First of all, no Facebook in Vietnam, the government has it blocked. I did a search though and some people had posted about how you could change your settings and backdoor your way in. So, I couldn't post pictures for a while until I got that all figured out.
Hanoi is crazy, well I'm going to say it regardless of who is reading this (mom or dad) because to be honest, Hanoi is fucking insane!! Everyone rides around on motorbikes or scooters with no regard for lights or stop signs (if they actually existed), one way streets, any traffic laws. There are so many of them that really, the crazy system is the only way it could work. I will post a video of it when I can because pictures don't do it justice. They ride up to four people on one scooter with their babies and helmetless kids standing on their laps and weave in and out of traffic, honking incessantly and transporting all their goods on the back; tvs, refrigerators, dogs, whatever. But, no one really seems to get angry with each other, and there doesn't seem to be any road rage, I really can't explain it.
We had a really nice hotel that was profiled in the airline magazine of the plane some people we met had brought. It was dirt cheap and right in the heart of the Old Quarter, an old marketplace area of streets that don't have any continuity in name or direction. I have pretty good sense of direction but it is really easy to get turned around in there. People open up garage doors at the bottom and their shop is right there and the bring products out onto the sidewalk as well, avoiding all the motorbikes that are parked everywhere. Each street has a trade that it is devoted to; silk, liquor, clothes, electronics, shoes.....and then there are some streets that have everything under the sun. You have to walk in the street, worried that someone on a motorbike is going to hit you in the ass but it doesn't happen. Crossing the street an adventure, you just start walking and somehow they all avoid you. I went out to grab a small bite and a couple of beers while Becky went to bed early the first night we arrived. I had some Pho, a brothy soup with either Bo (beef) or Ga (chicken) that is the national dish of Vietnam. There are 100s of places where people sit out on the sidewalk on little blue stools eating Pho for breakfast, lunch or dinner. On my way back, I had my first offer of boom boom from a cab driver. It's a little unnerving at night walking around because there are just so many people and it's dark except for the motorbike lights zooming around everywhere, but I imagine you would feel very safe soon enough, I never had any issues at all.
We woke up on Wednesday morning and were picked up for the four hour drive to Halong Bay, a Skull Island looking place with limestone rock formations. Ron, y friend we will be ultimately visiting in Shanghai had heard good things about an overnight junk boat trip there so I looked into it and had booked it. What a great opportunity! You arrive at a wharf which is teaming with actiivity and take a tender out to your junk boat. I gotta say, there are tons to choose from and I had read horror stories about some bad ones, but we were staying on the nicest one that was available. We departed and had a pretty decent 5 course lunch and headed out to sea. We went to a cave called Surprise Cave. The cave has three chambers, each progressively bigger than the one preceeding it. The last one would be on Caveman Cribs, it was ridiculously large. We had an opportunity to go swimming but passed as it was still overcast. We had a nice dinner and ended up hanging out with an Australian couple that night.
The next morning we went to a fishing village, very cool. The whole thing is a floating village, no land or freshwater, they must go to Halong City to get all their vegetables and fresh water, and its a pretty good hike by boat to get there.
As we headed back, we went thru the Vietnamese countryside, seeing farmers, small towns, water buffaloes and of course, motorbikes.
Thursday night we went out to a place called Bobby Chinns which had been profiled on the Discovery Channel. The food and atmosphere were fantastic although it was pricey by Vietnam standards.
Hanoi is celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the city as we are here and it may explain why so many people are here right now, but it also places it on Frommer's Top Ten Destinations of 2010.
We got up Friday morning and went to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which unfortunately is closed as they send the body to West for preservation from October thru December. Not sure what it is about communist countries having their dead leaders lay in state and try to convince everyone that its the real body, but this makes two. We walked around the city for a while and then headed to the airport where I sit now.
Next stop.....Bangkok/Phuket
