Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Day 7 Hanoi (Monday June 6) #TheAsianAdventure MORE PICS ADDED

Sue and Minh had a morning appointment so I hired Big Dong to peddle me around the city again. It was only 350,000 dong for an hour. (Yeah. I never did get the hang of their currency.)

Know what I love about being peddled around?
Everything.
Mr. Dong would slow down whenever he saw me bring my camera to my face. Sometimes he'd stop (if it was safe to do so), sometimes he'd tell me what I was taking a pic of (if he knew). (Rarely did I understand what he was saying.)

A bus would have been cheaper, probably. And a taxi, more efficient. But those pics would have to be taken through the windows of the vehicles. When being peddled? There's nothing between you and your subject. Yeah, sure, walking might've been an option, but I didn't know where to walk to. And besides, it was fricken hot out. And I found out on this trip that I turn to liquid easily.

When Big asked me where I wanted to go, I held up my camera and told him One. Hour. He could take me anywhere, I wanted photos. He nodded and we were off.

Yesterday it was The Old Quarter and The Lake.
Today?
To someplace totes diff.










































My toes.









































Traffic whipping past us on both sides.






























The Embassy District.
Each of the following buildings is a different country's embassy headquarters:






























































































































Which was nice n all, but a bit boring, eh?
























































And then over to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum...
























































The day before I'd taken over 1000 photos. This day's ride? Maybe, by the half way point? I'd taken 50.

But then we headed back to the hotel...

... and the buildings and scenery got interesting again:





























Yes, we are in the oncoming traffic's lane.












































































































Happy.
































Fancy dresses.
Non-Vietnamese manikins.














































































































Makin supper on the sidewalk. A common sight.
































Tall, narrow buildings... everywhere in Vietnam.
Doubtful if they have elevators.
#PeopleLiveHere





























































































































































































LOVE the trees.

























































































































































































































The Cancer Hospital:
































































Excuse me, buddy... But I was already in this lane...




























































Love this.
Photogs figuring out the best shot. I do a drive by and catch this image in 2 seconds.




























And, sitting in my little peddle bike seat in the middle of the intersection, I loved seeing the wall of scooters ahead of me. As soon as the light changed, those on the left turned left, and those on the right turned right, leaving our lane free to enter. Brilliant controlled chaos.




























I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting such beautiful old trees...





































































































































































Hey. I'm on the road too, you scooter-road-hogs...
















































































































































































































































And then, just like that, I was back at the hotel.

I joined Sue and Minh at their afternoon meeting:

















































































































































































And then we all went out for an authentic Vietnamese Dinner:



























Pics to follow.

























1 comment:

September said...

I'm pretty curious what you brought back for souvenirs. ??