Good Morning Hanoi (October 9)

This seems like a dream. Am I really in a foreign country? It is amazing how one can adjust to a new country, but where can I get a bagel with cream cheese? I can get spaghetti. I can get pizza. Can I get about pancakes? Anyone have any hummus?

Everybody wants me to be their friend, to offer me a ride on their motorbai. If I turn them down, the next thing to do is to try to make conversation. "Where are you from," they ask. "From far away," I answer. Some pick up on the fact that I'm American. Most don't know that I am American because I speak so fast. So the hard sell continues. They open their small notebooks and present testimonials that their former customers have written.

The tesimonial begins with "I really had a good time with Mr. ___" (really?) and then continues with, "he was very safe." The testimonial also says, "Mr. ___ and I became fast friends." (you did?) And then the testimonial typically ends with a strange advertisement for one of Mr. ___ services (probably written by Mr. ___), like "Don't forget to visit the snake village. Very Good."

View from the top of my hotel.

The War Museum

Miscellaneous Communist Building

The Ho Chi Minh Masoleum. Closed for Repairs.

No this not a really small person. It's actually a guy with an axe checking manholes. The pole in the background just happens to be really big.

The lake at the Ho Chi Minh Compound. Clap your hands for Catfish.

House on stilts. I want one!

The buildings are narrow and tall. Everybody tries to build theirs higher. Typical heights 4 to 5 stories.

Visiting Ho Hoan Kiem Lake, I was harassed by the book sellers. A young girl said she hadn't sold any books all morning long and it was now mid afternoon. She said that I was mean for not buying a book.

Pagoda on Ho Hoan Kiem lake.

Hello Comrade Lenin. Comrade, Lenin? What?

Entrance to Den Ngoc Son Pagoda.

St. Joe's

Traffic in a calm Hanoi intersection. Look for the guy crossing the street using his bike to carry a large painting (or glass) in a cardboard covering.

Flying over the Ocean (October 7/8)

Checkin. I have two bags over the limit and one box that is definitely outside the size limits. The ticket agent says that it will cost me $110 per bag over the limit. Well, I say, go ahead and charge me. I plan on going to Hanoi one way or another. The ticket agent just throws up her hands and doesn't bother with it. Too much paper work.

Twenty hours of travel. 18 hours total on the airplane. It sure takes a long time to get across the Pacific Ocean! I flew into Incheon Airport in Soeul and then changed planes to fly into Hanoi. Starting at 1 p.m., we kept the sun behind us the whole way. Crossing the international dateline, I arrived in Soeul at 5 p.m.

It is a good thing that they now have movies on demand in the airplane. I ended up watching three movies and I still had 7 hours of free time. Good thing that they had so many romantic comedies. I sat next to a couple from Fairfield - she was Korean, he was hispanic. They were going to visit the "Hawaiian" Islands of Korea - Jeju.

Arriving in Hanoi, I had no problem getting through customs. The customs agents could really care less that I had a bike or a lot of baggage. I felt fortunate that all of my bags arrived. I wasn't sure that all of them would. The ticket agent in San Francisco put tags on my bags, but I wasn't sure that they would stay on my bags. Fortunately they did. On the flight over, I kept falling asleep and imagining that the bike would be damaged. When the bike came through the door at the airport luggage area, there appeared to be no problem.

Here's the plane that got me to Seoul.

So much flying leads to puffy feet.