OnTheRoad

Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam, although smaller than Ho Chi Minh / Saigon city. This translates into much safer driving streets if you feel like hopping on a motorbike, the traffic here is much less scary than Saigon!

The old city centre is now tourist central, with an abundance of mini hotels and guesthouses. It's harder to find the little mini cafes and pho / com houses that are evident everywhere else in Vietnam, but they are out there.

Things are also a little more expensive here, like in most of the bigger cities. You can still get hot water, fridges and cable TV for $US6 so I'm not complaining, but paying 7000 dong for my cafe sua da is a little painful.

Also, I've got to find the address and update this, but there is a place which serves the best bun bo in the world; they charge 16,000 for it, which is criminal by local standards, but it comes with plenty of vege goodness and crushed, fried peanuts on top which tastes incredible...