Beautiful Halong Bay...

 so everyone says it is lush, but you just can't appreciate it unless you actually see it!

(Now we all know where Cameron got his inspiration for Avatar's 'hanging mountains'!)

 So, obviously we jumped off the boat...

         but I admit, it was BEFORE we saw these...

We also visited this floating fishing village...the village itself was pretty cool and I did get a billion photos of it, but for me, photos are so much more interesting when they have people in them (or really cute dogs!)

So here's a couple of those kinds...

so long Halong, back again to Hanoi....

Hoi An. Done and done!

I left now. Back to the bustle of Hanoi. 

Will just round it off with a couple last photos...

 

tadaaaah! 

Will try to do another side of Hanoi soon, but for now, ta-rah loves. 

Hoi An -   in monochrome, in the pouring rain, and in-credibly weird. 

Lets start with the weird. We went to My Son, these old old old buildings...I couldn't really get any photos as every arty snap was intruded upon by the constant trail of sweaty tourists. SOZ. 

but no matter, because I did get this video -

How COOL are these plants' defense mechanisms?

talking of weird, a cute little temple I visited was made even cuter by its infestation of terrapins. This one reminded me of the one in Kung fu Panda...

  (note:if you haven't seen this film, DO.)

Okay, moving into monochrome (sticking with the weirrrd theme)

I reckon this is pretty self explanatory. No? Well, it's a music-play thing, with a fisherman trying to look hot infront of the dancing river ladies with the pots whilst dancing and fishing himself. Get it now?

Hoi An also has the most brilliant old people,

wonderfully crumbling buildings, 

but rain. And lots of it.

A Numbered Guide to Hoi An
(as I know it so far.)

1. the old buildings, the old windows, the old doors, the old boats, the river (which is old).

2. the beach; about 30 mins bikeride from the town...just long enough for me to burn my neck.

3. the beautiful rural land around the town ...

(though I must admit, it seemed even the buffalo were used to tourists!)

4. the market; even though it smells pretty sick I am happy to put  up with it to get photos like this -

buy your birds, alive or dead...

'i'm sorry, you might need to buy a larger shopping bag to fit this baby'

4. the tailors. 350 of them. I went to the one they went to in Top Gear, ha. 

 (it may be relevant to mention at this moment that I learnt to ride a motorbike yesterday)

SCORE!

5. The conical hats!

A lovely illustration of how trad-vietnam is alive and thriving here in Hoi An 

Okie dokie - I am about to go to Hoi An for 2 weeks, this ancient trading town by the sea - seriously pysched to get out of Hanoi for abit...

 give my lungs a break from the fumes of the city.

 So this is my last blog before Hoi An -

I apologise in advance that it doesn't have a nice aesthetic flowing connection thing going on...(i.e all of these photos are completely unrelated)

As I mentioned before, its the 1000 year thingymajig so everyone is getting their flags out and making the city look, if possible, even more red and yellow.

 

These guys haven't caught on as much, 

but no matter because they have such a brilliant front door! Good job no.73!

just, you know,

selling noodle soup to passers by, chilling out smoking on the street with your ma

(or if you like, girlfriend/wife...im making no assumptions!)

Right - I see these everywhere so I felt it was time to share.

 Its a spirit offering; donate a pack of cigs or dried noodles and you'll have good fortune for the rest of the year sort of thing. You see those Cosy Marie biscuits? they are the craze here. but not as big as Choco-Pie's; they are NOW (apparently...)

for some strange strange reason, to buy a pack of Mcvities digestives here could cost you 4 quid (if you managed to find them in the first place),
but a pack of Choco-Pie's are like, 7000vietnamese dong - erm, that's about 25p!

Look a little bit like Wagon-wheels, taste abit like chocolate flavoured air.

Okay, so it's the 1000 year anniversary of the establishment of Hanoi.

Red everywhere...lanterns, flags, banners, balloons.

Even more traffic, even more hectic, but, even more exciting. 

And, even more uniformed men patrolling the streets, looking very err, official and in control blowing whistles and waving batons and stuff -

 ...but perhaps they don't all feel the need to look so austere!

The Vietnamese were out in force this weekend which meant again, I managed to capture lots of wonderful 'family on motorbike' shots.

I know you've seen them before, but in no way does this get old. 

okay, so I get it, the Vietnamese never have time to stop - but surely it's not a good idea for the driver to be on the phone, as well as the passengers?

 The pure excitement of this event is everywhere you look and in the face of everyone you see...

'I am really really pleased that Hanoi has been around for 1000 years!'

 ...personally, I love it.