Our time in Hanoi and Vietnam started at 11:30am on the 2nd of July, when we flew into Hanoi Airport, to my relief, safely. The flight took 3 hours but it was pretty smooth. I didn’t really have any expectations of Hanoi since I hadn’t heard of it until mum booked the trip. When we stepped out of the airport it felt like we had just stepped into a sauna and by the time we got to the persons car that was taking us to our hotel, I was already wet with sweat down my back. The drive to the accommodation was only 20 minutes, but it gave me a good taste of what the stay in Hanoi would be like. There were cars in wrong lanes, people honking horns, red light runners, people speeding and what surprised me most was that everyone did it and it wasn’t just the one or two people.
When were getting closer to the accommodation, I was getting worried. Everywhere I looked there were houses that looked like Luke had made them himself! I was starting to think we would have leaky roofs, broken beds and overall, dodgy accommodation. Then we turned onto our street and in the middle of it was an amazing hotel! We went up to our room and it wasn’t made by Luke! I was thrilled!
Later that night we went for a walk and it was still hot and humid, not to mention busy, noisy and smelly. After walking across one road, I learned that there either are no road rules, or people NEVER follow them. Trying to get across the road was like committing suicide! There were no traffic lights and motor bikes came speeding around corners at 90kmph, but worst of all the roads were so busy. When we got back to the hotel, I was surprised I didn’t see a crash on that walk!
If I had to sum up my first impression of Hanoi in a few words I would say busy, noisy, humid, hot and smelly. I enjoyed the experience but I would never live here and probably not come here for a relaxing holiday.
Dear Intrepid Travellers
You are all doing a wonderful job of keeping us informed of your travels. When you mention the crazy driving by people in Hanoi – do you mean that everyone drives like your father???? No doubt he felt right at home! I’m glad that your accommodation in Hanoi was a little better than some of the houses you passed on the way there; actually from the photos that we saw it seemed quite clean and tidy. Hope you enjoy the tour on the boat and your overnight train trip …. that should be very interesting. We look forward to hearing all about that and what sort of train it was. Love from Grannie Annie XXX
Hi its Kaitlin, looks like an amazing holiday! I wish I was there. Cold and rainy here. Athletics was cancelled and now it’s on this Thursday. Mrs. Simmons went off at the boys again. hope all is well. We miss you loads!
It’s raining here too but it is 36 degrees! Hope you did well at athletics today. I miss you guys in Adelaide too! See you in a couple of weeks.
Abby
It sounds terrible on the streets! Hope you don’t get sunburnt.
July 7, 2016
Hi Luke, we are not getting any more of your blogs since July 3. The kids got 2 certificates yesterday – 1 for everyone having 4 or more minutes and the other one for being Library Legends. Today they are having afternoon tea with drinks and a movie in the library with room 22. They are very excited
WELL DONE GUYS! What is the theme? Ms Speechley, is that your second certificate you’ve given out?