Hanoi - where motorbikes honk and honk and honk ......

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On March 7, we arrived from Ninh Binh to Hanoi, via the local bus.

We pre-arranged a guesthouse while we were in Ninh Binh and were glad to meet the representative of the guesthouse.

We were driven off in two motorbikes, with each of our big backpack in front to the motorbike driver.

The guesthouse is on one of the 36 streets in the "Old Quarter" of Hanoi. Years before, each street sells certain things, e.g. incense, silk, shoes, etc. Now, you will find different vendors on each street, but some streets are still famous for its speciatly. For example, to buy silk, we all go "Hang Gai" street.

Today is a free day and we have decided not to do too much sightseeing. However, we decided to check on the two tours -- Sapa Tour and Halong Bay tour.

We found a tour operator that offers a 4-night/3 day Sapa Tour for $75, including return soft sleeper overnight train, one night of homestay, one night of hotel stay, most meals, passage, and guided treks. So, we decided to buy that package.

In the afternoon, we bumped into a couple that we have met on a tour and they recommended that we go see the Water Puppets. So, we bought tickets for their 6:30 show.

The Vietnam Water Puppets are a famous folk performing art. They were developed by the villagers during times of flood. The puppets were controlled by people standing in the water, behind a bamboo screen. There is a band of traditional Vietnamese musicians to accompany the show. It was a delightful show (20,000 Dong = $1.25 admission).

On March 8, we just walked around the old quarter aimlessly, but did pick up a travel book.

On March 9, we visited the "Temple of Literature", which is the major examination place where the scholars compete for their titles.

In the evening of March 9, we started our Sapa tour (See next entry).

Ever since we left Hoi An, the weather has been cloudy and misty. Air in Ha Noi is humid and pollution is even worse. Our guesthouse has to dry our laundry with an iron.

Honking in Vietnam is like a disease (not as bad as in China though). Ha Noi is the worse among other Vietnam cities we have travelled. It is interesting to see the traffic. There are very few stop signs, traffic lights in intersections. Trucks, buses, vans, cars, motorcycles, bicycles do not obey any signs, traffic lights in general. Especially when they are making right turns. One would expect lots of people would get killed or at least lots of minor traffic accidents, but which ain't so.

I witnessed in one occasion when a big touring bus was passing through an small intersection which blocked traffics from all directions. Once the bus cleared the intersection, hell broke loose when a few hundred motorbikes try to squeeze through the intersection all at the same time. That was quite a sight. But then, everything back to normal after a minute or so. No one got hurt.

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