Hanoi in Photos

This weekend we took a quick trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. The city is filled with an amazing, palpable, energy. Or could that be the buzz of motorbikes speeding by? The smell of street food that lingers on every corner, the constant beep of honking horns, the women carrying baskets selling fruit ...it all adds up to make this crazy, chaotic and congested city such a unique and vibrant one. Everyone always seemed to be smiling here -  big toothy smiles -  and we were no exception!

Here's a tour of the city through some pics I snapped. Enjoy!

Believe it or not, this isn't even a busy street. Traffic goes in all directions - it's lawless and chaotic and makes crossing the street an adventure. 

Street stalls serve food on sidewalks, in alleys, in apartments. Pull up a small stool and dig in.

 Bún Cá is a noodle soup with fried and steamed fish. Breakfast of champions, eaten right on the sidewalk.

One of my favorite photos from the trip. Street vendors sell everything from books and dvd's to breads and fruit.

Another street food: Banh cuon is a steamed rice pancake stuffed with minced pork and mushrooms. Everything was made fresh right in front of us.  Left and below the woman makes fresh pancakes while the woman to her left stuffs and wraps them. 

Gorgeous produce at a local street market. 

Cleaning clams in a makeshift kitchen space in an alley under some stairs. 

 

This woman is cleaning, killing and prepping frogs for sale. That green mesh bag is full of live frogs!

This seems like a good place for a nap....

As does this...why not?

Pleasure cruisin'

Most women are covered from head to toe. They hate to get any sun. Notice how the jacket even covers her fingers! And by the way, it's sweltering in Hanoi in the summer!

This smoked meat was being mixed with a ton of garlic and some spice for coloring. It then went into the below soup.

Bun Cha, one of Hanoi's signature dishes, is a soup with white rice noodles,  barbecue pork, pork meatballs and the above meat!

Children here are always running around - and at all hours. We saw kids out well past midnight just playing.

Hard day's work.

Pat and I stumbled upon these teens having a dance competition. I guess that's what kids do these days!

From Hanoi, with love   xxP + G

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