Hanoi

My first meeting with Hanoi ended badly.  Arriving at the train station fresh off of an overnight train populated with mice, which arrived four hours later than I was led to believe, left me in a sour mood.  Haggling with a taxi driver about the appropriate price to drive 2 kilometers from the station to our hotel put me on edge.  Arriving at said hotel to discover our room didn’t have a window deflated my spirit.

After a few hours spent wandering the streets in search of delicious street food, settling for subpar pho, and feeling generally overwhelmed by the craziness exploding from the streets around us, I retreated to our hotel room to hide for the rest of the afternoon.  My lovely husband sought out a take-out pizza and chocolate mousse somewhere in the city and brought them back for us to eat while watching an animated movie.  It was that kind of night.

Fortunately, we left for Halong Bay the next morning.  After 24 hours chilling on a boat in beautiful, wide open space, I returned to Hanoi feeling refreshed and ready to face the bustling city again.  Only then did I start to see the charm in the chaos that had greeted me the first day.

(By the way, there is something seriously wrong with the above map.  If Vietnam was that large I certainly shouldn’t have had to spend so many hours on flights from Australia…)An iconic image from Hanoi, this is the red bridge leading to Ngoc Son Temple in Hoan Kiem Lake.  Me, John, and some amazing pineapple purchased from a street vendor posing with the bridge…There are women on bicycles selling everything from fresh cut flowers and produce to carpets.A Hanoi outdoor restaurant, similar to the ones in Saigon.  At lunchtime the small tables and chairs spill out onto the sidewalk and into the streets, full of patrons slurping noodles and drinking tea.  This shot is from after the lunch rush, when the restaurant was quiet.Another streetside restaurant.  John, by the way, looks hilarious eating at these tiny tables.  His knees come up to his armpits and he’s totally hunched over trying to scoop food into his mouth.  He is seriously a cartoon character sometimes.  :)They start them young on those motorbikes…I don’t know how this guy balances with all those carpets, but somehow he was planning on moving.This cannot be the most efficient way to roast a chicken.  Maybe she’s just putting the finishing touches on it?The parade of rickshaws at night – they are all over the city pushing tourists through the streets.We had just one last day in Hanoi, and then our tour of Vietnam was over.  Onward to Laos!