Hanoi

On the bus to Hanoi, 7 hours were spent waiting for the closed border to open. It took 24 hours in total and I arrived in Hanoi at 8:00pm Saturday night, October 24th. It was an intense experience and made Bangkok traffic look like child's play. Here the traffic was thick like water, and flowed like a raging waterfall. At intersections all motorists collide and trickle through slamming to a halt at blockages and following the path of least resistance, meandering to and fro until once again they rejoin and flow together with relative ease.

Here are many pictures taken while walking the streets of this vibrant and buzzing city. There are bird vendors, newly-weds on the lakeside, elated locals, the best cup of coffee I have ever had, and also a picture from the Ho Chi Minh Museum and another of Woo, who I wandered with for a morning, being prepared for a photo op by a fruit vendor. Of course the fruit vendor demanded that we absolutely must buy her fruit after taking the photo, one of regular tricks that fruit vendors in Hanoi play, and one that apparently must work very well. You learn to thank them and simply to walk away.

A note on the first picture: It was noon on Friday when motorcycles began to pour onto the sidewalks as they found the paths of least resistance and made their ways around the stagnant car/truck traffic. This all seemed to happen so quickly and I took this picture in an attempt to capture the insanity that ensued. I had not realized until afterward that I caught a man dropping his cargo off the back of his motorcycle creating a major jam. These massive bags are not of uncommon size. Cyclists will also carry multiple live pigs on the back of their bikes, or washing machines, or industrial sized fans -- no big deal.