Hanoi: A city overrun by motorbikes

Thursday December 6 - Sunday 9

Large modern cities are fairly similar with the same branded shops and the same frenzied pace.

Shanghai, Sydney, London, New York and Paris all have their unique identities but definite similarities.

But Hanoi, Vietnam, is unique. Very unique.

The city is constantly alive with the vroom of thousands of motorbikes weaving their way through the narrow streets.

Chaos: Hanoi at night - the narrow streets crowded with motorbikes (the same as it is in the day time)

The pavements are impossible to walk down because the busy and overstacked shopfronts sprawl out into the road.

There is a whiff of petrol in the air and the humidity at times is intense.

For the tourist just arriving in this capital city the whole experience is an assault on the senses and crossing the road is terrifying.

But the Vietnamese people are friendly and this city is to be celebrated for its sheer uniqueness and intensity.

Heart of the city: The Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi

In the centre sits a large lake called Hoan Kiem and on a small island within it is an ancient Buddhist temple.

The city, with a population of three million, is relatively compact and can easily be explored on foot.

With a dense maze of streets in the Old Quarter where we were staying, a good map of the city is imperative.

Hanoi by day: The streets crowded with motorbikes again

We booked into the Blue Sky Hotel run by a friendly Vietnamese woman called Moon. Our large room cost us just £4.50 a night each - and breakfast, tea, coffee and a seemingly limitless supply of bananas were all thrown in on top.

Unlike in China, there are dozens of tourists like us about the city.  

The people are all keen to talk to the tourists - although irritatingly it's because they're constantly trying to sell some tacky merchandise or carry out a scam.

We stayed in Hanoi for four nights and beyond the initial madness of it all there is a lot to see.

Vietnam remains a country scarred by war in the relatively recent past. An estimated four million people died across the country as the Communists fought a successful guerrilla war against the US.

The conflict began in 1954 with the Americans propping up the largely corrupt but anti-Communist dictatorship in the then independent South Vietnam.

Military victory: The remains of an American B52 bomber shot down on December 27 1972 just months before the US pulled their troops out

 The US eventually withdrew their forces in 1973 after suffering 60,000 deaths. Within two years the whole nation of Vietnam was united as the Communist north took control of the south.

Hanoi is defiantly proud of how they embarrassed the Americans in a war of attrition.

In the north-west of the city a downed American B52 bomber can be seen jutting out of a green murky lake as an enduring symbol of this celebrated military success.

In the Vietnam military museum there are a number of downed US planes from the conflict.

We also visited the prison - Hoa Lo - where US serviceman captured by the Vietnamese were interred.

Captured: A US Navy plane at the Vietnam Military Museum in Hanoi

Long before the Americans arrived the facility was used by French colonialists to hold the Vietnamese.

The exhibits proudly told us how humanely the US servicemen were looked after. They also explained that the Americans dubbed the prison the "Hanoi Hilton" because they enjoyed their time there so much.

There is definitely a different side to this story.

Elsewhere, we went to a water puppets show. Performers in a waist-deep pool controlled the wooden puppets from behind a screen. It told us all about Vietnamese folklore.

After four days in this noisy, busy and crazy city we were moving on - and to its polar opposite. The tranquil Ha Long Bay.