Hanoi Apartments
I don’t know about you, but these dwelling don’t look anything like the places that people live in on my street. I mean, where do they put their lawn mowers? What I’d really like to know is the exact number of apartments on this street. This is fairly typical of the area in the older part of town.
Ngoc Son Temple
There are lots of temples in Hanoi. This one was on Hoan Kiem Lake and require me to pay a little money to see it. I would like to say that this is a Buddhist Temple, but my knowledge of Vietnamese religious life is more than a little lacking, I keep hearing the term "animism" used.
City Tour
They are called cyclos and the picure shows 10 or 15 or them moving a group of tourists around central Hanoi. These guys were everywhere and each and every one of the asked me at one time or another if I needed a ride, sometimes following me down the street trying to induce me into their cyclos.
Scooter Central
There must be one scooter per person in Hanoi, which means there are between 4 and 6 million of them. Cars are a minority, although one person told me that in he last five years he has seen the number of cars on the streets go from virtually none to enough to cause traffic jams. Still, the main form of transportation is the scooter, most of them being the small 50cc models.
Hoan Kiem Lake
Okay, I did it. I got up really early in the morning and walkd around Hoan Kiem Lake. This is the classic landmark in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. It was a couple of blocks from where I stayed. If you walk around it really early in the monring you can catch lots of people exercising on the path around the lake. Some people say they are practicing t’ai chi, but I just saw people moving around imitating Jack LaLane. Not that it wasn’t cool, it was. I even thought about joininjg them, but not for long.
The Coast of Japan
We flew into Tokyo 13.25 hours after leaving Dallas. We were in daylight the whole time. I wondered how fast a plane would have to fly to stay in daylight all the way around the world. From here I had another 6 hours to Hanoi.
Snack Time
It was snack time on the airplane. I took off from Oklahoma City and 29 hours later I’m in Hanoi, Vietnam. The longest segment was 13.25 hours between Dallas and Tokyo. Lucky me. I wish I could spend 29 hours traveling across the world in airplanes all the time. NOT!
Laos_Visa
Laos Visa – the picture (courtesy of Wikipedia) is of a Laos entry and exit stamp on someone’s passport that was obtained when they were entering and exiting the country. Countries area little weird about someone coming in or leaving. They want to know where everyone is and what is the purpose of their visit. For me it’s pretty simple – tourism. Generally, that’s not a problem. However, there may also be costs associated with getting into and out of the country. Further, I may need to get a visa before I get to the country. For instance, I will fly into Hanoi, Vietnam and I have found out that it may be a lot easier to get a visa to enter the country prior to arriving at an immigration facility that when I actually get there. Other countries may be different. For example, I can just show up at the airport at Hong Kong, China and they will welcome me with open arms. I can’t actually get into mainland China without a visa, but I can wander around Hong Kong all I want without one. Getting visas for countries isn’t terribly complicated, but it requires a little forethought. It’s part of my Trip Planning I do while I’m at home or out on the road in my big truck.
