Hanoi ~ Vietnam

After being semi comatose in southern Cambodia lazing at the beach, we took off for Vietnam.  It took nine hours and two taxi rides, two flights, and a long layover.  We met a couple collecting our bags in Siem Reap after our first flight and asked them if they were Americans.  They had Eagle Creek bags and the “look” of yanks.  Turns out they were from Portland and after chatting realized her cousin lived in Cardiff, on Cambridge, no less.  Small world.  We had an hour to kill, and there was a Starbucks, so we crammed around a teeny table and talked while a Chinese family screeched with their loud, irritating, high pitched voices .  Customs in Vietnam is tricky.  We prepared and knew that there was a line you had to go through first, but they don’t really tell you.  Lines are long and slow.  No smiling!  But once we passed through our driver was waiting with his little hand held sign and off we went in a big modern van.  He didn’t speak much English, but he had an App on his phone that allowed him to speak Vietnamese which it then translated into English and repeated to us in a weird unnatural voice.  Kind of a Steven Hawkings (RIP) voice... anyway he carried on a long conversation with us in this manner.  He said he “was proud to drive “grandfather” safely into town!  Yikes, do we appear that old?!  Hanoi is an assault on the senses.  Hundreds of motorcycles coming at you from every angle.  Night life is alive and happening.  Families strolling, eating along the streets on their proverbial tiny stools, hawkers and shop keepers beckoning, music pulsating, lights flashing.  We had to up our game on paying attention to crossing the streets.  It can be life threatening.  You have to “drift” across the street while they drive around you.  You never run, and never turn back.  We often just hold each other’s hands and exhale a sigh of relief and giggle when we make it to the other side.  Our hotel was near the central Hoan Kiem Lake, and it’s red arched bridge to the small island in the water.  Many locals were walking around, young lovers taking selfies, brides and grooms posing for photos, and tons of adorable little kids.  One street had miniature battery powered replica cars which the smallest kids were driving.  It was so amazing to see these very young kids literally steering these cars around while their parents nonchalantly walked alongside.  We had to jump out of the way of a couple wild little boys driving tanks!   Shopping is amazing.  Tons of North Face gear.  Waterproof duffle bags, hats, rain jackets, phony down coats.  Everyone wears them.  We bought a duffle for our three day boat trip to Halong Bay.  Food was pretty good.  Pho everywhere.  The best food is on the streets in small unadorned restaurants that only make one dish.  Pho beef is in one place while pho chicken is next door.  Bia Ha Noi is the beer of the north.  Quite tasty and cheap.  Our hotel was staffed with delightful young helpful people.  They changed our dollars into “dong”.  One hundred US equals two million, two hundred and twenty thousand dong.  They sold us and set up our SIM cards, and warned us to protect our valuables.  Everything was easy.  We loved the neighborhood and our sweet small hotel, the Bonsella.