Hanoi

Hanoi, the Vietnamese Capital, is an exquisite city with glorious French-Colonial architecture, numerous lakes and bustling motorcycle filled streets.  Since Vietnam celebrates Lunar New Year we were able to see the red decorations everywhere and the trees that they set out much like our own Christmas trees. 

The first site we saw was the imposing Ba Dinh Square which is dominated by Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.  Here evidence of Military presence was felt as we saw soldier's marching.

We then visited the Temple of Literature.  This was the first national university built is 1076.  Now it is where people come worship for knowledge.  This colorful temple was accented by the various artists making signs for people to have for their homes for New Years.

We were able to stroll onto Hoan Kiem Lake to see the Ngoc Son Pagoda perched on an island in the lake.  Here we saw some beautiful locals well dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing.  The colors of the food were also seen as we saw people sorting their wares.

After this we were able to walk in the ancient quarter or 36 Street District since the streets here are named after the tradesmen that worked in them.  Silk Street offered beautiful creations but if you preferred a "knockoff" then you could go to Bag Street or there was even a Children's Street where every merchant sold toys.  What was great here was that you had a chance to be close to the life of the city as you could view people sitting at street cafes or carrying home their daily purchases on the back of their motorbike.