Sunday, November 3, 2013 Hanoi

Friday morning's shooting incident at LAX did not delay our evening departure from Phoenix, but our quick flight there was extended by almost two and a half hours sitting on the tarmac waiting for an available gate once we arrived.  We wound up being grateful for our five-hour layover, after all!  Our 13-hour flight to Taipei was uneventful and, I'm starting to write this as we await the last leg of this trip, the three-hour flight to Hanoi.  It's Sunday morning and, somewhere along the way, we've misplaced Saturday; we'll look for it on our return trip! 

We arrived in Hanoi, obtained our pre-approved visas (payable only in US dollars!) and were met by our driver.  We were no sooner out of the parking lot when we got our first taste of driving mores in the capital city an oncoming truck, heading toward us IN OUR LANE!  The highway was filled with bikes, motorcycles, cars, and the occasional pedestrian, frequently trying to occupy the same space.  Motorcyclists all seemed to wear helmets, many likely chosen for color or style, and I wondered if drivers and passengers in cars might do well to wear them, too!

After checking in to our hotel, which is right in the thick of things in the center city, we walked around nearby Hoan Kiem Lake, which is a focal point for natives and visitors alike.  The shoreline path was shady, welcome on this warm and humid afternoon, and full of people of all ages enjoying this Sunday afternoon, including many young couples (newlyweds?), the women in traditional dress and carrying flowers, who were having their photos taken.

From the tranquil oasis of the lake, we plunged into the chaos of Hanoi's Old Town.  The narrow streets are jam-packed with shops whose wares spill out to the sidewalks, where they meet the motorcycles parked on the sidewalks and the small fires used for cooking, or simply to burn bits of paper.  Narrow passages and temples with quiet, incense-scented courtyards also punctuated the scene.  Action-filled as all this was, it paled beside what was going on in the streets themselves.  Bikes, motorcycles, tiny women balancing poles with laden baskets on their shoulders, cars, and pedestrians all seemed to be engaged in multi-sided games of chicken!  Traffic lights are a rarity, and regularly ignored.  Lanes are non-existent and crossing the street should probably require a special rider on life insurance policies!  It makes the traffic in Naples seem like childsplay!

We inched our way through the covered market, where the aisles were about one foot wide and bins and bales overflowed with everything from cheap plastic toys to shoes, clothes, dried fish, kitchen items, and an innumerable number of unidentified nuts, herbs, spices and???  In comparison, Istanbul's Grand Bazaar more closely resembles Neiman Marcus than Hanoi's Dong Xuan Market!

Our long journey (including the missing day), the humidity, and the sensory overload of Hanoi's streets finally led us to find some cold beer and repair to our hotel to recharge.