Hanging out in Hanoi.....

So our bus trip was quite bearable and we even managed to sleep. We got in to Hanoi at about 7.30am and it was raining pretty steadily. We got a cab into the old quarter to where we had to confirm our Halong Bay trip and booked into a little hotel right near it. It is a bit more expensive here so we have to fork out $15 for a room....lol. Showers were desperately needed so we did that and as it was still raining alot we rested in the room till after lunch....snoozing and flicking through the 60+ tv channels. Tanya's Uncle told us about an Aussie guy he knows who owns The Kangaroo Cafe here and said we should look him up to say hi and as he was in walking distance we went there. They told us he would be in at 6pm so we said we would go back. We went back to our hotel to get the camera and then thought we would get a Cyclo to have a good look around. He took us all through the old quarter where we saw lots of cool shops and lots of chaos as usual. We were dropped off at the cafe at 6pm and we were told that the owner would be there in an hour or so.......so we decided that we would have some dinner there and wait. Now we are huge believers of eating the local food when we travel but as I have been disappointed in the food here I decided that I would try one of their famous hamburgers. And I have to say that I was not disappointed at all....it was pretty awesome. Tanya stuck with Vietnamese and had a slow cooked pork dish which she said was very tender but a bit bland....and I rest my case for having to eat something else. Finally Max, the owner turned up and we talked to him for about an hour. He was very talkative but also pretty opinionated about.......well ummm, everything. So we left there and as we knew the night markets were on we thought they would be cool to walk through.....but OMG it was crazy......I think there must have been 5 thousand stalls and 50 000 people there......way too busy, noisy and hot. We were glad to get out of there and back to our room for another shower. We didn't have high expectations of Hanoi as it is just another city and that is not what we are interested in at all. We are off to Halong Bay tomorrow for a 3 day & 2 night tour which we can't wait for....so till then....ciao. Alvo xo