Hanoi, Vietnam

After a pleasant 2 hour early morning flight, we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam yesterday. It was an unusual experience for us to depart Koh San Rd. at 4 am. Usually we’re not even back to our guesthouse by that time! With no beer goggles on, the streets were less impressive with rats, trash, and drunken backpackers.

Once we arrived at our hotel, in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, we slept the afternoon away. To make up for spending the afternoon in bed, we walked around the Hoan Kiem Lake and saw a Vietnamese water puppetry show.

Today we walked around the Old Quarter, a charming and aesthetically pleasing neighborhood - minus the lack of pedestrian crossings! While crossing the street, one must proceed slowly as traffic swerves to maneuver around you. We visited the Ngoc Son Temple, located on an island in the lake. The temple is home to the embalmed remains of a giant tortoise. We toured the Memorial House, a restored Chinese-style merchant’s home, where we purchased souvenirs made out of ox bones. Lastly, we visited the Hoa Lo Prison museum, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” by US POW’s (including Senator John McCain) during the Vietnam War.

Hanoi has an old school  charm. Old women sell baguettes at most street corners. There are coffee houses everywhere, where men of every age convene to drink. Women in straw, pointed hats sell flowers from their bicycles. Old men, wearing beret's or pageboy hats, sit in public parks and play a Vietnamese version of checkers

Southeast Asia seems to be in a cold spell at the moment, so I purchased a jacket; my first time wearing one in a year! The Vietnamese are more urban and stylish in black leather coats, skinny jeans, and trench coats. We don't miss the polkadots, bows, and mismatched clothing!

So far, Vietnam has not been as tranquil as Thailand, there's more aggression here (i.e. yelling taxi drivers). We’ve encountered the efficiency and fast maneuvering of the Vietnamese. For example, while paying our taxi driver in front of a hotel, our bags were carried inside the hotel before we even had a chance to exit the cab and before even agreeing to stay a night!  In the morning we’re taking an early train up to Sapa, a former French hill station, located only 38 km from China.

P.s. Now in beautiful Sapa, high in the mountains. And despite the freezing temperatures (I bought an even warmer jacket and socks, Randi's wearing 2 jackets), we love it up here. The French architecture is charming and the Vienamese hill tribes are in colorful, traditional clothing.  It's a bit like an otherworldly village from a fairytale :)

~ Stacy