We met Alan and his 4 friends, all NUS students in Noi Boi airport. It was the third time he been to Vietnam. They previously came to Hanoi Vietnam for a community project. We decided to follow him to Old Quarter to look for hotel. We were taking minibus to St. Joseph’s Cathedral to meet their friend Robin that reached Hanoi earlier. This avoided us the scam that the mini bus driver drops the passengers at the hotels that they can earn some commission.

Alan found a mini bus just outside of the Noiboi airpoort terminal, and agreed on USD $2 each. It was not the Vietnam Airlines minibuses that I initially thought of taking. The travel took about 45 minutes. The distance was not far, but the driver simply drove very slowly, and carefully. In Hanoi Old Quarter, Danish asked to be dropped at Real Darling Cafe. He was dropped at another hotel instead, also along Hang Quat street. We decided not to stay there, but followed the gangs of Alan to St. Joseph’s Cathedral to find some ultra cheap hotel. End of the trip, we paid VND 30,000 each instead, a little cheaper than USD $2.