Lai, our lovely couchsurfing host,on our first night in Hanoi.And no, there was no alcohol in the coconuts, Betsy just really likes coconut. Who knew.

The next day, May 12th, we went into central Hanoi and wondered around the old quarter. We went shopping and booked a tour to Hai Long Bay. We went to the market and were accosted a few times by people trying to sell us stuff, but they weren't nearly as aggressive as the people in Shanghai had been. I was relieved about this. What I wasn't relieved about was the traffic, it seemed even more crazy than Shanghai and I was still getting used to the traffic being on the other side of the road.I think that the trick is to just walk across the road slowly,make no sudden changes of direction and only cross in front of bicycles and scooters,never cars or buses. I guess it worked as I am still alive and writing this.

After the market, we stumbled on the place to stop and drink beer in Hanoi. So we sat and drank beer!Had dinner with a couple of Canadians and caught the bus back to Lai's. The bus cost us 3000 dong, about 12 pence. I wasn't complaining.Our 2nd day in Hanoi had gone well, we were already getting a feel for the city!