Arrival in SE Asia

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We left Heidi and Austi in Wollongong early in the morning and arrived in Hanoi in the evening after a layover in Bangkok. We are excited to be in Vietnam. Organized chaos is the motto of Hanoi...more mopeds than I've ever seen. We heard different statistics about the number of mopeds...let's just say it's in the millions. They are everywhere. Crossing the street is putting your life in danger. We stayed in Hanoi for 6 days before taking a tour into N. Vietnam to explore. We had such a great time we talked about moving back here someday if we could find work. We checked out all the sights - Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum/Museum, West Lake, Dong Xuan Market, the crazy streets of the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, the Presidential Palace, Temple of Literature, Museum of Ethnology, Museum of the Revolution, a Water Puppet show, Hao Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton)....everything we could see while we were there. We would hop on the back of motobikes to get around town...or walk if the destination was close. By night we would relax in the Old Quarter and drink 20 cent Bia Hoi's (local draft beer). You can find anything you want in Hanoi...every street in the Old Quarter is named after the wares that are found on that street - silk street, wooden bowls street, basket street, rafts street, bottles street, jars street, etc. In awe, we would walk for hours checking out the mechanics working on mopeds or welding iron fences. The Vietnamese have amazing work ethics...they seem to work all hours of the day and night. No 40 hour work weeks here. The food was excellent, the sights were interesting, the people were fantastic. We met other travelers that said they didn't like Hanoi. We absolutely loved it.

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