Ha Noi, Vietnam

We arrived in Vietnam the evening of May 3rd to a lot of rain...so much that I had to take my shoes off so they weren't completely soaked when we disembarked the plane.

Walking down to the flooded tarmac

We got in late so we didn't get to explore the city until May 4 which is when we learned that it is a sport to cross the street here in Vietnam. It's pretty bad in Ha Noi but we hear that Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is even worse. You'll see how bad it was in Da Nang in a later post.

Click here to watch one of our first attempts to cross the street

Bamboo!

This lady threw the hat and pole on Paul in hopes we'd buy some fruit...

...but we didn't...a  different lady attacked me too...I took both as a photo opportunity

The tree lined streets are nice

We walked by the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square

But we saw it more as a safe haven for pedestrians 

We then went to the Temple of Literature

Khue Van pavilion

Burning incense

Walking back to our hotel

We ventured out at night again to this kind of scene

It is constant chaos!

No, they did not get hit

Click here to watch us trying to cross at night

On Cinco de Mayo, we needed to kill some time before getting on our night train to Sapa. So, we walked around town a little bit more since we figured we needed the challenge.

More craziness

Hoan Kiem Lake

A different view of Hoam Kiem Lake

And a panoramic view with Paul too!

I like how the roots of this tree look

After walking around the lake, we (mistakenly) decided to go across the street to look at some of the shops. When out of nowhere, this guy grabs Paul's ankle and attacks his boot. His entire body was on his foot while he started to shine it.

Paul said the only way to get him away was to kick him...

...but he didn't - he ended up giving up his boot for shining

Reluctantly

Looking pretty shiny

We then had to cross the street - I somehow made it across without Paul

Click here to watch Paul cross the street

I like this one of the guy talking on his cell phone while on the motor bike

Click here to watch my favorite street crossing mayhem from Ha Noi

After a traumatic day of trying to cross streets, we boarded the night train at 8pm

Here we are in very small quarters

A pic of Paul from the top bunk