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We spent all our time in Hanoi, in the city. Next trip I would like to see the surrounding area a bit. My friend wants to go to Halong Bay for a few days. That will probably happen. Better to do more towards summer. It looks beautiful In Thailand I still would like to get to Chang Mai. Then maybe Cambodia. A lot still depends on getting my bad leg fixed and more pain free mobility. It's just frustrating to not be able to walk more than a few blocks. I've been happy with the time I spent in Bangkok, but the trip to Hanoi got me wanting more again.

Our hotel was in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. It's about a 35 block area full of restaurants, bars and tourist shops. Narrow streets but great fun to wonder around. We headed out to eat. We didn't get very far when he started talking to the manager of a restaurant. Next thing I know we are seated and he is ordering. He ordered pasta for me because it was the only western option they had. I have no idea what he had, but he was liking it. We wandered around for a few hours. A drink here a drink there. The city doesn't seem to stay awake as late a Bangkok. Seemed by 11 or so, it was quite quiet. Off to bed. The next day I ordered a full day private tour. It was a bit expensive by Vietnam standards. Got mini-van and driver. English speaking tour guide. Included all admissions and lunch. $175 for 2 people. But because it was private we could dictate time and a couple of other things to see. Saw most of the major sights. Biggest dissapointment was not being able to get into the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Went by it, but the lines were huge and a long walk to get there. My legs were saying, it ain't going to happen. Seems schools were out and thousands of school kids go to see Uncle Ho. I asked tour guide if they were required to go. She said no, but her body language told me otherwise. We saw a few museums and the prison that held Americans during Vietnam War. John McCain is the highlight of this place. It's said Vietnam holds no grudge against Americans now, but touring the prison would leave you to believe otherwise. His name was dropped at least 10 times. Lunch was interesting. Tour guide usually takes you to a tourist type restaurant. But I wasn't eating and she wanted to take my friend to a favorite Vietnamese restaurant of hers. So we crossed town, which I liked. I loved driving around the city. Went into a little restaurant where they just ate away. He said it was great. We started about 9am. We saw about everything I wanted by about 3, .so I told guide, time to wrap it up. Back to hotel. Driving around Hanoi is not something any of us could do. Basically there are no traffic rules. I found it fastinating . Walking is even a bigger challenge. You just start walking, hold onto each other and hope for the best. They love their horns. It's how they survive. One the fun things that happened....the hotel staff and tour guide, believed my friend was a vip or wealthy Vietnamese. He lives and works in Bangkok. (Of course they don't know what he does.) He flew to Hanoi in Business. I let him handle the money, so they always saw him with a pile of cash. He just seemed so International. The hotel staff was honored he was staying in their hotel. They don't get Vietnamese customers. He must have talked to everybody that worked there. He said it was the longest conversations he has had in a year in his language. He is fluent in Thai and uses that here in Bangkok. Everything went well. We saw a lot in a short trip. They people were very friendly and much less pushy than in Bangkok. You can see it's just on the edge of some good economic things happening. I have seen on tv ads in Bangkok and in Hanoi. Barney Frank is heading up a group of world business leaders next month for the largest business symposium Vietnam has ever had. Time to go back to Bangkok yesterday. He throws a curve at me. As long as I am here, do you mind if I go spend a couple of days with my family and take bus back to Bangkok. Not really a big deal. Easy for me, I'm still flying. He now has a 24 hour bus trip. Again hotel is amazing. He asked asst manager how far bus station is. But the time they got done, they had made reservation and printed ticket for him. Then called taxi. Of course they put price of ticket on my bill. It was only $9. I used miles for his plane ticket. Called, cancelled his seat and got my miles back. As I type this at 1:30 am, he is on a bus someplace in Laos. He mentioned I go with him. That wasn't going to happen. When I left Hanoi, it was about 60 degrees and raining. When I got off the plane in Bangkok, it was 101 degrees. That 60 felt great. All in all I loved every minute. I've been around a lot of the world and Hanoi is so much different than anywhere I've been. We will defiantly go back at some point and explore some more. I have an American friend in town. He went to Saigon for a few days. He liked it so much, he extended and then went up to Hanoi. Overall his trip became 2weeks. I weigh I could have stayed long, but have something to look forward to.