Nate and I arrived in Hanoi at 1 pm today (after not oo much sleep) and the weather was a cool 34 degrees - low humidity. After India, the 34 degrees seemed just perfect, and the streets are so clean, and while there is lots of hustle and bustle and a bezillion scooters driving everywhere, it is all very calm after India. Like India, here there is a strange mix of old and new. Generations clash in very obvious ways. Old women wearing pointed rice straw hats carry large baskets of goods on the end of long poles balanced on their shoulders, while young people dressed in Guess jeans scoot by on their scooters. Families share meals in the street - on the sidewalk sitting on small plastic stools, while street vendors prepare food, serve it, and do the dishes - all out of a few buckets at the side of the road. People are friendly and smile a lot.
Viet Nam is already my new favorite place!
The food is amazing AND SO CHEAP! Nate and I ate out tonight...set us back $2.60 and that included beer! How cool is that? You can buy a whole amazing cheezecake for a few bucks.
The funniest thing happened today....Nate and I were walking along the street and out of the blue a man stops Nathan and bends down and pokes at Nates shoe...and before Nate can really tell what is going on, the man has removed Nathan's shoe (which had separated from the sole along the side), put a thong on Nate's foot, and pointed out the tear in the side of Nate's shoe and then from nowhere he pulls out a basket with shoe repair stuff in it. 15 minutes later Nate's shoes have been completely resown - by hand on the street corner - relined and shined, and back on his feet, complete with new laces tied. They look brand new and will likely have saved him $60 buying a new pair (cause they really were falling apart!). Too cool. I LOVE THIS PLACE! Old shoes become new right before your eyes! Do you think I could find a street vendor that could make my old body become new right there on the street corner? Well, not likely, but I am going for a manicure and pedicure tomorrow am...will set me back $5.
AND, AND, AND...there is espresso stalls right down the street....YES, Vietnamese vendors selling espresso - real coffee!!! YIPPEE!!! NO MORE NESCAFE! I LOVE THIS PLACE. Lattes for pennies! I am giddy. Actually, it is probably just that I am so tired. Hardly slept a wink yesterday, We had three flights over 24 hours - with several long stops in between with no where to sleep. One of the flights was incredibly bumpy - pretty severe turbulance ans we flew around several thunderstorms.
After Nate got his shoes fixed, we hired a young fellow for $7 to pedal us around for an hour on a rickshaw - so we could get our bearings...no use. We were hopelessly turned around going up and down the tiny crowded streets of the old quarter. Up and down the streets we went...it was so fun. The streets here all are dedicated to a certain things...so, for example, you have the shoe street...every single street vendor has a store full of shoes, then there is the purse street, the backpack street, the duct tape street (I am serious), the rope street, the gold street, the watches street - you name it. The stuffed animal street, the CD street, the Chinese lantern street. It is a hoot. I REALLY LOVE THIS PLACE! Can't wait to get out and about tomorrow - and then I will post some photos for you all. For now though, I really must sleep. It is only 8pm but we are completely wiped.
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