Hanoi and Phu Tho

---

We left Beijing and arrived in Bangkok on Jul/1 at 9:30 PM flying over Wuhan, Hanoi and Vientianne. We then left BKK the following morning at 6:45 AM and arrived in Hanoi at 8:30 AM. The H1N1 checking in Bangkok and Hanoi is simple compared to Beijing. We need to walk through a machine that measures human body temperature. When we arrived in Hanoi, Hoang and Duc (the son of Dung) came to the airport and pick us up. Anyways it is the first experience for Tuyen to explore Hanoi which is extremely hot yesterday around 39C. We visited Hoan Kiem lake, Ngoc Son temple, Ba Dinh square, One pillar pagoda and Hanoi ethnology museum. Last night we went to a restaurant called Sen located in Ho Tay http://ngoisao.net/news/an-dau/2009/02/3b9c891b/ They have about 200 different of food varieties from different regions of Vietnam. Anyways, we ate a lot since it is so good.

We left Hanoi this morning to Phu Tho where our uncle Ky and his family live. It is about 2 hours driving and to tell you the truth, I am very disappointed with the highway in Vietnam. In fact, it was kind of the same highway that I was here in 1995 with virtually no improvement ! When compared to Chinese highway or highway in BKK when people can drive 110 km/h easily, we can drive about 50 km/h with car honking in Vietnam.

Our relatives in Phu Tho are very happy to see us here. I am currently using broadband Internet at Dung's house with ADSL to type this blog. Temperature in Phu Tho is more pleasant than Hanoi. Tomorrow we will leave Phu Tho to Sapa which is about 7 hours away by car.

---