Crossing border in Siem Reap airport was smooth and the flight to Hanoi exciting but uneventful. This is my first time in a socialist country and although Hanoi itself is bustling and busy and fun, the regime does take it’s toll and a lot of the usual cosmopolitan entertainments are missing, in fact the whole city goes to sleep at 11pm curfew and everything shuts, even the “nightclubs”.

So far I have been at least enjoying super fast Internet connection which came in handy since I have to do some work this week and Cambodian Internet was worse that Vanuatu which I thought is impossible in today’s day and age.

The first day we spent walking around town enjoying the sights and the mix of old and new which is the culture of Hanoi. We walked pretty much non stop for the whole day exploring the Old Quarter, looking or camera shops and taking pictures of street life. Had our first taste of Hanoi traditional “cuisine” on the side of the road with the locals, which mainly consists of various Pho (noodle soups) and fried rice with all sorts of additives. Tried beef, chicken, fish and snail so far.

No one knows any English or so it seems so it’s fun to have to work things out through gestures and vigorous pointing for once. We have been warned about drive by bag snatching but apart from that and the absolutely crazy Hanoian traffic the city seems not at all threatening and fun to walk around. Had a few rides on the back of the scooter which seems to be their main mode of transport and Will is crazy enough to suggest we should rent on to run around town on our own. He can drive, I’ll just sit in the back and scream as I did with our other scooter taxis so far.

We have been practicing our “sneaky” photography style of carrying the camera around your neck and taking pictures by trying to discreetly aim at people trying to capture the daily mood and rhythm of their life. Overall very impressed with what we’ve seen so far and coupled with the super fast Internet connection we’ll probably hang out here for at least a few days.