Hanoi… A people’s city! Everyone out on the streets, laughing, playing, visiting… It’s a friendly environment for a big city. The total chaos with 7 million people and 5 million motorcycles trying to maneuver their way around the streets. We learned early when you want to cross a street, you just “yen swagger” thru the never-ending traffic. This literally means SLOWLY AND NONCHALANTLY walking right out in front of whatever’s coming and they slowly maneuver around you. It’s scary at first but when you e done it a few times, you get braver.

Keep in mind, Vietnam is only 127,0000 square miles of country with 94 million people, while the USA is 3,600,000 square miles with 360 million. This means they have 750 people per square mile while we have 10. And that wouldn’t even be so bad, if their population was more dispersed thru the countryside, but they are huddled in the major cities… Saigon, Danang and Hanoi.

I guess my favorite part was the night we tagged along with an Austrian food blogger thru the Old Quarter to sample “street food”. The Old Quarter is primarily old ancient buildings and comprised of 36 main streets, with dozen of alleys shooting off in all directions. Each street is named for the product it specializes in, for example on shoe street I saw probably a 100 little shops displaying thousands of different shoes. And, toy street was a kid’s paradise. But some of the alleys were a little scary at times because they were so dark, but yet very populated with bars, shops, etc…no matter which one you chose. Each eating establishment was literally “a hole in the wall” seating maybe 12 or so people at the most. You sit on “little short plastic” stools and pray you can get back up (with my old knees it’s difficult). Each one specializes in something… and by “Specialize”, I mean cooks only ONE thing. So we start by tasting a beef noodle dish called Bun Bo Mam Bo. Delicious! Beef is a delicacy, they mostly eat pork, seafood and chicken. We continue down several more alleys til we find the BBQ quail bar where they are cleaning them and then grilling them right in front of us. They are so tiny, it’s all bone, so you’re mostly tasting the sauce. As the evening precedes, we test pates, fruits, and I even try a local beer (I hate beer, but it wasn’t too bad). Educational and fun way to explore the Old Quarter.

We also visited the Hanoi Hilton. This is the prison where the Vietnam prisoners were held during the French War (ending in 1954) and then the American pilots and South Vietnamese prisoners were kept here during what we call the Vietnam War. John McCain was rescued from the lake here and put in this prison. The conditions were horrendous! But, the propaganda inside the museum made it appear the American pilots were treated like royalty. Not sure how “good” it could be when you’re locked in a small cement cell with 8-10 other men and no bathroom. It was named Hanoi Hilton after the war because the Hilton tried to buy the land and build a hotel, but the government said no. It’s kind of ironical! We lost 58,000 soldiers and they lost 2 million, then Kissinger surrendered in 1973…so that the Communists took over and owned EVERYTHING (with the people basically starving) until 1986 when they established EXACTLY what we were fighting for them to have… FREE ENTERPRISE… where the people can own the buildings, Ron their own businesses, etc instead of the government. But they kept the Communist political system which is like most politics.. The government holds the power and takes money under the table.

There’s so much to see in Hanoi. They close off the streets around the town lake on the weekends so everyone can enjoy the cooler weather and spend Family time. There’s so many games from tug of war to walking on stilts, driving battery operated small trucks and scooters, and singing by all.

As the sun goes down, the engaged couples come out in mass to take their wedding photos in front of our hotel, the Sofitel. It’s in the French quarter and was built in 1903. Very beautiful example of French architecture. We sip on drinks while at least 10 couples dressed in full wedding get ups are posing. Fun and relaxing to watch the custom.

Heading to Halong Bay to enjoy an overnight on the Paradise Peak, our final
Days in this amazing country.