Transportation adventures

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Day 3
Another hazy day, after breakfast we had a 40 minute trip to a local beach and then it was back to the boat to cruise back to the dock. Hazy or no, the rock formations are spectacular.
I can’t omit a brief description of Paradise Junks and their superb branding. Every uniform, every placemat, every bottle of water had their logo. The service level was as good as it gets and parked out front of their building was a brand new Rolls Royce and a brand new Mercedes. Since there is a 200% tax on imported automobiles Jack estimates it was over $1,000,000 of cars. Since the operation runs like clockwork, it would guess it is more than moderately successful.
The drive back again was slow going on the same 2 lane road with motor scooters, bikes and slow moving (10 miles/hour) dump trucks. We took lots of picture along the way and discussed politics with our guide. It turns the propaganda, is actually viewed simply as propaganda by most people. Maybe our university student was not of this mind, but out guide is.
There is a lot of construction and new homes dot the highway. They are all built tall and narrow to minimize frontage and hence taxes. Even when a house is built all by itself, they don’t finish the sides on the assumption that sooner or later another house will be built next to it. So you drive by houses with elaborate fronts and sides that are poured concrete without even paint.
By the time we got back to Hanoi we were starving and decided to go for a walk in the Old Quarter to what National Geographic rates as the #1 noodle shop in Hanoi. Two large bowls of noodles and a beer were $5. As the guidebook said it was a hole in the wall and not very clean, but people lived productive lives for centuries before we had hand sanitizer. Walking around the city is exhausting. Most of the time you have to walk in the street, it is incredibly noisy since everyone is honking and the motor scooters surge down streets and around corners in dense stream. Jack got a great shot of me with an old woman selling bananas.
Back in the hotel we are catching our breath before going out to dinner. We ate at what is reputed to be the best restaurant in Hanoi by the NYTimes. It was a fantastic French meal - as good as it gets with sufficient butter and cream to clog anyone's arteries. Yum!

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