From Hue to Hanoi and beyond

Dorus and I arrived in Hanoi early from the night bus and found our way, through a tout, to a seemingly nice hotel in the heart of the Old Quarter. We began here by visiting all the major cites including the mausoleum of 'Uncle Ho' which was a little bizarre but really helped us to understand how important he was and still is to the people here. We went to bed feeling that we had done the city justice and even after having sampled some dog meat with a friend we had met a week or so earlier in Hoi An. The next morning started badly with a knock at the door to let us know that the hotel had made an error had double booked our room and could we move to the owner's 'sister's' hotel. Sure, no problem, however we do expect you to ensure that the price of this new hotel  is significantly lower to make it worth the move we said. No problem she replied. 2 hours and a few shouting matches later we were still in the hotel with the owners having failed to find us somewhere else to stay and the incredible dissapearance of her 'sister' along with her hotel went relativly undiscussed. We made it clear and thought we were right to do so, that, since the were simply  throwing us out wothout finding us an alternative, that their mistake had to come at a cost and that was that we were not willing to pay the full pirce for the night that we had spent there. I think its safe to say that the concept of owing something to your guests as the owner of a hotel has yet to reach Vietnam and allowing us out the door without $9 changing hands was simply not an option. Tto cut a long story short, we were eventually thrown out onto the street $7 poorer but escaped experiencing the vietnamese police - we were both thankful that we had not had to go through the experiance alone and were suitable shaken by the whole event.
After a few comparitvely unstressful days in the city Dorus and I eventually moved on to stay on Cat Ba island in Ha Long bay which, save for the one town on the island, is a beautiful place. We spent a few days chilling out there kayaking, walking, motorbiking and eventually headed back to the mainland on a boat to take in the best bits of the bay. Other highlights of our stay included spontaniously helping out a lload of boatmen move a few hundred barrels of diesel from a truck to a boat - random but a lot of fun!
I then moved on alone to Sapa in the north of the country and very close to China for a few days of exploring the mountains before heading home. It is fair to say that the scenery there is fantastic with rice terraces as far as the eye can see on very steep hillsides. I spent my time there on a motorbike choosing to get as far away from the town as possible to try and see some villages untouched by tourism. I was able to find some amazing little places tucked away at the end of vast valleys which really helped to make my journey there worthwhile.
Tomorrow i move on to Singapore for 3 days or so, not too sure what to expect but am sure it will be a little different from here..

Further in to Vietnam..

The three weeks that i have spent here seem now to be flying by and it is only now that i realise that the two weeks i have left is not enough to do all that i would like..
In the time that i have been here i feel that i have done the country justice, i have visited all of the major cities of the south and have seen some incredible scenery on the way between them..
Da Lat, my first stop from HCMC, is located inland in the southern mountain range. It is the city that i was in for the shortest amount of time but we managed to visit all the major sites there including the aptly names Crazy House which was amazing! From there i traveled with two other people to Nha Trang which is known to be the most western city in the country with a night life and beach to match! We spent some time exploring the city and had an awesome, if not very cultural, day in a water park and even went on the longest over sea cablecar in the world! We ended up saying there for about 4 days before I headed on alone to the beautiful town of Hoi An famous for its narrow streets and its incredible number of tailor shops. After the obligatory clothes had been ordered, a few days of chilling out with a good book in some of the town's best cafes were in order. From Hoi An i moved to Hue, the old capital, and one of the best towns i have visited. Although i have been stuck here for longer than expected due to a badly placed and incredibly long national holiday, I feel that i have really made the most of the city. Dorus and i have been renting motorbikes to explore the local area which had a surprising number of things to see that most tourists simply do not see. Our first day saw is us trying to find the tombs of some previous emperors which was amazing, they all put so much time, effort and money into their final resting places that they are incredibly beautiful, often situated next to hand dug lakes in the mountains!
Today we move together to Hanoi on the night bus, where we plan to stay for a few days before heading east to see the infamous Ha Long Bay..