Compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, Vietnam was a bit of a let down. The locals were not as friendly as everywhere else, and we always had to be on our guard against scams and rip-offs. We arrived in Hanoi at 4am, after being on buses for almost 24 hours (due to nightmare bus delays), perhaps not the best time to arrive in any city. All of the hostels were closed but luckily we found a reggae bar that was still open and sat in there drinking until the hostels opened at around 6am.
Hanoi is dirty, noisy and overcrowded. Everyone seems to get around on scooters and crossing a road involves stepping out and walking slowly across letting the scooters (hopefully) avoid you. We couldn't leave our hostel without nearly being run over, or being hassled by an endless stream of people trying to sell us photocopied books or stale cakes, or trying to get us into their 'cyclo' (rickshaw). We did see some cool things though, such as Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body, some old B52 planes you could climb on, and we met up again with our friends from Laos, John and Gem, for a few Bia Hoi's – no place is that bad when it has 10p beers! 
We had a week to kill before our flight to China so we decided to go on a three-day boat trip to Halong Bay for Debbie's birthday. Halong bay was really pretty with hundreds of limestone pillars rising out of the sea. We spent one night on a boat and another on an island in the bay. This was much more relaxing than Hanoi, but we were still happy to be leaving Vietnam when we got on our plane to China. 
Compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, Vietnam was a bit of a let down. The locals were not as friendly as everywhere else, and we always had to be on our guard against scams and rip-offs. 
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