Ping...

I'm feeling lazy at the moment, so just a short update (I plan to put up pictures tomorrow, but considering how some of my blogging plans have gone lately, I figure I should play it safe).

My first, second and third impressions of Hanoi were all of the traffic. If I remember correctly, there are 5 million people in Hanoi, and 3 million motorbikes, and the roads are just madly jammed. Crossing a road like at home by waiting for a gap in the traffic (or waiting for traffic lights to help you) is a hopeless strategy - probably the best advice I've been given is to just close your eyes and walk slowly. A sea of motorbikes flows around you like a liquid, but you don't seem to get hit (probably because they'd do more damage to their own vehicle than a car would, and also risk a domino-like topple of all the following traffic).

I haven't been too crazy about Hanoi city itself, but we've spent the last three days on a tour to Ha Long Bay, which is very possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. More about that, and various pictures that hopeless fail to capture it, will follow...

The interesting news at the moment is that, thanks to a spot of bad weather further South in Vietnam, the rail network is apparently temporarily closed - and seeing as we're meant to be getting a train to Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon) tomorrow night, that might end up throwing off our travel plans just a tad... Further bulletins as events warrant.