It was certainly not the cheapest way to go to Hanoi, but both Tuya and me wanted to try out the train in Vietnam. So we paid 32€ for a softsleeper in the Hue-Hanoi train, leaving at 19.30, arriving around 9.30 in the morning. Knowing the sleeperbusses in Vietnam, I expected something simular, but no a sleepertrain is much better. It’s almost like sleeping in a real bed! 
A taxi, which we think overpayed, brought us to the Hoi An Backpacker Hostel, one of the best ones I’ve stayed in in Vietnam. It’s such a wellknown hostel that we saw back many travellers we met in previous places.
We stayed 3 nights in Hanoi and then another 2 nights after our trip to Halong Bay, mainly walking around in Vietnam’s capital, relaxing, eating, drinking Bia Hoi (nothing new indeed :-)) and visiting some sights like the Temple of Literature, which is dedicated to Confusius and had lunch at Koto “Know One Teach One”. This resto gives streetkids the possibility to learn and work in the restaurant, to make something out of their life.
A visit to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum is not a must to do but I happened to pass by during my walk and figured I could as well go in to check out this prison, which the US POWS used to call ‘Hanoi Hilton’
One of things you can visit for free is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Only open between 8-11am, Tuesday to Thursday. We wanted to go, but for some reason (yeah yeah, I know it’s the booze) we didn’t managed to get there in time. So we only took pictures from its outside :-p
I thought that HCMC had a lot of motorbikes, but Hanoi beats it all! The air in especially the narrow streets was sometimes so dusty that it woke up my dust allergy. But than on the other hand Hanoi has many small and big lakes and trees everywhere what makes it a still nice city to walk around.
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