Vacation in Vietnam

Greeting from Hanoi, Vietnam. We arrived in the capital of Vietnam on Friday, Dec.26th. We spent the first day touring the city on a cyclotour. It was quite exciting and frightening at times. I just thought the traffic in Bangkok and Cambodia was bad, you really can't even imagine how crowded the roads are, there are motorcycles everywhere. One quick difference between Thailand and Vietnam is honking. I've been told that in Thailand you don't hear honking on the roads because of their Buddhist beliefs, they practice patience and don't honk. In Vietnam, the honking has given me a headache. The honking is constant and seems to have several meanings-"I'm passing, scoot over. I'm passing going around a curve, honking to let you know if you are on the other side of the curve. To encourage the water buffaloes or cattle to get off the highway. I'm about to run over you...." It's just the wildest. There were a couple of times we were stuck in traffic in a cyclo, at one point a motorcycle hit us very lightly. You can feel very vulnerable in traffic setting in a cyclo, (a seat that is being pedaled from behind.} I'm going to post a slide show of our time in Hanoi before driving 3 hours Northeast to Halong Bay for a 2 day cruise. I must mention the weather was a cool 50 degrees when we arrived, we are loving the cooler weather!!