December 11th 2010 – 4 days, 4 Countries

Malta – UK – Singapore – Hanoi

Well, the weather finally improved in the UK and our flight to Heathrow went well.  We said our farewells to my mom & dad after 2 months staying with them. 

At Heathrow, we stayed overnight in a very snazzy cabin in the airport itself (the Yotel - designed by the Dutch, very small but very cool, motorised bed/sofa, monsoon shower and various light settings including one for a ‘romantic’ night according to the diagram, (typical of the Dutch!) .  The next morning we enjoyed many free samples of spirits in the duty free just before our flight so we were ready for the long journey.  The flight was fine, no delays and very little turbulence.

Waffle getting aquainted with a Hindu elephant statue

 Arrived at Singapore on Friday evening and checked in to another hotel for an overnight stay.  Just enough time to walk along the main road for a meal and a few drinks – decided to go for dim sums.  We attempted to eat them with chopsticks... to the amusement of the waitress who kept peeking from behind a corner and smiling to herself!

Checked out a Hindu temple in a side street before we had a beer in bar close to our hotel where I decided to try an Iced Kachang (looked like a mixed flavoured slush in a bowl, I was sort of right, but it included mixed jellies and lychees at the bottom and topped with kidney bean and sweetcorn sauces!!).

Me tucking into an iced kachang

Next morning we set off for our final flight to Hanoi.  No delays again, this was all going too smoothly... it was all too good to be true.  This flight was only supposed to be for 2 ½ hours, however just as were 20 mins away from Hanoi, the pilot announced it was too foggy to land so we had to turn back round to Ho Chi Minh City Airport (1 ½ hours back the way we came).  We landed there and waited on the plane until they said the weather improved at Hanoi.  One hour later we set off again, arriving at Hanoi Airport after 6 hours setting foot on the plane and feeling extremely tired. 

The taxi from the Airport took one hour to get to our hotel, it was raining and the traffic was mayhem – all manner of vehicles weaving in and out, horns sounding constantly along the way.  Our room was on the fourth floor, no lift but very clean and comfortable with a powerful shower (on full power would probably take your skin off!!)  The first thing that we noticed on the streets was the huge amount of traffic and the street food everywhere – so many people going about their business (we was expecting it but it was still a huge culture shock). We were hungry so we went on the hunt for a good meal and found a restaurant called Kiti’s, it looked OK so we ventured in.  The menu was quite varied with western and asian foods.  We opted for mainly Vietnamese dishes; soft spring rolls, hot and sour shrimp soup, bbq ribs, beef red curry, sticky rice, banana pancakes with chocolate sauce and loads of beer!!  It was very tasty and very cheap, all this and a packet of 20 Marlboro cigarettes  for US$24. 

 

Hanoi roads!!  (Never seen so many scooters in one place)

We will unpack tomorrow, bed is beckoning...