Hanoi, Vietnam

We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring Hanoi’s old quarter. Hanoi is in Northern Vietnam. Going from one country to the next like this, it’s crazy to see the immense differences in the cultures - Vietnam is MUCH different than anywhere we’ve been yet.

There are so many people here. The streets are so crowded, and there are thousands of scooters and motorcycles. I’d describe Egypt and Jordan as straight chaos - chaos with little or no rules. Vietnam is controlled chaos. There’s an as-semblance of rules, but still very chaotic. Just crossing the road reminds me of being in the video game “frogger” - it’s pretty crazy.

We went to a Hoan Kiem Lake and on the weekends they shut the roads down around it for pedestrian traffic only, which made it a little more quiet and nice. We walked around it twice and then headed to the night market and “beer streets”. The only way I can describe the atmosphere is to say it was like we were at a parade, or a fair, or a celebration/festival, like 4th of July back home - but there wasn’t a reason for the celebration- it was just Saturday night! Just people, food, music, balloons, etc.

There’s a famous street here - “train street” where the train comes through multiple times a day, right down this street that’s lined with cafes and people with only inches of clearance. Supposed to be quite a sight. We had really hoped to see it. Unfortunately, the government shut it down … today!! What crappy timing. They’ve deemed it too dangerous. Sad for the business owners - they only gave them two days notice that they’re business were no longer.

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