Finally in Vietnam

After 24 hours of traveling, we're finally in Hanoi. The flight to Hong Kong was 14 hours, then 2 hours to Hanoi. I tried a pair of compression socks for the long flight, and man-oh-man, what a difference! It was so amazing that I'm going to get T a pair when we get back.

We've been to Hanoi many times, but a lot has really changed since the last time 3 years. The biggest difference is
the new helmet law, which went in to effect about 6 months ago. Hanoi, being the trendy place that it is, even has helmet trends -- including a snap-on brim for the women.! There are also many, many, many more street lights. The first time we were here (4 years ago) there was ONE; the next year, there were 3-5. Now, we lost count! Although the traffic is still a little crazy, the lights do make it a bit easier to cross the street.

That's not to say that's it's "easy" to cross. "Slow and steady stays alive" is the moto here. Moto bikes and bicycles gauge your speed and go around you, but buses and taxis (and some autos) definitely do not.

In the photo below, it looks like traffic is stopped -- but it's not.
The most surprising difference in Hanoi is the growth in trendy stores. Our favorite grocery store has turned into a Calvin Klein store -- very disappointing. There's also a Nine West/Enzo shoe store, any many luxury auto stores, including BMW and Lexus. We even saw an Escalade today! Mind you, these cars are comparatively cheap, but then again, these people make a fraction of what we do and pay something outrageous like 100% taxes on luxury autos.

Oh, and there's a new KFC (eewww). Of all the fast food, why KFC??

Of course, you know I can't not talk about the food. Sadly, our favorite place for BLT's (the best you ever had) has gone down hill. But our local street-vendor with yummy beef-noodle type salad is still there, as is the local Hao Sua restaurant training school.

We're going to put this school in our book. They take in and train homeless, poor and orphaned youth and give them room, board and restaurant & hotel training. Their restaurants are mid-range bordering on fancy and fantastically yummy. They serve Vietnamese-French fusion food. We went there for lunch today, and I had carrot-coconut soup, pork fillets with a fantastic mustard, honey & garlic sauce, and blackberry parfait. All for $6!!!
Another thing I love about Hanoi is the early morning. We wake up by at least 6am (yes, that's correct: 6am) and go to the lake nearby. The morning is fantastic for lots of reasons. First, it's cool, but mainly it's quiet. Nobody is trying to sell you stuff, and the streets are practically empty. All the locals are out exercising, and a popular place is Hoan Kiem lake near our hotel. This lake is the reason we stay in this neighborhood; it's a hub of activity. The lake is the size of a couple of football fields, with hundreds (maybe even a thousand) people exercising in the early morning.

Most of the people are walking (counter-clockwise, interestingly), but others do group aerobics (tai chi on speed) which looks a lot like a Vietnamese macarana. The photo below shows this -- but what you don't see is that there's about 200 people participating.
Other people bring their own weight benches and lift weights, while some people use the park benches to do sit-ups and such. There are groups doing fan dances, and playing soccer. Oh, and badminton -- I can't forget that. Badminton is so popular here that there are permanent markings on the sidewalks for people to play!

This morning, we saw some women doing an interesting exercise where you do a little dance and have to keep the ball on the little leather tennis racket; at one point, you throw the ball behind your back, but them have to catch it from the front. I was watching them while Tadashi was taking pictures of other people. When he came back, I was explaining it to him, and one of the women gave me the racket and had me do it -- and I was pretty darn good! They invited me back tomorrow morning.

Tadashi took a nice picture of the woman pushing me down -- apparently I wasn't bending my kneed enough.
You may wonder, "why so early?" -- that's because by 7am, everyone's packing up to go to work. So if you want to see it, you have to be early.

But Hoan Kiem lake is used all day. That's why I love it. There's always people hanging out.
It's what Lake Merritt wishes it was.