In Vietnam! Driving to our Hotel

The van ride took 45 minutes to get to our hotel.

Here are the other families that traveled with us from LA to Hong Kong to Hanoi. :)

And see all our luggage piled behind!

One thing I failed to mention.... it was hot and steamy in Hong Kong and then again in Hanoi!!

I felt like we were driving through photographs... I've seen so many pictures of what Vietnam is like, and it truly looked just like the pictures!! :) What was most surprising to me though is that it truly looked like Vietnam as soon as we left the airport! I guess I just didn't expect it to be so scenic right by the airport.

We saw lots of fields and water buffaloes!

I was trying to capture a view of fields with buildings behind.

We saw a lot of little shops and little restaurants on street corners, where tables were set up on the sidewalk. You could see straight into many of the shops, and they were very interesting as we rode by. One was even full of gold coffins! There was so much that I wished I could capture on film, but it just wasn't possible as we drove along in the van. We even saw lots of people wearing the typical straw, cone-shaped hats. :)

I got this one picture out the front window, but it wasn't a truly typical scene. There were far more motorcycles than this. We even saw some examples of people loading all sorts of things on their bikes and motorcycles! One guys had a huge pile of egg crates tied onto the back! I hope he didn't hit a bump before reaching his destination! ;)

Check out all these wires!!

And finally, we entered the downtown area of Hanoi. It was beautiful!!! Here is the lake covered with swan boats!!!! :) Everyone told me how wonderful Hanoi is -- and now I understand! We haven't ventured out onto the street quite yet, but I'm far less intimidated to do so than I was before. :)