Good morning Vietnam!

I write this while riding an overnight train from Hanoi (northern Vietnam) to Hue (central). We slept on the train last night in our own little compartment - Zac thought maybe the train was going to Hogwarts!

While I didn't get much sleep, This morning the sun is shining and I am enjoying seeing glimpses of life in the oh-so-green rice paddies and water buffaloes.

We spent 6 days in Hanoi and loved the city. There is so much hustle and bustle on the streets and much to see. There are few cars, instead motorcycles and pedestrians swarm the streets. 

Restaurants and street vendors are everywhere, with most people choosing to eat their meals while sitting on tiny stools on the sidewalks and watching people go by.  If they aren't eating, there is beer or coffee to drink, the beer being much less expensive at 25c a glass with coffee from 1-2 dollars. Egg coffee is a famous local drink where sweetened whipped egg yolk is added instead of milk - it is decadent and I wonder why this isn't served in Toronto?

But Hanoi is about food. The first thing we tried was, of course, Pho. This noodle soup dish is one of our favourites at home. At first we were surprised that we found it to be not very flavourful - but then learned that it is usually eaten for breakfast so that is when you get the good stuff. We were ordering it at the wrong time of day. 

We took a food tour of the city so we learned where, when and how to get all the best  food, like pho with tamarind broth, bun cha noodles with BBQ pork and kumquat juice, rice pancakes filled with meat and topped with fresh herbs, and banh mi - meat, herbs and pickled carrots in a baguette. Heaven!

While dog meat is popular, it is bad luck to eat it during certain phases of the moon so was not available. 

After that, it felt like we filled our days with activities just so we could get hungry and eat again. Don't get me wrong, there is lots to do in Hanoi and we enjoyed our time. We even went to a mall to go ice skating (!) and watch a movie (Avengers). But in a trip to Hanoi the street food is the best part. 

And yes, we went to a shopping mall, something we never do at home. But like Zac said, "Most tourists go to the market to see local culture. But really, the markets are 50% tourists. The mall was 100% Vietnamese - we were the only foreigners there!"  And Zac was definitely the best skater at the rink too!