Hanoi, Minus the Floods

So it turns out if we were in Hanoi about 2 weeks ago, we'd probably need a boat to get around. Apparently they had 800mm of rain in one day, which continued for about 7 days. Yep, pretty glad we missed that one.

Anyway, this place is cool. It's often compared HCMC (as it's the second largest city in Vietnam, after HCMC) but this place is way cooler. Traffic is probably worse, but that's only because the streets are narrower and therefore cooler.
They have a bunch of lakes around the city too. This one has tortoises in it, which supposedly bring good luck to anyone lucky enough to see them. Apparently they caught one which was over 2 metres long way back when. That's pretty flamin' big for a tortoise.
They also have ridiculously narrow houses here. Kinda reminds me of the Netherlands.
And more super safe power lines.
We even found a skate shop - Boo's Skateshop. First one we've seen since leaving Australia. This place was a) packed; b) three stories, and; c) only sold 5 skateboards. Hilarious.
AND they have nightclubs with funny names. Good ol' Hip Hop Club HippoUnited. Actually, in hindsight, I'm not really sure why that's funny at all.
That's it for Hanoi (round 1). We're off to Halong Bay for an overnight cruise on a 'luxury traditional junk' (oxymoron anyone?). Hang tight for lots of photos from the cruise!

t+e