Bangkok --> Hanoi

Our flight to Hanoi early today was fine-- another Air Asia flight. The warm, humid weather here often causes steam to billow from the air-conditioning vents while the plane sits on the runway. The flight today was full of backpackers. It seems like many of them are taking gap years for some kind of self-discovery adventure, with more of an emphasis on meeting each other and partying, while Kipp and I are more interested in seeing this part of the world. We had ordered a visa-on-arrival for (Socialist) Vietnam and printed the necessary approval letter in advance. At Immigration, we had to pay a fee (for the first time this trip) for a visa and photos. From there, we took a taxi to the hostel in Hanoi. Surprisingly, Hanoi seems grittier than Bangkok-- more small motorcycles, equally chaotic traffic, more construction, and many people working in shops along the street.

I was especially surprised to see car- and motorcycle-repair shops operaing in one-room, open-front stores, with work being carried out on the floor or on a car parked half in the shop, half in the sidewalk. There are a few street vendors/hawkers here, but only a scattering, unlike in Thailand.We had Vietnamese food in a local restaurant.

Kipp and I walked around part of Hoan Kiem Lake and visited this temple-thing on an island in the middle, that according to legend was where a tortoise delivered a sword out of the lake to a king in the 15th century. Tomorrow we're going out on a Halong Bay overnight trip, organized through our hostel, that's supposed to be good. Hanoi this afternoon was the hottest and most humid place on the trip so far-- roughly 90F, 90% humidity. The hostel has excellent a/c, fortunately.