Good morning Vietnam!

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Sleep deprived and slowly feeling the jet lag from the 8 hour ahead time difference, we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam ready to check in to our hotel and sleep. Arriving at the airport was very daunting as we suddenly realised that unlike Hong Kong, NOBODY spoke a word of English! In my super organised way I had taken control and researched in great detail the bus times and routes directly into town where we were staying. However...I made a vital error, as i didn't realise the central road into town becomes pedestrian only on the weekend and of course we arrived on a Saturday! Completely unaware of where we were going, once on the bus we attempted conversation with the ticket inspector on where to disembark. We were handed a small, smudged black and white map with the names of the streets scribbled on it. The bus made one stop en route to the town and to our amazement a man boarded and sat down beside me. Hearing our struggle to navigate our way, the random man turned to us and said "do you need help?". It felt like a guardian angel coming to save us! We could not believe our luck! Of all of the many hundreds of people we'd already passed, this one man was suddenly there to give us direction. He explained where we should alight and even spoke to the ticket inspector in Vietnamese asking him to let us know when it was our stop. Instantly I fell in love with Vietnam! The people were so selfless and would give you what ever you needed with no questions asked. Check in was warm and welcoming and we were given a much better map and advice on where to eat and what to see during our time there.

Hanoi as a city is beautiful! It is a mixture of colonial architecture with all the modern amenities you could need. I was fascinated by the stripped back "anything goes" mentality of the place. Large groups of friends and families gather outside their shop fronts, which also double up as their homes, to sit around a small grill or fryer and cook for the many mouths there. They'd laugh,drink, break bread together and they seemed so content with the simple things life has to offer, despite not having a great deal. Being in Hanoi made me realise that as a westerner i've become obsessed with materialistic and unnecesarry things that I sadly feel define me as a person. When in reality I had proof that we need very little to live a happy, peaceful and rewarding life.

The people are so laid back in Vietnam and so very honest. On a day tip to the breathtaking coastal point of Ha long Bay,we saw the vast rice fields and coffee plantations