Hanoi

Here are some pics from our visit to Hanoi. It's hard to believe but I am actually missing China. Its a bit more crowded here and such a faster pace of life here than any place we've been to in China. Part of that is due to Vietnam's 1 million vehicles and over 18 million motor bikes that seem like they are all up in Hanoi! This heavily motorbike dominated transportation system makes crossing the street something between a zen moment as the bikes magically part all around you as you cross the street or just pure insanity as you just pray they don't hit you. This all depends on your point of view. One reason for the high number of motorbikes here is that there seems some sort of property tax that is assessed based on the frontage width of the buildings here. So you see lots of tall skinny buildings on very narrow streets with of course limited parking. This design scheme certainly make for a quaint looking city, but after Andrea and I went up and down several flights of stairs checking out several different hotels I was certainly missing the low-lying buildings from LA.