We’ve just arrived at the airport, bound for Siem Riep. We’re actually very early as they’ve delayed the flight for an hour, so we’re availing ourselves of the nearest cafe until our flight comes up. We’ve doubled our luggage thanks to our recently purchased stack of fine wares (Vietnam is definitely the place to come for home wares and cheap name shoes), so much so that I imagine we’ll be paying excess luggage from here ‘till Heathrow.

What to say about Hanoi… well, I stand by my original comments about it being dirty and chaotic; nearly being pissed on by a young child in an Old Quarter food market won’t change my opinion on that, and I’ll never get used to being a pedestrian here. However, the more you roam around and interact, the more you get used to and understand the people and surroundings. This place definitely grows on you, so much so that you really start to enjoy being here.

I think the one thing that takes getting used to (especially as a brusque, standoffish Westerner) is the regular offer of services like taxi’s, taxi-bikes etc… you could walk down the street and about six or seven taxi or cyclo drivers will offer you their services one after the other (just in case you’ve change you’ve changed your mind in the last 10 seconds). Shopkeepers invite you into their stores and pounce on you as soon as you cross the threshold, but it’s only to help - you just don’t get that in our so-called service orientated Western society. People will bend over backwards to help you get what you want, and are very honest 95% and are good natured most of the time. This doesn’t apply to cyclo drivers however - a three dollar round trip will magically turn itself into a “six dollars for two people, three dollars for waiting and an six dollars return”. Avoid.

Community spirit is quite high here as well - walking on pavements here is impossible at mealtimes (and not only because it’s the only place people can park their bikes - of which there are about 2 million and rising), as people cook and eat their meals here, sitting in small groups on tiny foot-high stools scoffing noodles and rice and discussing the price of bootleg Honda’s in China (it’s not only the DVD’s and CD’s that are pirated). And if you get up early enough, you can see people in the parks and down by the lakeside playing badminton, doing tai-chi and generally socialising before beginning the daily grind, usually to the sounds of the early morning Communist party rally broadcast over street tannoys.

There are things here that still really perturb me though. Cock fighting still goes on here. And the fact that you can buy endangered species pickled in jars at your local gift shop is alarming. However, you get the impression that this is what Asian capital should be like; steeped in it’s own history and culture but modernising fast with streets filled with universally attractive, young and trendy people riding motorcycles.