Good Morning Vietnam

After our lazy day in Nanning we got back on a bus for an 8 hour trip into Vietnam, crossing the border from China into Vietnam was chaotic. We got dropped off at one entrance walked through the Chinese side and got stamped out fairly simple, then we got in a buggy which took us to the Vietanmese side and then supposedly went through passport control (should have been called passport uncontrol). There were 2 windows and approx 50 people chucking their passports through them. We joined in and our passports completely disappeared for about 20 mins before some guy came out with a wad of the passports and started shouting names.

Once we had recovered ours we then got on the bus for another 4 hours to Hanoi. Although there are alot of similarities with China there are also alot of differences the centre of Hanoi actually has an American feel about it. The roads are absolutely crazy with scooters and you can't walk on the pavements as they are all filled with parked scooters.

Kris and I got to our hotel to find we had been upgraded to the VIP suite, which I think meant a balcony, great to do more washing. We ditched our rucksacks and went for a walk round the back streets which were buzzing with activity, food cooking, families playing games, street sellers.

Overall our first impressions of Vietnam are it is organised chaos but a very colourful country with loads to explore. Tomorrow sees us boarding a boat in Ha Long Bay for 2 days..