Hanoi, Vietnam-the land of a million motorbikes

There you have it-a million motorbikes. Granted, I didn't take this picture, but this was a very common sight for me during the day while in Hanoi.

Trivia for the day: Ha Noi means city between the rivers since it is located between several rivers. 

This was one of the first things I noticed when I arrived late at night to my friend's apartment-they are also superstitious of the number 13!

After a day of catching up on sleep and reconnecting with my friend (a Korean friend whose family was moved to Hanoi recently), I set out for my first bit of exploration. We went to the Museum of Ethnology-which showcases the history of the numerous ethnic groups that live in Vietnam (the museum focused on the major 7 or 8 but there are many more (most have populations of several thousands, up to several hundred thousand). This picture is of an actual bicycle (can you see it in there?!?) from a man who used to ride around like this selling his baskets.

Here you can see my friend and her daughter climbing the stairs to one of the ten or so houses behind the museum that were built by member of the ethnic minorities who were invited to the museum to do just that. This is the meeting house of the Bahnar people-used primarily by men for group gatherings. Getting up it in the rain was a bit difficult.

This is a monkey scarecrow, I guess the birds here are more afraid of monkeys than of people.

Motorbikes are the mode of transportation here since gas is expensive, space is limited and foreign imports are marked up 100%. I've seen whole families on them, women in skirts and dresses, men in suits, men carrying boxes, door frames and whole window panes. You'd be surprised what they can manage here. As you can see here kids generally stand up at the front and although I've heard helmets are the law, as one tour guide said-there really are no traffic laws here-or at least ones that people feel that they have to obey.

School's out! Time to pick up the kids. (more on traffic and laws and the lack of obedience-there are hardly any traffic lights, and if there are, most people choose not to obey them. Instead, everyone drives very slowly and weaves in and out of the other bikes, pedestrians, cars and buses. Horns are used to say, "hello, I'm here, coming through" but in a polite tone. As far as I can see, there is no road rage. Even when there are massive traffic jams, people stay calm and wait their turn......how novel right?)

While taking a run one morning near my friend's apartment complex I came upon a cemetery. I've always been interested in the cemeteries in different countries (is that morbid?). This picture shows just a piece of it, it stretched for the equivalent of several city blocks. 

This is another picture from the cemetery.

And so is this. as you can see, each grave is decorated with plants, flowers, pictures of the deceased and sometimes other trinkets that they might have liked.

This is a much simplier grave. I found several (but not many) of these near the back of the cemetery.

Along with graves to remember the deceased, families also honor their lost loved ones at home. Each home has an altar with pictures and other memorabilia of family members. This one I snapped while walking through a market. It's actually the store front of a hair shop.

Another view of the market-here this lady is pulling up on her motorbike to buy some meat-it's much easier than getting off right?

These little (usually red) stools are EVERYWHERE! People seem to be constantly sitting outside coffee shops, restaurants and bars on these stools all day long. Here I was enjoying a Vietnamese coffee (strong coffee with sweetened, condensed milk-very very sweet but very very good) and these people were doing the same. 

A scene from the night market: what better way to sell shirts than to need one yourself right?

There are so many fruits here that I've never seen or heard of (stay tuned for more). This is .....well I don't know the name, but from the outside it looks like a mosaic of little seeds or something. 

And once I began to wash it, the skin basically fell off to reveal little pods almost-each one containing a seed. It was very sweet and I still can't put my finger on it as to what it reminds me of.