Day 1- April 16, 2009

Day 1: Hanoi

Without any delays and after 13.5 hours of flying from SFO to Hong Kong and another 3-hour flight from Hong Kong, everyone landed safely at Noi Bai Airport at 9:45 am. We got checked out quickly at customs and then we were taken on a bus to Hanoi. During the 25-minute bus drive we passed by The Red River and also through the countryside that had rice, flower and orchard fields. As we approached Hanoi, the roads became covered with more and more scooters, cars, people and bicycles. Hanoi has doubled its population in the last 10 years. The bus moved slowly through Hanoi Streets as the traffic got heavier. It was amazing to see how people moved around on the road. There are very few traffic lights around here and the scooter drivers, bicyclists, car drivers and pedestrians come out from all directions. It seemed like traffic accidents were about to happen but never did. People just know how to "sense" each other on the road.

The first eating stop was Pho at Pho Vuong Restaurant. I had a bowl of noodle soup with chicken, which tasted fresh and delicious. It had a squeeze of lemon, some thin slices of red hot peppers and some fried rice cake. After that, everyone got checked in at 5-star Melia Hanoi Hotel, which is located in the heart of Hanoi. We reconnected again at 3 pm. After we met up, we went on a one-hour tour on "cyclo's", which used to be a common way of public transportation and now is mostly used for tourists. Each of us had our own cyclist and they took us through all of the 36-business streets of Hanoi (http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/1001). We would see dozens of shops selling the same products made from bamboo, paper, and bronze... After that, we went to see Temple Ngoc Son, which is located on Hoan Kiem Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoan_Kiem_Lake). We got there by passing through a small and beautiful wooden red bridge called The Huc Bridge. The temple was the oldest and most beautiful temple in Hanoi where the locals worshiped the old-time generals who helped Vietnam to fight its enemies and kept the peace for the country. The following link is a water puppet show (http://www.thanglongwaterpuppet.org/homepage.asp) which we went to and was a 5-minute walk from the temple. The show had a live band and singers who performed traditional Vietnamese songs as background music for its main showcase. Puppeteers skillfully manipulated the wooden, handcrafted puppets and told the stories of everyday lives of farmers who would go fishing, ride water buffalos, and also dance and sing. The water puppet show also told the legendary story of Hoan Kiem Lake where a golden turtle took back the helping sword from King Le after his victory over a Chinese enemy.

The dinner was held at the charming Indochine Restaurant that was hidden on a small road. The restaurant used to be an old French Villa. The dinning room gave a sense of intimacy and family. People sat together in groups of 8 and shared a 9-course meal of crab soup, barbecued shrimp, baked beef in bamboo, fried fish with tamarind sauce, fried rice with seafood, sautéed chicken with cashew, and more... Everyone enjoyed the amazing dinner and the delicious desert afterwards. After dinner we left the restaurant and got back to the hotel at 8:30pm (local time) for some sweet dreams before we reconnected the next day at 8:30am.