Complete Chaos

Complete and total utter chaos. That is the only way to describe Hanoi. This place is mad! At all hours of the day the traffic and people are moving everywhere. And at top speed too! I thought some of the other cities had deadly streets, but they've got nothing on Hanoi.

All the more of a shock since last night after catching the sleeper train (not quite as icky as the previous putrecent railway venture) we headed to laid back Halong Bay. This place is gorgeous. The islands in the bay, of which there are many, are huge vertically towering karst formations. They thrust out of the water at practically perpendicular angles to the water. God, and what beautiful water! That amazing blue green that just makes you sigh. And although the sun was beaming full and unobstructed it wasn't too hot. The air was slightly cool with a gentle breeze. Absolutely perfect. Then of course there was the heavenly seafood lunch they served on our junk (Traditional sailing boat. No really! That's what they're called.) Fresh prawns in a light garlic, followed by squid and then grilled fish. And then more spring rolls, a sweet cabbage mix, and the obligatory rice. Oooh and fresh watermelon as a chaser. Nearly died from deliciousness.

Halong Bay town is pretty empty. I think most of the tourists (and there were many) just show up for the day then head back to Hanoi (about a 3.5 hour drive one way). So there wasn't much to do. But we found a small local place to get some grub for dinner. Was nice and simple. Though I was slightly trumatized by the "sea mantis" collection in their display tanks. One of many water beasties available to eat. They literally look like they're one part praying mantis and one part lobster. Weird!

So yes, you can imagine that after such a sleepy and somewhat boring evening being thrust into the chaos of Hanoi is quite a shock! It's actually exhausting to cross the streets here. Your heart is in your throat and your stomach is twisting like mad. Because although the traffic is non-stop and certainly doesn't give two shits about you, the only way to cross the street is to head straight out into traffic amidst all the cars and motos and hope for the best. Take a deep breath and head across at a steady pace and hope to god no one has anything against tourists. And somehow, someway, it works. Despite the complete random driving and impossible to understand road rules you make it across in one piece. After this Vancouver is going to seem positively empty!

Tonight I'm being gastronomically brave. We're going to restaurant that serves crickets, snake and frog. It'll be like Fear Factor in Vietnam!