Goooood Morning Vietnam!

I love that movie!  Going back a few days... we spent the last 5 days in Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos. We intended to spend about 2 or 3 days there, but after reading the description of the bus ride from there to Hanoi (16 hours advertised, we heard more like 24-36 with increasing 'danger and overcrowding') we booked a flight which resulted in a longer stay... The first couple of days we were still flush with friends, we spent one day at the buddha park (a cool park with a ton of different kinda psychadelic statues) and at the national monument of Laos (beautiful, with loads of friendly monks). The next day we checked out the Laos version of the Arc d'Triumph (an amazing sign calls it an unfinished monster of concrete...hehe... it's actually cute) and then we went BOWLING! IN LAOS! It was hilarious and fun and a great way to say goodbye to a bunch of our friends who were headed to southern Laos.  We ended up having a great couple of cafe days, and I got a chance to get some extra pages put in my passport (I was counting visas, these Asian countries all have full page visas... and I didn't think I'd quiiiite make it) now I have an extra A-X of them!  The funniest part is that I have an old passport, with the state seals, and now I have that plus a new passport inside... hence it is now... Frankenpassport!  We also found a great restaurant called Makphet that is part of a non-profit that trains street kids with life skills (ironically we found a different one in Hanoi today (KOTO), always delicious and you feel so good about yourself when you get dessert).  We finally headed out yesterday early afternoon to Hanoi to get our first taste of Vietnam.

First impression was that it is pretty (lots of fields outside the city), nice French colonial buildings, a ton of motorbikes and crazy busy. After the chilled out enviornment in Laos, we weren't quite prepared for this level of hustle and bustle.  We checked in to our hotel and headed out to check out our neighborhood in the Old Quarter.  We stopped for a Bia Hoi (local fresh beer).  They put out low stools all over the sidewalk, and beer costs about 20 cents.  We had our first run-in with the intensity of the city when the guy who ran the place literally took off Mike's shoe, convinced us to let him polish it (yes, his Tevas) and then demanded money, we eventually gave him a couple of dollars and reminded ourselves we weren't in Laos anymore....

Today we got up EXTRA early to go see Uncle Ho in the flesh!  Between the hours of 8-11 am you can go get in line to see the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh, and boy, was that one of the strangest things I've ever seen.... We waited in a big line, checked our camera, dressed modestly, and got to stroll by, a very peaceful looking, well preserved Uncle Ho.  We spent a long time in the very confusing but amusing Ho Chi Minh museum (my favorite parts... the handball he used to exercise, and the clock that was in the room when he died...) We're back in a country where people stare, point, poke and photograph (a la China) which is funny, a whole family found Mike's beard point and laugh hilarious.... We spent the afternoon at the Temple of Literature (beautiful) and KOTO (tasty and sooo good for the kids).  Then took a couple hours to rest. 

This evening we went to the water puppet theater... which is kind of hard to explain (best to just google it) but there are puppets, and water, and traditional music... it was overall interesting and fun.  We also ran into our friends Marilyn and Federico (from the slow boat!) and went for a drink with them.  All told, a great first day.  Tomorrow we are heading to Halong Bay and Cat Ba island on a 3 day tour (one night on a junk boat and one at a hotel). Should be good fun!