Street scenes from Hanoi

Above is one of the very many ladies you will see carry huge loads of various things. And below Nate and I discovered an entire store that sold Canadian bedding.

Below are the two girls who for and hour (at a cost of only $250) gave me a lovely pedicure.



This morning Nate and I took a long walk over to the temple of literature - a very old university (1200s). It was full of gardens and bonsai type trees in planters.

Bonsai of a Banyan tree (I think)
This morning I sat at a teeny weeny wooden table (about 6" off the sidewalk) and had 2 wonderful cups of coffee. The nice man who made it on a small stove (also on the sidewalk) sat beside me and though he did not speak English, he taught me to say banana in Vietnamese and helped me get a good price for a kilo of leechie fruit from the street lady. He also gave me a free sesame cookie. Afterwards, I went and got a manicure and a pedicure.


Today, after wandering the streets for awhile, we stopped at a small place that served food. There were two old toothless ladies there, and with a little sign language, we managed to get two cold cans of pop. While sitting there, the old woman brought us (without us ordering) 2 bowls of soup. Oh well, I think to myself...it looks yummy, so we smiled and took the soup. Soon she was back, only this time with s plate of rather scary looking chicken pieces...but she would not take no foer an answer...instead she grabbed a pair of chopsticks, picked up a blob of chicken, dipped it in a bowl of salt, and placed it firmly on my spoon. So I ate it. She continued to "feed" Nate and I, filling our spoons with salty chicken until it was gone. Soon after that she was dumping large handfuls of leaves in our soup....so we ate those too! Well, all satisfied, we ask how much, and then the lovely toothless old woman TOOK US TO THE CLEANERS!!! Charged us $7! There must have a been a surcharge for feeding us :-)
Glazed pig anyone? If not, just below the hanging pig was a lovely plate of fried tongues.
If you are not up for pig or duck, there is no end to street sellers with baskets of fruit. We bought 1 kilo of leechie fruit this morning for only cents...very yummy.
Scooters are everywhere. Below is the shoe repair guy fixing Nate's shoes yeterday.