the tour cafes and pho stalls that seemed to alternate all along. Had a Vietnamese lady get mad at me (she probably doesn't care if I think she's weak :p) coz I didn't wanna pay 10kD for 2 bottles of water. (In my defence I had no clue how much a bottle cost and was convinced she was trying to rip me off). Eventually paid the asking price and decided that after more than an hour of incessant honking and haze and avoiding motorbikes and bicycles, I needed a little quite corner and a tall cold beer to sort my plans for tomorrow.

Stepped into Le Pub on 25 Hang Be (I later realised that I'd stumbled into one of the best bars in Hanoi) and got myself a Heineken for S$2.50. NICE! Local beers go for S$0.80. Got to talking with a bunch of expats, some who'd lived there for the past 3 years and could speak the language, and was given a few tips on getting around Hanoi. 3 hours and several beers later, I'm dropped off at my hotel on G's 125c.c., sandwiched between him and W., with an offer of a tour around Hanoi tomorrow morning. Lucky me!