Going to Vietnam this summer, what are some things I should/shouldn't do?

What kind of things are there to do in Hanoi, Vietnam over summer break for a week; for a 14 year old boy.?

• Over summer, I'm going to hanoi for a week with my dad. I've been there before, but it was SO boring, what is there to do? is there any special vietnamese acne stuff there? what is their fashion like now?

• Answer:

  We Just returned from our family holiday to vietnam and I can say that mr Anh's walking tour of the old quarter in Hanoi was one of the best tour experiences we have Ever done anywhere in the world! Mr Anh meet us at our hotel at 6.30am as promised. We were lucky as we booked the sunday morning tour at a special promotional price of $1.00 us. I must admit I was skeptical when my husband told me about it and I wondered what we were signing up for! The reason for the early start is because the Hanoi traffic is an experience in its self and the early start meant we could experience the walk without having to worry too much about the motorbikes. Mr Anh is the boss of awesome travel and he was so knowledgeable about everything. Even stopping from time to time to point out signs and having a go at teaching us some basic phrases. The Hanoi old quarter is like stepping back in time about a hundred years. Nothing really prepares you for the experience. We stopped to visit a catholic church, eat a local dish called pho and drink Vietnamese egg cream coffee. The walk around the sword lake was yet another amazing experience. The locals meeting to do their daily exercise to watching various groups dancing around the lake. You name the type of dances and they were out there doing it and doing it better than I could ever dream of. We took our 11 and 14 year old boys. My older boy was cranky about having to be vertical so early in the morning so I was hoping that the boys would get something out of the tour as well. My Anh didn't disappoint. He took us into an old hanoi house where several families lived. It was a typical old house that you would find in the old quarter . It had no internal or external windows. We saw how some families live in what they call 'mouse houses'. It had a real impact on our boys and they left the tour feeling very lucky to be living as we do at home with all the modern conveniences that they have gotten used to. My Anh runs a truly awesome company and next time we are in vietnam we will book all of our travel with Mr Anh. His tour was definitely the stand out of the trip and we'd do it all again in a heartbeat