Update

Bob here...

I know Sep just posted a blog this morning, but here's an update and also my view from this morning. First off, I am never, under any circumstances trying to drive in Hanoi. General rules and courtesies are not only forgotten here, but I think non-existant. I think people here replace their horns more than their brakes. It's impossible to explain the sounds on the street here. We are going out this afternoon and I hope to shoot some video capturing the chaos. Overall, when we were walking around this morning, I felt pretty safe. We obviously got some interesting looks, but even when we were lost for a few blocks, I never felt as though I needed to worry. Like Sep mentioned, when we went out this morning we saw countless people exercising and walking around. I was amazed at the activity around this town for 6:00 AM. Every corner has several ladies selling fresh produce or flowers. The cafes and sidewalk restaruant's were just opening as we were walking around.

We came back to the hotel for a little breakfast. They "specialize" in Western food, which means they know how to make omelette's and French toast. I ,of course ate the omelette and Sep had the French toast. We then sat down with Anh, (pronounced 'Een") to talk about some tours. Our initial plans were to wing-it through this trip/country without plans and tours. However, the language barrier and travel options were quite different than what we expected. We are planning on a 3 day/2 night trip to Ha Long Bay, leaving tomorrow morning. We will return to our 'base hotel' in the afternoon of the third day, catch a transfer to the train station and head NW to Sapa for 2-days and 1-night. We will be taking a sleeper train on the way up, spend the night in a local hotel, then back onto another sleeper train to get back to Hanoi in our 'base hotel'. We then leave our 'base hotel' and begin the trek south. As I am typing, Anh is working on our plans, we don't know if we're flying or taking a train yet. After Hoi An, its on to Ho Chi Minh City.

Well, we're off for another walk/adventure to see what Hanoi has to offer. We will likely post more pictures tonight of what we see in our afternoon excursion.