Vietnam and Hanoi

Flying in over the villages near the airport I thought Italian mountain towns. Seeing as they were on little hills above the Red River flood plain that makes absolutely no sense. With that in mind the following descriptions might not be all that accurate.

It's cold here. They're saying 11 degrees but it definitely gets colder at night, and it's a little drizzly...the dampness makes it feel colder or something. That and EVERYTHING here is built to keep people cool. There're no doors in teh fronts of buildings, and there are lots of holes for air flow. I don't know if this is a particularly cold winter or the people just suffer through this every year. Whatever the case my plans to miss winter this year are only barely holdiung together.
I'm just thankful that I'm not doing the moutains of Laos right now. I'd imagine they'd be mighty cold as well.

What to tell you...well I need to be more careful now that I don't have Giuliana around to stop me making stupid mistakes (more on that later). I got to teh airport and changed $10 cash into dong (a stock of dollars is important and crisp bills can be rare) then turned and saw a different booth taking traveller's cheques. Oh well.

Travel with American Express in Vietnam, Vietcong Bank cashes them to dong with no commission, if any of you care.

Into town and dropped at the wrong hotel. Now that isn't a big BIG deal, but the adventure that ensued was fun. They took me into their hotel and told me they had rooms as cheap as $8. I said that's too expensive, so they threw me on a motorbike and off we went to another place.
This ride featured me on teh back with pack on still and the criver weaving here and tehre and TURNING TO TALK TO ME. Nice.
Second place. "I need a cheap room" "$7" "I was think somthing for $3 a dorm" "Look first" I Looked it was nice room, but it still cost $7. So off we went.
The next place, similar conversation but $5. At this point I had no idea where I was and the Old Quarter of Hanoi...

The Old Quarter has streets, streets on different angles going here there and every. I guess that happens when you build around a lake in a limited area. It also has the unfortunate tendency of having street names that last a block then change. I guess tehy have a lot of heros and events to commemorate.

Anyway, I didn't know where I was...Then this guy walks up with a business card. It was from one of the hotels with dorm rooms, he said he worked there as well as the hotel I was in, unfortunately all the dorm beds were filled so I should stay in the $5 room one night then switch. I was tired so I said okay. He also said he would go and see if anyone was checking out tomorrow.
By the time I had soted myself out, he was out in the "lobby" watching TV. Unfortunately EVERY SINGLE PERSON was staying in the dorm, because of the rain he said. At this point the voives in the back of my head saying "why was his business card so shitty?" said "why would anyone want to to stay here in the cold and rain if it's sunny and warm down south?"

I went for a stroll and they made their first mistake...they gave me their business card with a little map on the back!!! The map was essential so I could find my way back but it also let me find the hotel I wanted "We have many beds." The girl looked a little confused when I clarified that if I came tomorrow there would be a bed.

In teh morning I got all my stuff together pack on, then went to teh desk paid and left as teh girl there was asking why I didn't stay longer. I explained the cost AGAIN and was gone, to my cheaper and much more sociable dorm. The room I had been in while nice (and lacking a needed duvet) was in the back and there was no social area.
I don't blame them for doing what they did...it was kinda clever how everything worked. I think the issue at the start with the wrong hotel though arose because the place I wanted has changed its name.