Hanoi - Madness

Our last stop in Vietnam was Hanoi, the capital city. We spent a total of 3 days in Hanoi, both before and after our Halong Bay & Sapa excursions. The first time we arrived in Hanoi we arrived in the midst of the 1000 year anniversary of the founding of Hanoi, a celebration we had been hearing about throughout our time in the rest of Vietnam. Everyone warned us how crowded it would be but we kind of didn't take it too seriously, until we got there. It took our cab from the airport about double the time to get through the city because there were people EVERYWHERE. It's hard to describe and the pictures we took (not included) do not do the craziness justice (that's why they are not included). The funny thing was that this "celebration" was not much of a celebration at all - no events, no music, no food - just tons of people on the streets wearing "I Love Hanoi" shirts and waving Vietnamese flags around. Kind of lame for the biggest event in 1000 years. When we returned to Hanoi after Sapa, it was definitely less crowded but still crazy.

Try to find Kate in the madness...

We were a bit tired and overwhelmed so didn't try to see too much of Hanoi (missed the grand Temple of Literature and Ho Chi Minh's tomb - but frankly, you see one grand tomb or temple, of which we've seen a few, you seen 'em all).  Instead we walked around the lake in the center of the city and sat down to drink some beer, or "bia."  Which reminds me how cool their word for beer is - it's like someone from New York or Jersey saying "beer" but dragging out into two syllables.  Gimme a cold bia!
 
This is where we sat down in the Old Quarter for some Bia Hoi, a beer that each place brews locally without preservatives.  At the awesome price of 20 cents per glass (almost pint sized!), you really can't beat it.

You sit on these little plastic children's chairs or stools.  This was the Bia Hoi place kitty corner from ours. 

Then we bid Kate's Mom farewell, as she headed back to the US of A, by way of a 9-hour layover in Tokyo (eek!)  And Kate and I headed down to Bangkok, the city where you can do it all or have it all done to you...