After 36 hours of transit and about an hour and a half's worth of sleep, we were thrilled to finally see the sunshine in Hanoi. Except it was cloudy, but our smiles were just as big. Driving to the airport from San Diego to LAX is pretty much the epitome of the southern california experience...concrete, BMW's and road rage. Driving from the Hanoi airport to the Old Quarter is much different. We passed water buffalo, women riding bicycles on the side of the road with live chicken coops attached to their seats, but just a tinge of road rage. If you measure it in car horn beeps that is. Instead of large SUV's there are perhaps thousands of mopeds within eye's view, and everyone beeps for any reason, or no reason at all it seems...The streets here are based on a french design, tiny alley ways every which direction that connect main streets. Our taxi driver dropped us off a few blocks away from our alley and pointed us in a direction. I wouldn't say it was the right one, but we wandered a bit, then finally found it. What a sweeet nap we had, then we hit the town when the smell of thit nuong hit our room.
Today we did a bit of sorting ourselves with some dong. We are millionaires today, dong millionaires!! Ahh it feels good. Except when we give out our money in the tens of thousands. Is this how it feels to be Paris Hilton?
Wandering the streets, the Tet decorations color the landscape. The lunar new year is the most exciting celebration in Vietnam. Businesses would rather shut down than work during Tet. (Hopefully that doesn't mean we'll be sleeping on a bench!) And Hanoi will be filled with fireworks and little red envelopes that say "chuc mung nam moi" (happy new year) next weekend. 
Here are a couple pics from our wanderings today. Speaking of Hilton, we also went to the 
"Hanoi Hilton" where Senator John McCain spent a good amount of time. It's now a prison museum that shows how the pre-"American" war communist revolutionaries and American POW soldiers lived. It felt like a spooky energy lived in the prison, definitely haunted. When you read the narratives in the prison though, it seems like the POW's were on vacation there. I would say there's some quite evident bias, if i knew this computer weren't bugged.
"Hanoi Hilton" where Senator John McCain spent a good amount of time. It's now a prison museum that shows how the pre-"American" war communist revolutionaries and American POW soldiers lived. It felt like a spooky energy lived in the prison, definitely haunted. When you read the narratives in the prison though, it seems like the POW's were on vacation there. I would say there's some quite evident bias, if i knew this computer weren't bugged.
Wandering through the markets on the street is a lot of fun, all sorts of spices, fresh produce, meats, fresh dau phu (tofu) and flowers. And who doesn't like ice cream fresh from the bike? Vietnamese ice cream men!
RJ and I are waiting for a pick up to the train station, we are taking an overnighter to the town of Sapa, a Black Hmong village about 50 miles from the Chinese border, up in the mountains. We are doing a trekking homestay, and on Saturday, villagers from all around come to Sapa. Should be a wonderful trip... Tam Biet (goodbye) for now.
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