What you do if you don't have trucks

When there aren't a lot of trucks, people can get very creative with their bicycles and scooters.

Here are some more photos from our stay in Hanoi.

This is the Hanoi Opera House, as seen from my hotel.

Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to any performances.

This is a commom way to carry things in Hanoi.

We haven't seen this in Ho Chi Minh City, though.

We went over these railroad

tracks on our way to and from

work every day. 

I only saw one train during the entire time we were

in Hanoi, and that was just by luck, when I was

walking around town. Here are the scooters waiting

for the train (below) to go by.



 

Hanoi brides

This must be the wedding season in Hanoi! Every weekend there were brides at the lake or in front of some of the older, and often French Colonial, buildings, having their photos taken. The brides weren't always with their soon-to-be (or already) husbands, nor were there many family members around. We also saw a number of places that appeared to be renting wedding dresses. We concluded -- although it's just a guess -- that the photos are a more modern tradition, and in reality have little to do with the actual ceremony. But they all seemed to be enjoying having their photos taken!

 

Fascinating Hanoi

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Wednesday morning, but I wanted to post some more of my photos from Hanoi. We haven't had time to explore HCMC yet, but we will starting Saturday. For some reason, I've had problems connecting to my website, but it seems to be working now, so I want to take advantage of it.

There are lots of artists in Hanoi, who will

be glad to paint your portrait, or that of

anyone else.

The streets really come alive at night. Here, people

have dinner in a sidewalk cafe. Unlike those in other

cities, these cafes take up the entire sidewalk, so

pedestrians end up walking in the street.

This group, including a photographer, was waiting

to cross the street. The women are dressed in the

traditional Vietnamese outfit, which is still relatively

common here.

The changing of the guard at

Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.

I love the yellow dress the little

girl is wearing.

Another view of the mausoleum and the guards.

The mausoleum was closed, allegedly because

Ho Chi Minh's body -- which is on display, a la

Lenin -- was being "freshened up".

These little girls were playing in the lobby of the

hotel, while waiting for a party to start.



A night view of the pagoda in the

lake near our hotel. The area around

the lake is busy every day, but it

really comes alive at night, when what

seem to be thousands of teenagers and

young adults come out to meet friends

and enjoy the view.