Hanoi

(when one finds oneself with reliably fast internet, one jumps at the chance to upload a million photos! hence, the rapid-fire blog posts!)

Juliet has been visiting since Tuesday. She spent 3 lovely days in Vientiane with me- I had to work but she entertained herself with local buses, strong coffee, every temple she could find, making Japanese friends and discovering new fountains in Vientiane so as to make my "meet me at the fountain in town" idea a very very bad one. After work we ate delicious food, got massages (um, ouch!), went to the herbal sauna and walked around the night market. But, since I have taken photos of everything there is to see in Vientiane twice already, I didn't take many photos of those days. And, if I didn't take a picture of it and post it on facebook, it didn't happen, right? I will say that a highlight was drinking jujube daiquiris at Makphet. I didn't think they were that delicious but now I know what a jujube is which is ideal since I have been calling Juliet that for years.

And then, on Friday night, we were off to Vietnam!

Juliet has some Vietnamese family friends who were kind enough keep us very well-fed and show us around the city. And I loved it! The weather was cool and lovely. The food was amazing. The sights were old and Asian. It was all of the things I love :)

Me and the mean streets of Hanoi
When one's boyfriend is an Andrew Zimmern fan, one must purchase Cat Hai fish sauce and bring it back to Boston, via (in chronological order) Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Bangkok, Vientiane, Bangkok again, Tokyo, Chicago, Boston. This bottle of fish sauce will be quite a globe-trotter (if it makes it).
Pho Ga, chicken soup for breakfast
Crabby lady, not only because she is about get run over by a motorbike but also because she is carrying crabs through the streets of Hanoi on a justice-scales type basket thing-a-ma-bob

First stop on our tourist trail: The Temple of Literature, first constructed in 1070, it is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars and was also the home to the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university.

Inside the Temple of Literature
Cranes and turtles are signs of luck and longevity and we sure do wish them both on Juliet!
flowers
the grounds

names of graduates were carved on these tablets

and now, dear and faithful readers, I must depart for bed. Though the draw of high speed wifi calls to me, after our packed day of sightseeing, sleep calls more. ..... but there is more Hanoi where this came from so stay tuned :)