At the airport the first thing we did was draw out some money... I drew out ONE MILLION Dong (just over thirty quid) from an ATM. Dave tried, but his card wouldn't work, so it looked like I was subbing him for a while.

We got an airport minivan into the city. At first, before we got to the city, the driving seemed to be the usual South East Asian standard, plenty of lane changes and liberal use of the horn. But then we got into the city!

It seems that the bigger your vehicle the less you notice other motorists. We cut up cars and mopeds, we turned left stopping oncoming traffic, we pulled a three point turn stopping all traffic. I'm not hiring a moped here!

As usual we were dropped at a hotel where we were accosted by the workers. We said we had a reservation elsewhere and set off to find the guesthouse we'd picked out of my guidebook.

We found the guesthouse by recognizing the bar downstairs. The guesthouse having changed names (explaining alot of blank stares we got when explaining where we were staying). It cost 6 dollars a night for a twin room, which was OK. It was on the fifth floor with no elevator, which was not.

When settled we headed to the Hoan Kiem Lake, just south of we were staying and crossed over a bridge to a pagoda on an island. It is said a turtle returned a sword to a hero here. I think I like our 'Lady of the Lake' story better especially when you see what the turtles look like!

We then had a walk around the old quarter, the area where we were staying. Some of the streets are a nightmare! The pavement is for parking your moped and the streets are for riding them usually whilst having your thumb permanently glued to the horn ('This is your driving test, show me where the horn is... OK you've passed, ask your mates how to ride these things'). Where do the pedestrians go? The streets were full of small shops selling the same sort of things as we'd seen elsewhere, as well as a few bits and pieces of communist memorabilia. After a good wander we headed back to the guesthouse, where Dave phoned his bank and got his bank card sorted.

We went out to a restaurant for dinner and got our first taste of 'Bia Hoi'. It was shit! Weak, watered down, maidens water. Not touching that again! The food was good though, and although Vietnamese spring rolls don't look appealing, they taste very nice!

We had a proper beer in the old quarter before heading over to the lake. We had a beer on the first floor of a large buiding overlooking where five roads interconnected in a huge piazza-like area. And we watched the chaotic dance of hundreds of mopeds as they wended their way through to their chosen road. It was surprising noone got knocked off! I watched with a mixture of awe and fear as two 7-8 year old children with a toddler in tow crossed straight through it unconcerned and then passed back through later with icecream!

We'd had an early start so we had a relatively early night.