Symbols of the facade

One of the interesting things about being in Vietnam and Laos was that they are communist — with single political parties and governments, especially Laos’ that brook no multiparty advocacy — but that otherwise they are places where social and particularly governmental ideology have, like China, been abandoned for the ideology of the marketplace.  A Wikipedia [...]

Changing face

In Hanoi I imagined I could feel the force of today’s Vietnam: a self-confidence and self-image rooted in its past; a gleeful embrace of the rough and tumble of the marketplace and an aggressive drive to win its rightful share of the world’s economy.
 

Wizardry on two wheels

A lot can be (and has been) written about the use of motor scooters in Southeast Asia.  What we witnessed openmouthed, especially in Cambodia and Vietnam, was a combination of fuel-efficient Wild West daredevilry and skill that I’d think Americans would be proud of and would do well to adopt.  Here’s just one example of [...]

Views from Abroad

We are in Laos — where internet connections are slow again and keyboards are sticky from humidity and spilled BeerLao, all of which means I will update later with pictures etc. For now, some newsflashes and observations gathered from local press and conversations with Americans.
A: We’re headed next to Thailand, where something sounding like [...]

Halong — how long? — Mango Gum?

We finished our time in Vietnam with a bit of a misadventure in the extraordinarily beautiful and justly renowned Halong Bay, a World Heritage Sight about 150 kilometers (I’ve taken to thinking in kilometers, which are used here, although I cannot for the life of me (KK can, of course)  make the conversion to miles [...]

Seen around Hanoi

Here’s me and the boys on the Long Bien Bridge, which was finished in 1902 and bombed and rebuilt so many times during the American War, as it’s known here, that today it is a hodgepodge of construction styles.  It’s about a mile  walk across the Red River, which sort of splits Hanoi and runs north [...]

The Long Bien

The Long Bien bridge is in the north of Hanoi, crossing the Red River and connecting the west part of the city, which seems older and is where the tourists go, and the east part, which is where we walked around today.
The above picture was taken from the bridge, across which we walked today, and is [...]

Hot lunch spot

This place, three tables on an Old Quarter street corner in Hanoi, was packed when we went by around lunchtime, and closed tonight when we went back to see if we could get some of the noodles that looked so delicious earlier.  We’ll try again today.

Vietnamese babies

Spent an hour or so tonight chatting on the steps of our hotel with a nice guy from the American midwest.  He’s half of more than a dozen American couples we’ve seen in the last week with their adopted young Vietnamese children.  He was telling me that the process has taken more than two years [...]

Old Town Hanoi

Here’s our neighborhood.  We’re staying at the Nam Hai 1 Hotel on Ma May Street in the Old Quarter — also known as the Quarter of 36 Streets, and also known as the Hoan Kiem District, for the lake nearby.  We’re here because we met a mysterious Norwegian named Mr. Pen, at a restaurant in Hoi [...]