Hanoi - Vietnam

Taking advantage of the Labour Day holiday in Singapore, we headed off to Hanoi for 5 days. As the holiday was also been celebrated in Vietnam the mad traffic most people mention about Hanoi was rather tame in terms of quantity but the lane changing and driving on the wrong side of the road lived up to expectations.
We stayed in the West Lake area which had many large homes lining the lake and was a short taxi ride into town.
The city is divided into different tourist areas and we spent most of the time walking around the French Quarter and also the Old Quarter.
The Old Quarter is the main tourist shopping area and the shops are filled with lacquer products, silk items and woven items made by the hill tribes of Vietnam.
People watching was very entertaining in Hanoi especially the locals going about their daily routines - from the fresh rice noodle sellers, flower sellers , vendors cooking in the street to men having their haircuts and shaves done on the footpaths.

Because of the holiday many families were taking advantage of the days off and were spending the  the day beside the Hoan Kiem Lake.

Martyr's Monument

The Huc Bridge over Hoan Kiem Lake

Thap Rua - Tortoise tower on Hoan Kiem Lake

Peace memorial

Le Thai To monument

Balloon seller

Basket and hat seller

Opera house

Vegetable market

Cooking pork patties in the street

Hanoi Cathedral

Rice noodle seller

Traffic free- for- all

3D cards vendor

One of the many barbers on the footpaths