Hanoi - Week 1

Spent most of my first week in Hanoi in classes, museums, restaurants and shops. I managed to find a Vietnam soccer jersey, which has become a staple of my travel overseas. I have one from Honduras, Ireland, and now Vietnam. This picture is in the alley on the way to our hotel.

The hardest thing to get used to is the incessant honking. The traffic is basically mass chaos. Most people drive motorbikes and they just sort of go whatever direction they feel like and honk at people to let them know they are coming. They even go the wrong way down one-way streets. It's crazy. Fortunately, I don't have to ride anywhere on the motorbikes unless I want to and I don't want to, so I haven't. Crossing the street was difficult at first, but I've learned to just walk out there and let them miss me rather than trying to miss them. When in Rome...

The classes are tackling very important issues in water resource management, but it has been hard to get in depth due to the language barrier. The students all speak English, but it is difficult for them to engage in class discussions at times. The big issue for Vietnamese water law is lack of enforcement. While there are laws in place to protect water from pollution and misuse, the laws have only been in place for a few years and are not heavily enforced. Fines are given for failure to follow discharge laws, but they are often small and sometimes cheaper than taking steps to fix the problem.

The food here is very tasty. A lot of noodles, rice and seafood. Not as spicy as other Asian cultures, but with a little added hot sauce, it works well. They also like to serve seafood with the face still on it. It actually tastes better, because it is fresh, but you have to get past the gross-out factor.
This is a picture of a bike at the Museum of Ethnology that would be ridden by one person in order to transport goods from one place to the next. Imagine the balance needed...
The older people like to get up and exercise near the lake early in the morning. Because of the time difference, I've been waking up early and walking near the lake to find a cup of coffee (iced, because it's extremely hot here). This picture isn't great, but they all exercise in rhythm to this massive loud speaker. Quite interesting...

The also love to play badminton. Don't know why, but it's huge here.

More to come...