Hanoioioioioioi

We are in Hanoi and will be here for a few more days. Then we are taking an overnight train to the coast of Vietnam - to Danang. We're ready for some beach bumming.

We are having a really great time - Hanoi is fun. The traffic is unbelievable - there are motorbikes everywhere. There are supposedly around 2-3 million motorbikes, while the population of Hanoi is like 3.7 million. They clog up every lane and intersection, honk constantly, zip around cars, go the wrong way on the street, drive on sidewalks...you name it. We took some good videos of it. Crossing the street is an adventure every time. Traffic does not stop for lights or pedestrians. The rule of thumb seems to be that you look both ways and then ignore everything your mama taught you and cross the street very slowly while the motorbikes zip around you - they will avoid you as long as you don't make any sudden moves. Seriously. And the craziest thing is that no one ever looks annoyed or irritated while driving.

The food is incredible - this place is a dream come true for us, as we love trying new regional foods. In addition to pho, the Vietnamese soup which is one of our favorite things ever, this country has a lot of specialties that are just out of this world. Yesterday for breakfast we ate crepes and drank Vietnamese coffee at a street stall, walked around, ate an amazing lunch from a "set menu" that included
soup, grilled pork, fried tofu, rice, steamed greens, etc (the grilled pork was oneof the best things we've ever eaten - Matt suggested that we take a Vietnamese cooking course just to learn how to make that dish). Then in the late afternoon all of these sidewalk food vendors pop up. One night at midnight we found this little lady on the sidewalk who made us these potsticker-things that were unbelievable. We went back last night and her angry teenage daughter was manning the operation. She charged us 1/3 of what her mom charged us. While we were eating, Mom came out and smiled a HUGE smile at us, then quietly asked her daughter a question in Vietnamese. The daughter answered and Mom responded with a FEROCIOUS shout. We imagined something like this:

Mom: "Oh, Americans here again! What you charge them?"
Daughter: "Forty thousand dong."
Mom: "FORTY THOUSAND! YOU IDIOT! LAST NIGHT I TOOK ONE HUNDRED TEN THOUSAND FROM THEM! EVERYONE KNOWS YOU TAKE THE AMERICANS FOR EVERYTHING YOU CAN!"

(It's cool - being overcharged for everything is something you expect here. One hundred ten thousand dong is less than six bucks.)

Another lady has a huge selection of living shellfish in buckets - we've visited her twice. She throws a big pile of clams in her pot along with several sticks of lemongrass and a cup of sliced ginger and hot peppers, then we eat the clams with a crazy little
salt-and-pepper-dipping-sauce she makes out of orange seeds, salt, pepper, a hot pepper, lime, and a bunch of other things that taste amazing. We also each had a huge crab that was living until we pointed at it and she threw it in the pot. Sad. but they were sooo tasty. You just crack those suckers and throw the shells on the
sidewalk and some dude comes and sweeps them up. Let's see...also, we eat lots of rice with simple meats and tons of condiments - I love the simple foods mixed up with hot peppers, mint, sauces, lime...I love the food here in case you couldn't tell. I don't think this is one of those trips where I come home skinnier than when I left.

We've decided not to extend our trip, so we're still coming home on the 19th of May. That will give us a month to get all moved in to our new place, see family, and hopefully save a bit of money too.