The first 40kms of the drive was back over the highest pass in Vietnam. Within ten minutes we came across a queue of our cars waiting for a section of roadworks to be opened to traffic.
After about fifteen minutes the road was opened and we started the climb up the pass. Following Fred & Ernie Nelan in their GM Avalanche and David Dicey in Terence English's Toyota.
Once we were over the pass we came into an area of tea growing. The women who were collecting the leaves all wore the same hats.
Paddy fields were on either side of the road for miles and miles. 
We stopped when we saw this group of women planting one of the paddy fields. It's back breaking work.
I watched this woman planting individual rice plants into the water filled paddy field.
The fields are often quite small and in the valleys they rise in terraces up the valley sides creating wonderful patterns.As we moved on we saw these two young girls in traditional dress.
What about this for a load on a scooter!
Pigs being transported by scooter. Not much animal welfare in evidence here in SE Asia.
After nearly 8 hours of driving we came to the outskirts of Hanoi. We were driving along one of the levee roads to avoid Hanoi's notorious traffic. It was very run down and reminiscent of parts of China and India we have visited.
We arrived at the Intercontinental at 4.30pm, a drive of over 9 hours.In the evening we had an organised meal at a restaurant in the centre of the city. Tomorrow morning we will visit the old centre, before driving north to Ha Long Bay and a night on a junk.
A statistic for those interested. Today we passed the 5,000 mile mark of the tour. We have nearly 1,000 miles to go.
Finally Eric Woolley gave me this photo of him, his wife Lynn, Simon Dedman and Andrew Reynolds all wearing the pith helmets they bought in Sapa and doing the Vietconga!
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