I'm here!
Finally, we have arrived in Hanoi and so far, I'm so happy I made the decision to come instead of packing it back home. A few highlights from the trip:
1. Seeing the sunrise over the Arabian Peninsula. The rippling sand and the green/blue ocean. Just so incredibly beautiful. 2. Bangkok. Everything important in Bangkok is endearing (the food, the people, the temples, the giant portraits of the king, rides on a took took). Everything unimportant is not (the cheesy jewelry stores). I love Bangkok. 3. my most important bag was left in Doha. It held all of my shoes, my knitting/crochet/sewing supplies, pictures of my family, all of my jewelry. Yeah. Horrible. This is a highlight because the airline found my bag! And their sending it to Hanoi. Happy day!
And now for Hanoi. It is intense like no place I've ever been. Ryan and I were walking back to the hotel last night. We had just been to a bar that was shut down by the police. (there's a 12 o'clock curfew). Just as I said to Ryan "Hey this is pretty intense, huh?" a huge rat ran between his legs. This morning we were awakened by the sound of a loudspeaker blaring Communist propaganda. Apparently that happens every morning. There are also no traffic laws, which means that crossing the street is akin to Frogger and there are hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes everywhere. I love it. You can tell a lot by the smell of a city. In Korea the cities mostly smelled like burning plastic, poo, or buttered squid. Hanoi smells like camp fire smoke, incense, crushed fruit and the ocean. I think I'm already in love.
1. Seeing the sunrise over the Arabian Peninsula. The rippling sand and the green/blue ocean. Just so incredibly beautiful. 2. Bangkok. Everything important in Bangkok is endearing (the food, the people, the temples, the giant portraits of the king, rides on a took took). Everything unimportant is not (the cheesy jewelry stores). I love Bangkok. 3. my most important bag was left in Doha. It held all of my shoes, my knitting/crochet/sewing supplies, pictures of my family, all of my jewelry. Yeah. Horrible. This is a highlight because the airline found my bag! And their sending it to Hanoi. Happy day!
And now for Hanoi. It is intense like no place I've ever been. Ryan and I were walking back to the hotel last night. We had just been to a bar that was shut down by the police. (there's a 12 o'clock curfew). Just as I said to Ryan "Hey this is pretty intense, huh?" a huge rat ran between his legs. This morning we were awakened by the sound of a loudspeaker blaring Communist propaganda. Apparently that happens every morning. There are also no traffic laws, which means that crossing the street is akin to Frogger and there are hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes everywhere. I love it. You can tell a lot by the smell of a city. In Korea the cities mostly smelled like burning plastic, poo, or buttered squid. Hanoi smells like camp fire smoke, incense, crushed fruit and the ocean. I think I'm already in love.