Hanoi Vietnamese Capital

Hey Guys! Posting from Hanoi, Vietnam today. Hanoi is Vietnams second largest city and capital, with a population of 7 million. It is so much nicer than Ho Chi Minh in my eyes due to it being much more beautiful and a lot less hectic. Hanoi has a lot of french architecture from past colonization.  

Here is one of our friends Jimmy from Brazil, such a rad guy

An old french building overtaken by capitalism

Joe - also a rad guy

A military museum in the capital

Inside a helicopter

Jimmy and Scott (a NZ' er) in the rear

Joe and i in front of the turtle island. The lake is said to be the heart of Hanoi and there is actually a species of turtle that lives in the river the locals worship. In the 19th century this pagoda had a statue of liberty atop due to the French rule, now ripped down as proud socialists do.

This is a turtle structure at an old university, turtles live for a long time so there scripture rests atop of one so it will too last forever.

Me in front of Confucius - the guy with all the quotes  

Joe the same

Joe and i with our tour guide, she works for free to improve her english!

Confucius's students

Jimmy with our guide, Ms Thu

So back to my photos (the last ones were Joe's) here is our last day in Hoi An.

Im super excited to be on the bus

Looking back on Da Nang

The massive tunnel through some mountain, it went for about 15km

Out on the other side was beautiful

It looks like the top of New Zealand

The roads are curved like in france

It was a slow slog up the alps in the bus

Looking back on rice paddies

This is a traditional french church in Hanoi

A trendy fixie bike shop

The alley to our backpackers

The turtle lake

Hanoi is very nice, especially when compared to dirty Siagon

The troops were out

So was this little guy

Traffic is still a free for all - just less cars and bikes

Some of the skyline

We went to a rooftop restuarant for lunch

MMMM eating face, thanks Joe

So it was the Socialist parties 83rd birthday so a few stages were set up for night time celebrations, also my sisters birthday so Happy Birthday Carina as well!

Above two photos are a good indication of how traffic works here, and in most places in Asia.

A bridge to a temple containing the remains of a general that managed to hold back Genghis Khan's empire invading 3 times

Sometimes its easier to just walk on the road

Our alleyway, the tree on the back of the bike looks like small oranges. they are selling them everywhere due to a special meaning for Chinese New Year which is on the 10th.

A few pictures of our hostel

We also decided to go check out a rooftop bar, Pictures are not as they should be due to the haze given from the pollution. 

Awww..... why is only one on a chain, and why is it on a chain at all?

If you buy street food, you consume it on toddler size plastic furniture. Very common all over Vietnam.

Then i saw this, its a dog not a deer, and it wears a dress. Legit.

A few pictures of St Joseph cathedral.

Here for sale are cellphone numbers deemed to be lucky due to the repetition of numbers

A few more from Turtle lake and Island, Joe says it reminds him of Hamburg

More of those special orange trees for sale

The Govt/Council has really made the city nice with all the flowers

Vietnam bordering Australia, the star is Hanoi. The closest I've ever been to China

Next we visited the Opera House, its a replica of the one in Paris. Popular place to take wedding photos!

This is at the kings old university, this is a mystical creature, to me it looks like a pug dog. I wonder?

Again the lucky turtle, with a Phoenix standing a top of it so it will live forever. Note how many times its head has been rubbed for good luck.

The orange type trees are everywhere

The original king who started the traditional university.

Above are 3 princes who each gave large contribution to the University

And then we ran into some people in traditional dress!

1442-1779 the time the University was active.

So that will probably be it from Vietnam, Tomorrow i am off to Singapore for a day before landing in the green and gold. Intrepid Asia has been really great, i have seen a lot and come to understand the world a lot more. I am excited about transferring back to the west however im not so sure i will be able to deal with the prices of things. Paying $15 for a meal over here would get you silver service. Next post will be from Singapore and then Cruising around Australia so i hope you can follow me there. Peace!