Five rooms in five nights in Ha Noi

Room one - nice enough
The first two nights were spent in a hotel owned by the tour company we travelled with to Ha Noi. The room was nice, and we were happy there.

Room two - not so nice
But when we returned from our Ha Long Bay trip, the only room the hotel had left for us was not as nice and more expensive, so, when we were out for dinner that night, we decided to have a look at a hotel we walked past.

Room three - the breakfast drama
The room we looked at was amazing - massive, with a king size bed, beaded lamps, a large couch, high ceilings and ceiling-high windows. The rate was $10US, which was well above our budget, but they said the rate included breakfast, so we decided that could work and booked the room for the next night. We checked into the room the next day and loved every second we had in it, until we went down that evening to get the breakfast vouchers we were promised, only to be told there had been a misunderstanding and there would be no breakfast included. We were furious with what we saw as a deliberate lie to get us into the room and marched off to find somewhere else.

Room four - the sink disaster
We found a much cheaper room on the same street and booked for the following night. The next day we checked in and Carolyn went into the bathroom to have a shower. While still all soaped up, she turned off the shower and went to fill the sink up. When she tried to push the plug in, the whole ceramic sink came crashing down and shattered on the floor. What followed involved:
* The hotel staff coming in while Carolyn was still soapy, wet and wrapped in a towel.
* The staff telling us we had to pay for breaking the sink.
* Niels blasting them, saying they were lucky Carolyn didn't get seriously hurt and refusing to pay.
* Us finally deciding to pay because it was our last night together and we didn't want any more dramas.
*Niels paying them half again what they asked ($30US instead of $20) just to stick it up them.
*Us marching off down the street, Carolyn now dressed, but still wet and soapy, towards a hotel that had been recommended to us when we were in Hoi An and which we should have gone to at the very start!

On that note, if you're ever in Ha Noi, stay at Thu Giang Guest House.

One more note, when we were in the second room of the first hotel, Niels actually though the sink looked really unsteady and said to be carefull of it. The sink in our room at Thu Giang looked like it was coming off the wall too, so we didn't use it - shower nozel for everything. One of the last things Niels said as he left to go back to Aus, was "tell your mum not to use the sink either".