Vietnam: Hanoi

In November I went on holiday to Vietnam. I travelled with Solos, so all the people in the group were on their own, and I really liked this because it made it so easy to make friends. There were 14 of us in the group.

Hanoi was the first stop, and it was my favourite! So vibrant and full of life, especially the old town. This is where I learned to cross a Vietnamese road, which is a case of striding out with confidence and blind faith!

There was a lot to see, even just going from the airport to the hotel, when we saw lots of motorbikes and scooters, banana plants, and a flower market.

Over the course of a few days in Hanoi we visited a local family, visited temples, went to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the Women's Museum, and a water puppet show where most of us fell asleep as the jet lag hit us (the show was lovely, though!).

One of my favourite activities was going on a rickshaw ride around the old town. It was scary in places with the crazy traffic and the fumes, but it was the best way of seeing the place. I also really loved going out in the evening to explore the shops of the old town with some of the others from the group. My favourite was a tiny ceramics shop called Cerender.