Hell-noi

We made it to Hanoi and the bus trip wasn't quite so bad, we paid for the best bus and did get a little more leg room and it had a western toilet. Because we were arriving at 0800 we decided to pre-book a hotel which we haven't done at all in Vietnam. It was a short walk from where the bus dropped us off and they were kind enough to let us in our room when we arrived! It's not a bad hotel but it is not what it advertises to be. After cleaning up we talked to the front desk about options for Halong Bay. We are most likely going to take a 2 night/3 day tour. There are numerous companies so it's not easy to narrow them down. We know we don't want a party boat as even our young partying friends didn't like it.
Did some sight seeing in the morning and upon first impressions we really don't like this city. We had heard that the north was rude and that is true. Someone tried to scam is into buying red cross toothpicks and then turned ugly when we declined, the same fruit vender try to scam us twice!!
The icing was lunch. I've learned to deal with the ants but today my lunch came out infested with live ants. Nothing like having your rice move! It was cold, soggy, covered in ants and then wouldn't take our money because it was ripped. Ugh!
We booked our Halong Bay tour after some slight issues. Pick one its booked, look at another, try to see how the reviews go. We finally pick one but they quote the price in US dollars so we ask how much in Vietnamese Dong since that's what comes out of the ATM and this IS Vietnam but the guide is not happy, he wants dollars. Dude we don't have dollars so he gives us the price in Dong with the worst exchange rate we've seen. We are not happy. We venture out to get dinner and we've been told by numerous people that the street food is really good. The issue is that pre-American war of destruction the north was extremely poor, therefore they ate everything they could find. They eat every animal you can think of, eyes, intestines and a favorite: dog! When we explain that we don't eat meat the general response is 'we have chicken' or 'we have deer.' Hmmm last time I checked that was meat. We found a place and had tofu. Then ventured to a local hangout for some amazing coconut ice creams with every teenager in the city. On the walk back to our hotel we stopped at a make shift dog park and watched 30 or so dogs playing. We ran into a Vietnamese devil child, he started hissing at us and then hit us and tired to steal Michaels water from his pocket. Strange kid.

Pics:
Devil boy hissing
Ice cream!!
Hmm I think they made the globe a bit disproportional?