Northern Vietnam part deux

Hanoi, where cats are tethered to shop fronts and dogs roam free in feral, dribbling packs.

Hanoi, where a taxi can travel 7km in 90 seconds in crawling traffic.

Hanoi, where a grimy dorm bed is $7.50 but a spacious double room is $15.

Hanoi, where Bobby Chinn, his miked up staff and his daft haircut serve up finest lamb overlooking the lake.

Hanoi, where we find ourselves yet again after a week in the mountains of Northern Vietnam.

A few days spent soaking up the noise, shrieks, Irish pubbery and lakey shrubbery of the Old Quarter of Hanoi and the three of us loaded up on the night train to Sapa, nestling 1600 metres above sea level in a beautiful mountainous area near the Chinese border crossing of Lao Cai-Hekou. The train broke, the staff smoked, the karaoke continued until 4am while Paddy and Seamus were taught the finer points of Vietnamese pronunciation while bellowing loudly into a microphone and hoping smoke didn't start erupting from the underside of the train again. Vietnaaaaam, Vietnaaaaaaaaaamm!!

View from Hotel room(without fog)

Another hour by bus and we arrive into Sapa, a town consisting of one part hills, one part hotels, three parts restaurants and the rest a mass of H'Mong villagers flogging everything from blankets to cushions, trinkets to Class A drugs. We resisted the powerful urge to go on a three day trek in the rain and checked into the Mountain View Hotel. Misty View Hotel more like. Visibility approaching zero and 2 hours kip on the train catching up with us, we surrendered to a lazy day. A two day stay in the mountains turned into a week, with good food, walks in the surrounding hills and a few good nights out with pool, chess, poker and Halida.

M'hong girls take their pool very seriously

Another exciting day playing look-who's-scamming-us-now and we're back in Hanoi, 5am and the taxi is mysteriously clocking up dongs by the dozen as the meter tells us that we're half way back to Sapa by the time we reach the hostel. 7am before we find a room, plans ahead include a visit to waxy HoChiMinh, the oh-so-important Visa extensions and tickets to Hue, 12 hours away by train, sitting on the coast where the Gulf of Tonkin meets the South China Sea, promising beaches, another UNSESCO World Heritage Site, cooking courses for Fiona, a new hat for Paddy and hopefully some waves and a hammock for Seamus.