Hanging in Hanoi

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Hi Everyone,

We're at the halfway point in our trip! It feels like it's gone really fast, but slow at the same time (if that makes sense). I guess Nate and I are have been enjoying a relaxing few days in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital city. There's not a ton to see here, so we're taking it slow and taking some time to unwind before heading off on the next leg of our trip. We spent the last few days taking in the markets around our district (which were all surprisingly disappointing). I don't know if I'd say that I'm necessarily used to seeing dead animals all over the place (for eating I mean), but it's getting to be less of a shock, I guess. I'm also getting used to crossing the street, which is possibly the scariest thing about this trip. Not only is everyone here on motorcycles (so there are about 100 come at you at any given moment), no one pays any attention to the traffic lights (if there are any at all) and no one stops for you. It's really scary. Basically you just have to walk out slowly and let the motorcycles move around you. You're not supposed to stop dead in the middle of the intersection because then everyone gets really thrown off. This is perhaps the scariest part. I'm longing for Vancouver sidewalks and road signs!

Things are good, aside from that. Hanoi has a large lake in the middle of the Old Quarter (where we're staying), and there's an island in the middle of the lake with a pagoda on it that you can cross a bridge to. It's really cute. There's also another smaller island in the lake with a bigger, older pagoda on it, but you can't cross to it, unfortunately. I really like the lake area, but that's about all that I really like about Hanoi. It's very crowded and dirty (there's garbage everywhere!). On the plus side, it's slightly cooler than the south.

We're excited about tomorrow though. We've booked to go on a 2-day boat trip through Halong Bay, including a night on a junk. It should be very cool. Halong Bay is supposed to have top-notch scenery. I spoke to a guy this morning who had just done it and he said it was amazing. So we leave for that first thing tomorrow morning and get back the following night. After that we're hoping to go to Laos but we're having some trouble figuring out flights, etc. We're torn between a 1-hour plane trip that costs $160 or a $15 bus ride that takes 18 hours minimum (and may be similar to our Bangkok-Siem Reap experience). More to follow once we've got that figured out!

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Comments

[arlene]

fly or bus
Dad and I say no contest....fly