I've decided that this is a quirky and hilarious country, and I sort of like it now. Well, I loved the countryside, but I think it's easier to love the countryside of many countries. Hanoi is interesting, though, and we've had a great time here once we started to look for all of the things to just sit back and laugh at.

1. Scales rolling through the street that play the theme song from "Titanic".
2. Popcorn-sellers on bicycles that play "Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas" or "Happy Birthday".
3. Mobile markets of women selling their wares, from produce to meats, to cleaning supplies, to worms (yes, to eat) They carry flat wicker basket suspended from each end of a stick over their shoulders and wear the connical hats.
4. The dude who set up a table to sell cigarettes and play board games with his buddies - RIGHT UNDER the only ATM in our neighborhood that takes international cards. I had to lean over his head to take money last night because he refused to move - then got pissy when we decided to take photos of the whole hilarious scene.
5. When Vicky asked for orange juice and a cup of hot water (she insists on making her own tea and coffee), and she got a glass of hot orange juice.
6. The Ho Chi Minh Museum is the coolest place in the world. Who knew that Uncle Ho was a surrealist who was inspired to save his country by the works of Gustav Klimt? And did you realize that paintings by Picasso, Matisse, and Dali symbolize the struggle against fascism? For awhile I wasn't sure if I was in a history and political museum or a modern art museum. There is one installation that looks nothing like a brain or a cave, but it's supposed to symbolize a brain that symbolizes the cave where Ho Chi Minh planned the Vietnamese revolution of 1946. Interesting...
7. The book that I bought after leaving the HCM Museum with a fried brain not knowing if HCM thought he was democratic, socialist, or communist. It's still a mystery to me. But at least I have entertaining reading now with "Ho Chi Minh Thought Will Light Our Path Forever". An excerpt for your enjoyment:
"In daily life, President Ho is a very simple and honest man. A great man, a really great man is always simple and honest. A mannered man always lacks capability; his play acting is for deceiving people and future generations. King Nghieu, King Thuan, Jesus Christ were simple and honest men. Lenin, Sun Yat Sen and Mahatma Gandhi were also simple and honest men. So are great scientists and great writers. On the contrary, Hitler was a perfidious man. Besides Hitler, Mussolini was but a clown."

Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh