Hanoi

Hanoi. 

Bicycles are used for everything from carting people to popcorn. 

Since it's a big city it has those big city smells. Exhaust, concrete, urine. Also incense because it is everywhere. Outside pagodas, shrines, and shops. Even stuck into cracks in a building or sidewalk. It's sort of magical to have that vague scent of spirituality follow you everywhere. 

Old ladies wear their silk pyjamas to walk around the lake and do their exercises. Men smoke and chat, women sell fruit, children run and play. TJ and I? We walked leisurely and then sat down for coffee and cards. 

One local delicacy is snake wine. It's just what you'd think: a fermenting snake (and scorpion thrown in for good measure) in rice wine. We had an opportunity to try it but firmly refused. 

After 3 weeks in Vietnam I finally tried Pho. Delicious! And more filling that one would expect!

The market was so full of people and stuff. There was literally no where to go and the sellers had to squeeze themselves in with their wares. I cannot imagine how they can possibly sell all this stuff. Or even how they manage to remember where everything is. 

TJ bargained with a lady who spoke little English using emphatic gestures and a calculator. He came away with a new backpack!