On to Vietnam...The Lone Star [Communist] Country

After another half-day in Chiang Mai, mostly spent laying by the hotel pool followed by a bit of sightseeing, we returned to Bangkok for another night and half-day before jetting off to Hanoi, Vietnam.

We arrived in Hanoi yesterday evening and enjoyed an interesting minibus voyage to our hotel in the 'Old Quarter'. Although as it turns out, this was just an imposter minibus (versus the official Vietnam Airlines bus), it was only minimally more expensive and well worth it. After waiting 30+ minutes for the transport to fill up (remember we are in a communist country), these guys managed to squeeze in 15 passengers into a minibus just slightly larger than a Chrysler Voyager (and yes, we were of course the only 'whiteys').

So now we're on the road to the city and, like in Delhi, we quickly realize we are back in the land of honking and road chaos (after a brief respite in the more peaceful and honk-less Land of Smiles, aka Thailand); I promise there are more mini-scooters and motorcycles in Hanoi than in all of Texas. Furthermore, they apparently have the right of way over pedestrians and don't appear to be bound by the same traffic laws as their 4-wheeled bretheren, such as having to stop at red lights (however in exchange, the downside appears to be the wearing of the not-so-fashionable anti-pollution facemask).

So, back to our visit - as Mary Beth wisely convinced me to spend our 2nd day here tomorrow taking a boat excursion off the NE coast of Vietnam in the Halong Bay area, the agreement was that we walk the city today like madmen to catch all the main sites (and for the most part, we did - pictured below is the Temple of Literature (1st Vietnamese university and favorite study grounds for Confucious), the standard statue of Lenin, and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum monument); we even paid a visit to the "Hanoi Hilton", famous for housing McCain and other American pilots during the war - the museum exhibits and associated commentary relating to the American prisoners held there are priceless, more or less portraying their stay as all fun and games and smiles for these guys, playing volleyball, basketball, chess, decorating Christmas trees, etc.):

Stay tuned for how the boat excursion goes, which includes a nice long drive in the rice paddy-filled countryside; the bay is supposed to be one of the highlights of the country.