Week seven - Vang Vieng - Hanoi - Halong Bay - Hue

The aftermath of the storm was quite evident, trees uprooted, rooves partly blown off but the hammers came out and rooves were fixed and debris cleared up. The owner of Bamboo Bar where we sheltered required 7 stitches to his back from flying debris so felt lucky that we all escaped unscathed. I will never forget the force of the wind. For the next two nights the skies rumbled and we had massive downpours so I decided to move into town and leave my leaky hut behind. My new next door neighbours didn't take long to ask me if I could sew and when I said "yes" all manner of garnments appeared for mending. I did get a beer though for my efforts and thanks to Delphine for the sewing kit as I was able to make some chums for the evening.I arranged by Vietnamese visa in Laos and opted for a flight instead of an insanely long bus journey. The mini van trip to Ventiene passed quickly and the Bridport girlies said "au revoir". I was very sad to leave Laos as it is a wonderful country: stunning scenery, not over populated, stylish, calm, even the poorest villages are well kept and maintained, plenty of outdoor pursuits together with great food and bars. Hanoi on the other hand was like any other big city. Big, COLD, noisy, polluted and no charm. Everyone seems to be on a mission whether from riding their mopeds the wrong way up one way streets, selling goods from Pan Ganhs (basket scales that the ladies carry) to eating food on the kerb side. Funnily enough though there are small dogs and cats in lots of shops which are kept as pets and not for the pot.Now crossing the road for the most cautious road crosser ever was a bit of a learning curve. Don't wait for the traffic lights to count down from 30 to 0 and think that the millions of moped riders are going to stop because they won't. Make sure that the rider has seen you and walk slowly and confidently across the road, the said rider then drives around the rabbit. Easy when you know how!Real Estate in Hanoi is at a premium and explains why all the buildings ressemble 153 Manhattan, long, very narrow and high. I paid 6 GBP, the most yet, for a room and it didn't even have windows. Hanoi and it's grey weather didn't do it for me so I booked a two day tour to equally grey Halong Bay. The two day trip was a disappointment: grey skies, full of tourists, terrible food, cockroaches in my cabin and beer sold at extortionate prices. I was really bored by 6pm and was in bed by 21.30. Thankfully Ruth and Charlie from NZ and Yann and Susan from Germany made the most boring Friday ever pass quicker with a good game of cards.It was then back to grey Hanoi and a 13 hour all night bus journey to Hue in search of the sun. The bus departed 1.5 hours late and I have never seen such a bus: 38 bunk beds in a bus. I managed to sleep, met some nice fellow travellers especially a girl from Vietnam who now lives in Australia so was able to ask her all manner of questions about the country and customs. Even the boys from Hull on the back seats were chatty. Hue is a pleasant town with some interesting monuments most of which I decided to give a miss.I bumped into Adam at the Citadel who was another all nighter bus person and we ended up at DMZ the best bar in town. We watched the Grand Prix, snowy Man U football and had a late night on the pop trying to forget the 8am four hour bus ride to Hoi An in the morning.