[Kombisaurus]

My time in Hanoi was cut short when I fell sick in Hoi An. I had originally planned to arrive in Hanoi a few days earlier and then head out to the beautiful Ha Long bay for a while before returning to Hanoi for a couple of nights before my flight to leave Vietnam.
Sadly I had to miss Ha Long bay and only got to spend 2 nights in Hanoi. This was made worse by the fact that my stay in Hanoi wasn't really as enjoyable as I hoped. I don't want to dwell on it, and indeed it is a memorable city and there were times I really enjoyed myself, but I experienced moments of tourist-hell being faced by numerous rip-off merchants who were interested only in extracting the most amount of money possible for the least effort. Ironically this made me spend far less money than I would in Saigon, where the people's generous nature was contagious and I would happily spend whenever I could.

But I did find a couple of excellent little restaurants and some people that reminded me not everyone in Hanoi is overly-materialistic or corrupt. And I had an excellent wander around the old quarter of town which is remarkable.


1. The first thing I did when I got to Hanoi - drink a local beer. 2. The view from my balcony on the 1st night.


3. Old men playing chequers. 4. There were numerous couples having wedding photos taken around the lake.


5. A boy tends to his birds at the lake. 6. Classic expressions.


7. The women do hard work all day. 8. While the men seem to play chequers and drink coffee.


9. Nguyen, a school teacher selling toothpicks for the red cross to help Vietnamese kids. 10. Another wedding party along the lake in the old quarter. 11. A couple of oldies watch the world go by.

[Toad]

I am really enjoying the quality of this travel series - both photographically and textually. Thanks for posting these - I can't wait for more.

[shuttertalk]

Beautiful - love the silky smooth shots. Subjectwise, I really like what you've done in capturing everyday life in the natural setting...