Our second stop involved flying into Hanoi at night, landing in the dreary darkness near the airport and passing through the messy, sprawling outer boundaries of the Vietnamese capitol in a fast-moving taxi. We were deposited in the care of a young Vietnamese woman from our guesthouse in the midst of a swirling whirlpool of traffic, consisting mostly of motorbikes zipping past and weaving around one another. The Old Quarter of Hanoi seemed to have escaped the US bombings of the war years, and now presents an eclectic, exciting, labyrinthine web of streets and tall, narrow construction.

Our days in the city involved roaming around, and for me, it was perhaps the most effort I have had to put forth with my nose to a map in some time. The street names change constantly and blend together, running along from one to the next. The constant humming of the moto engines and the beating of their horns are overshadowed only with the hammering of aluminum and other industry going along the sidewalks and the open shops of the streets. Bare trees fill up small spaces and restaurants and cafes pour out of long, galley-like spaces, filled with Vietnamese (and of course tourists) slurping down noodle bowls on under-sized plastic furniture.

We visited an old, restored home tucked into a street. It was wonderful to see, and walking over the creaking wooden floors indeed had the feel of a trip to a bygone era. The architecture in east Asia, on a whole, has a wonderful harmony in its traditional elements. In the center of the Old Quarter is a fair-sized lake with a small (yet crowded!) temple. As a whole, the sights of Hanoi do not seem to add to too much. The atmosphere of the city is especially pleasant, and I could have easily spent double the time there simply soaking it in.

We also made the time for the long trip out to the Vietnamese coast to visit Ha Long Bay, the bay of the descending dragon. The legend goes that in ancient times, a dragon came down from the heavens to, I believe, ward off invading Chinese. It carved great gashes through the land, which over time flooded, leaving what is now the landscape of sharp limestone mountains towering over blue waters far as the eye can see. It is a beautiful sight, even in hazy, rainy weather. Along the way, we paid a visit to a pair of caves, the first garishly adorned with a number of lights, the second, according to our guide, was ‘not so pretty’. I assumed this to mean undecorated. Low and behold, it was largely in its natural state and proved wonderful for a quick walk through.

Toward the end we paid a visit to the embalmed Ho Chi Minh, the modern hero of united Vietnam. The man himself, if you’ve not read up, is fascinating. His body is however waxy, and pictures are not allowed. It is a curious custom of Communist to embalm their leaders. We were also treated to the Ho Chi Minh museum, which also serves as a museum of Vietnamese independence in many respects. The treatment of America’s role in the war is surprisingly…friendly…and was only made to feel like the big bad imperialist when passing the chemical weapon displays.

A particularly enjoyable evening in Hanoi centered around the water puppetry. Apparently it is a custom that grew in the flooded rice paddies of the countryside in which stories are enacted by puppeteers who keep behind a screen while pushing about marionettes attached by a pole under the water. The display is quite elegant and entertaining, covering both lighthearted comedic stories as well as addressing more serious aspects of daily life in rural Vietnam.