Day 4, September 29

We had all morning with nothing planned, so we took the bull by the horns and went for a walk, even crossing streets on our own.  I cannot emphasize how heavy and chaotic the traffic is, so it truly is taking your life in your hands to cross a four-lane street. Traffic lights are not even mere suggestions, they are totally ignored. Since it was not raining, we walked around the block, and found the Opera House. By this time, both of us were squeaky with sweat, so we came back and cooled down. 

The afternoon was set aside for a backstreet city tour with lunch included. The fun part of the tour was that it was in an open, North Vietnam Army Jeep.  We even had to sign waivers that we understood there were no seat belts. First off to lunch, which was down a very tight alley to a restaurant called the Hidden Gem. We were upstairs where the view overlooked the freeway, and the tables and chairs were made of motorcycles and motorcycle parts. The food was very good and a nice sample of Vietnamese food including rainbow noodles.  Each different color represented a different vegetable used in making it.

We then drove over to the oldest bridge in Hanoi, designed by Eiffel in 1899 and known as the horizontal Eiffel tower. It was bombed 14 times during the Vietnam War and after repairs each time, is still in use today. Then we took a ride to a part of Hanoi way off the beaten track where squatters are living and farming the land and are being ignored by the government so they can. After we came back into the heart of the city, we drove around quite a bit, seeing many of the famous areas and government buildings. We explored an alley of homes and were privileged to visit in one with its 84-year-old occupant who played several instruments for us and spoke of war times. A visit around the city wouldn’t be complete without going to Train Street for a cooling drink. No trains, but we did have cold drinks. Tonight, there has been lots of thunder. Apparently, there is a tropical depression in the area causing flooding in Hanoi for the last couple of days. Notice the rat’s nest of electrical wires. They say that the smartest people in Viet Nam are the electricians who somehow manage to sort through all of the wiring.