Hanoi Highlights

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We mastered walking across the streets. Once you see a 3 Metre break among the buses, scooters and bikes you just walk straight ahead in a steady pace. Works best when there's someone bigger and taller than you or an elderly Vietnamese person leading the way. We saw typical tourist spots provided by Viking: Ho chi Minh mausoleum, palace and regular living quarters, the Temple of Learning, and Museum of Vietnamese ethnology (good gift shop). The rest of the time the 4 of us wader ed through the old town and around the lake taking a thousand pictures of people carrying outrageous amounts of things on scooters, people squatting on tiny stools having lunch, interesting items to sell, people welding, sewing, painting, building right on the sidewalk. In fact sidewalks were either scooter parking lots, food display and eating areas or storage area for goods. Not for walking.

One lunch time we were having a very good Vietnamese lunch inside and we saw lightening and heard thunder. Downpour. Tried to sip coffee slowly but the bill came and it was time to venture out. Ross ran out into the downpour and came back with a couple of umbrellas for us. He was sopping wet. By the time we got to the hotel we were sopping wet from the waist down. He saved us from looking like the drowned rat he was. Rain jacket is now permanently in my purse.

Now at the airport waiting for the flight to Siem Reap.

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Photos

pedicab
We just walked and walked