Hanoi, Vietnam

Arrival: 02/19/09 6:00am

Departure: 3/3/09 at 1:30pm

Sight Seeing: Old Town, Vietnamese Water Puppet Show, Ho Chi Minh Monument, Halong Bay (see other blog posting)

People: Friendly for the most part

Food: Everything but Pho is fried. Delicious but tiring after a few meals.

Accommodations: Hanoi Guest House ($10 per night)

Pictures: Pictures of Vietnam

Summary: At first experience, Hanoi is an intimidating city with obstacle courses for sidewalks and motorbikes eager to honk for no apparent reason. After about 15 minutes of walking around, you're gut reaction will be to crawl into a hole and hide. However, if you linger in the city long enough, you might discover some of its surprising charm.

Details: For humor more than anything, Adam and I checked out a Vietnamese water puppet show. Once started in a small Vietnamese village to entertain the children, the puppet show has now become more of a tourist attraction. There are musicians, narrators, and people standing in water waist deep that control the dancing wooden puppets, which are strikingly similar to the puppets used in Team America. I have to admit it was pretty entertaining, but if the show were to go on any longer than the 30 minutes, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.





"Asian Driver" - After years of cursing the "Asian Driver", I can honestly say that I have a better understanding to their method of madness. In Vietnam, it appears that there are absolutely no rules of the road. However, there is an unexplainable understanding and flow of traffic. Cars and motorbikes will... drive down the wrong side of the road as long as it's not for long, only slow down in an intersection if there is something bigger in the way (unlike the US, anything bigger than you has the right of way so pedestrians and bicycles are screwed), merge to the far left lane of the wrong side of the road to make a left turn before entering the intersection so they don't have to stop, and honk for no apparent reason literally just holding down the horn. My experience has given me a greater appreciation and understanding of the Asian Driver.