Nearly all the traffic is composed of motor-bikes.There are a reported 4 million of them in Hanoi alone). As a collision would most likely damage the bike rider as much as the pedestrian, road crossing is relatively safe.
Vietnamese law also makes helmets compulsory which has led to most riders wearing helmets in name only because they are much cheaper. They would offer very little head protection in a crash).
Walking out the hotel's front door took us directly out on to a busy street in an old part of the city, yet our room was nice and quiet. Our days in Hanoi were spent walking the streets, visiting museums, stopping at Ho Chi Minh's tomb where the long queue deterred us from entering but provided great photo opportunities, and getting lost a few times in the narrow streets of old Hanoi.
We especially enjoyed the women's museum, where we were surrounded by hordes of noisy school-children in the outside patio, and also the Hanoi Fine Arts Museum, with, among a wide range of works, paintings of Uncle Ho in many different settings.
We also took a day tour out into the countryside, to view small towns, rice paddies, limestone mountains and to travel through caves on dinghys rowed by women using their feet, instead of hands, on the oars. Whatever we did during the day, it was accompanied by some very nice Vietnamese food, at very nice prices!
Incidentally, it's a long way from Hanoi's airport to the city, so take advantage of transfer offers from your hotel. And also be aware that in Vietnamese airports they do check that you have airline receipts for all your luggage before you can leave the airport.
After six days in Hanoi we flew to Danang before transferring by car to the old imperial capital of Hue (runway work at Hue airport stopped a direct flight), to stay for 3 nights in the Orchid Hotel.
We chose a "romantic room" on the seventh floor, where we had a good view of the town and the Pearl River (and the room's resident goldfish probably had had a good view of romantic proceedings inside the room over time). Life in Hue was quieter than Hanoi, although the ever-present motor-bikes still ruled the streets.
The highlight of any visit to Hue would be the Citadel, the huge old walled compound where Vietnam's emperors once lived, that also played an important part during what locals called the American war. The large Vietnamese flag flying over the entrance can be seen many kilometres away. Much of the Citadel is still in semi-ruins, but a rebuilding campaign is underway.
We finished our Vietnamese trip about three hours away in the beautiful tourist town of Hoi An. For the first time on our travels we changed from a small hotel to a quite large one (the Hoi An Pacific Hotel) which looked as though it had been built for Russian tourists, many of whom still visit Vietnam.
The hotel was more impersonal than others we had stayed at, but had a nice pool to cool down during the hot afternoons and was within walking distance of the old town. Hoi An is full of restaurants, shops selling clothes and souvenirs and also has several historic houses and temples to visit.
At night time the coloured lanterns in the streets make them a lovely place to visit. It does pay to pick your time to travel here, as the whole town can be flooded during the wet season, with boats travelling in the streets.
More photos from our travels can be seen in photographic blogs at this blog site.
