Hanoi is all about motos, EVERYONE rides a moto.  Consequently, the noise of their motors and horns fill the main streets most of the day and night along with their exhaust fumes.  Zak was particularly adamant that I should experience a ride and thus far have “enjoyed” two rides.  The last sojourn was this morning on our way to visit Uncle Ho – only had to close my eyes once this time.

So Uncle Ho is laid to rest in a very somber mausoleum, we stood in a shuffling line that wound around 3 sides of a city block but moved quickly and we were hurried past his peaceful visage in less than 30 minutes.  I’m not convinced it was really him…  Women must be completely covered, all hats off and no hands in your pockets. I noticed some of the older Vietnamese sobbing quietly as they exited.  He is truly loved in this country.  Our guide to Ha long Bay related that all Vietnamese have 2 fathers – Ho Chi Minh and their biologic fathers.

We were given a truly glorious day for our visit to Ha long Bay.  Blues skies, sunshine, nice breeze.  3 hour bus ride out to the bay passing thru the countryside with many small villages and rice paddies. I noticed that women seem to make up about 95% of the work force both in the city and without.  The men make a great show of sitting at the cafes and drinking coffee (traditional hot coffee and milk – very very strong brew of coffee with a generous dollup of sweetened condensed milk) and shooting the breeze while women scurry past on their way to work in shops or carrying their shops on their shoulders in the traditional vietnemese shoulder piece or on their overladen bicycles…hmmmm. Upon arrival we embarked on a 4 hour cruise on the bay with lunch and a stop to tour a very large cave.  The bay is breathtaking and I hope pictures will follow.  On our return cruise the skies shut down a bit and I thought the mist was lovely too.

Yesterday, we attended a performance of the Water Puppet theatre.  A very old Viet theatre tradition dating as far back as the 11th century.  A traditional Viet band sits to the side of the water stage and provides wonderful music and voice to the play.  To perform the show, the puppeteers themselves hide behind a long screen. From behind the screen they manipulate the wooden puppets with bamboo rods while standing chest-deep in water to enact dramatic scenes using the water’s surface as a stage floor.  It was delightful and made me wish I had thought to include Chinese opera and acrobats during my time in Beijing.

Favorite Hanoi thing is simply cruising the old quarter, stopping at shops and bargaining with the shop keepers, pretending to be aghast at an asking price of $3 US, taking in the scenes of daily street life and pausing for hot coffee and milk with a book at a streetside cafe, reading and people watching.  Tori has been a wonderful guide here and has pushed my limits for eating what ever it is we are eating. I do enjoy the Pho and the Bun Bo.  Today, we stopped on our way back from Ho Chi Minh at a sidewalk place and ate I don’t know what; we identified glass noodles, fried onions and mint, there some kind of protein source that I now think may have been dried squid tentacles.  It was Ok, won’t be back for seconds.  Only one KFC here so far, no identified Starbucks or McDonalds – yeah.  Hanoi does have a great many french bakeries from their French colony days and we have sampled at these to be sure.

Pouring down rain as I type, if it clears will try a visit to the Hanoi Hilton, otherwise will just relax and prepare for the next leg of the journey – Bangkok.