The madness, the confusion, but still some sense of order that makes this city work all come together to make Hanoi a beautiful city; and that’s probably where my compliments stop. Hanoi is, like many other big cities full of scams and dishonesty. Keeping an eye out for this and staying on your toes helps a little bit.

A first word of advice to the weary traveler arriving at Hanoi’s airport would be to take advantage of pick up service if your hotel offers it, as the taxis in Hanoi are amongst the worst. There are a couple companies that operate honestly, consult your guidebook to see the current good ones, but we found Mai Linh and Vinasun to be good, though from the sounds of it there are still corrupt imitators. The taxi we took from the airport to the hotel in Hanoi cost much more than the car they would have provided.

We had advice from a friend to splurge and stay at a hotel called the Meracus, at a 3 star price, this may me one of the nicer places I’ve stayed anywhere in the world.

We spent a couple days walking around Hanoi’s old quarter.

5 kegs and counting on one scooter.

Boxing practice next to the Hoan Kiem Lake.

Evening Mass at St. Joseph cathedral.

Hard at work.

Tháp Rùa temple in the middle of the lake.

Lunch at Bun cha cua de bac Kim

Night version of the Temple in the lake.

St. Joseph’s Cathedral

Taken from our hotel room window.

Hoan Kiem Lake and the Hanoi Skyline from atop a nearby restaurant.

The local brew.

The Ngoc Son Temple at night.

I have a hard time writing about Vietnam without getting particularly upset as I really just didn’t enjoy our time here over all and I was more than ready to get out and head for something different, and that we did as he headed for the Coast and Halong Bay.