Hanoi, Vietnam, November 7

Ricksaw riding....

Having fun yet Papa?

Hey Hey or should I say Xin jow,

We had a busy day. We wondered around the impossibly crowded streets of Hanoi after we checked out of our hotel. We decided to take a ricksaw about town. It is a slow but steady way to see things up close and personal. We could do whole blog on just stuff we have seen transported by scooter... we have seen a mattress, flour, a 12 foot storefront sign, fridge, t.v. and mirrors and the list goes on.

Man riding with mirrors and glass on the back... driver on other side of glass.

Laundry?

We saw the water puppets in Hanoi today. It is a traditional art form for Vietnam. The puppets are all in the water and present daily life and festivals from Vietnam. The kids thought it was delightful.

We caught the 7:30 train and got to experience our first all night sleeper. I know Mira wants to tell you all about it so I will only say that when we booked we couldn't get a cabin for all of us so we booked two berths in two different cabins... A lovely Australian couple saw our smiling kids and gave us their berths and took two uppers for us.. that is a sacrifice. I am sure they didn't want to spend 13 hours with our kids. We paid for 'soft sleepers' but there were very hard. Paul is suffering with a cold and this was the icing on the cake. We are now in Hue, home to the Vietnam emperors until 1945 and then off to Hoi An to meet up again with friends.

ttfn sharon