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| Lanterns in Ha Noi |
Ha Noi is nutters and I LOVE it! Absolute madness rules the streets of the Old Quarter where we have been based for the last few days. People, scooters, cars, buses, and the odd rat all bustle around in crazy commotion. Every single street has dozens of shops with hidden treasures for anyone willing to venture inside. We spent two days just losing ourselves in the madness. The kids think we are mad, and are tempted to...
Apart from attempting to do some Christmas shopping (quite entertaining given the offerings), we've managed to eat lots of tasty food (there's a surprise), to visit enough pagodas and temples to drive our children crazy, to do some running around Hoan Kiem Lake (sucking exhaust fumes), and to visit another big city market to witness the butchering of frogs (***warning*** if you are a bit squeamish, you may want to skip Nolan's narrated version of frog dismemberment below).
With all of the excitement in the Old Quarter, we haven't found time yet to worship Ho Chi Minh in his Mausoleum. The embalmed body of Vietnam's revered former leader lies waiting for our visit tomorrow. We have been prepping the kids all week - long pants, no photos and NO snickering. We don't need anyone ending up in a Vietnamese Juvenile Detention Center for disrespecting the corpse. Apparently our timing is perfect. Mr. Minh has just returned from his annual visit to Russia for body maintenance. You would think that this day in age the Vietnamese could do their own maintenance with a syringe and a little botox treatment. Stay tuned for "Ho Chi Minh Up Close and Personal" tomorrow (no photos).
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| Huc Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple (home of the 250 kg stuffed turtle) |
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| Holy Turtle...it's a stuffed turtle |
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| Fresh Garlic! |
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| Weird Market Fruit |
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| Street Food |
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| Score! on the toy street |
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| Peace, Love and World Dominance |
That weird exotic fruit is called buddha's hand, and it's a type of citrus.
ReplyDeleteOk. Thanks Aaron. We'll have to try it next time we see it.
ReplyDelete