Hey Mistah, you want motobike ride?

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Colin writes:
Bad title, I just didn't want to say Good Morning Vietnam, as every other traveler does for their blogs.
We arrived in Vietnam early in the day….Thursday, June 1. Beautiful, and hot. After agreeing to a 3 dollar price to take the taxi into town, Kristy went into toughie mode when, after leaving the airport, our Vietnamese bus dude told us 5 bucks each. Kristy was pretty impressive as I was almost ready to whip out my wallet…and she gave him that look that scares me so, and said “no….you lied…you can drop us off then”. I picked up on her lead and tried to help, but she did a great job with him, and eventually settled on a decent price (seeing as 5 bucks was so expensive). This was within our first 5 minutes of being in Vietnam. I was a little pissed at first. I’m from the school that if someone is lying, or trying to take my money, he is my enemy. I realize that is not always the case. They just do what they can to make a buck. It didn’t necessarily leave a bad taste in our mouths…it just sort of opened up our minds for what we now realize is the way to get by in this country. Haggle, smile, refuse, haggle, laugh and agree, and hope that everybody walks away happy. Good lesson for me anyway.

As for Hanoi. Beautiful and crazy. Dirty, but romantic. Seems to me a city of opposite extremes. Culture shock set in as this is clearly a poor country; but with charm. Life is lived on the streets. Eating, cutting hair, selling goods (good??), drinking teas, sleeping, burning garbage, riding bikes, chasing cats, carrying basketfuls of fruit…..everything is on display. Quite amazing to watch.
The Old Quarter where tourists all flock is a maze of tiny streets like veins flowing with motorbikes. It’s awesome. To cross a street….just pick your moment and walk, and the bikes like water seem to flow around you (just barely). Scary at first, but a blast.
All the buildings are narrow and tall, styled in weather beaten French architecture. There are palm trees all over and there is a lake in the middle of the Old Quarter, with a beautiful walking path surrounding it. Outside of the lake are the hordes of merchants, where Kristy and I enjoyed haggling for plenty of shoes and clothes which we boxed up and shipped home. Cyclos (bike carriage for 1) are everywhere, and you can’t walk for 10 seconds without someone following you asking if you want a ride on their motorbike…..the real taxis of Hanoi.
However, what we couldn’t get over, were the cool cafés and restaurants. I think coming from Korea…we were a little too happy to indulge in French pastries, and the most amazing rich coffees we’ve ever had. Not that we don’t enjoy Korean food, but we were in heaven in some of these gorgeous little cafés.
Our first meal was Vietnamese…and it was good, but a few Western meals that we hadn’t had in a long, long time (BREAKFAST…YESSSSS) were a treat. However, like in Korea, the Western food is clearly not the specialty.
And of course, everything is SO cheap. Meals for both of us were never more than 10 bucks American, usually only 3 bucks each.
Our hotel was really quite nice. Not the kind of minimalist bungalows of Thailand, but a well decorated, two double bed, satellite T.V., air conditioned, 4th floor balcony 15 dollar room. (Note: we are now in Hoi An—it’ll be another entry—where our equally nice hotel is 8 bucks….not bad)

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