Hanoi...the city of horns!

We arrived to Hanoi Vietnam! And just when we thought we had a handle on our travels to the East, Hanoi proved to be a whole new adventure! This city is truly like none other!!! As we were leaving the airport in our cab, fields of rice with water buffalo lined the roadway all the way into town!

The driving is the craziest thing we have ever seen, but somehow it is extremely "zen" and totally makes sense after a while. Our cab driver literally parked his car in the middle of the road to go talk to the toll person, but this just works here! There is a sense of calming flow to it all...and after a day now, even the constant tooting horns isn't maddening. Because the tooting isn't aggressive, it is simply to say "hey, be aware, i'm here....about 2 inches behind you now." If Los Angeles traffic worked this way, I think we would all be a bit happier! There is no stopping, no lights, just constant movement. We were completely terrified to even cross a road at first, but we've got the hang of it now. You just go...no sudden movements and the scooters and cars and buses just gently weave around you. There is a sense of trust and calm about it all!
Although as you can see in some of the videos...that calm took about a day to achieve!!!

There is food EVERYWHERE! But street foods mostly, the most adventurous street food we have gone so far was a cookie...and that was still from an outdoor shop. But the idea is people cook right on the sides of the street and you pull of this very small plastic kids chair and eat! We played it very safe last night and went to a "fancy" dinner last night. Still very authentic, but a bit cleaner than the street foods. But maybe we will get a bit more adventurous today!

The language is much harder. We are back to square one...but certainly not without effort! In one conversation yesterday Sara used every word she knew...hello, thank you...and good bye. All to a laugh! The people a bit more stone faced here...but of course we are working our magic on them and they are warm and welcoming to us. The hotel staff finds us VERY amusing! They are absolutely wonderful, especially LANA!!! She has been so sweet and taken the best care of us! She is very special and our new friend here in Vietnam!

Oh, and for $25 a night, this place is great! About to go eat our free breakfast! We will get more pics because this place is the definition of the word different!


**just got back from a long walk around the city...wow!!!! what a different place this is for sure! and we ate very authentically...video attached!
now, tomorrow we have chartered a private boat to spend one night on in Halong Bay. Very excited to see a natural wonder!
love to you all...
p+s