Hanoi, the busy capital of Vietnam.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a buzzing city on the move, which never stops. Many things are happening everywhere you look, this is the city that never stops. It is ancient, and luckyly the old architecture, Chinese, Vietnamese, French colonial, is still there, even if camouflaged in the modest new buildings. It has not suffered the massive destructive development like China - as one may think -, but it is easy to feel it will.Vietnam is developing, and Vietnamese people are hungry for it and willing to get ahead.
One of the things that come to my head after three days in Hanoi is the similarity with China - I actually have not been to China -. I can't help thinking I am in China, Hanoi is what I think China is: people are constantly working, making a deal, moving from one place to another, eating, cooking... I do not see idle people hanging around, everybody is working. I am also pleasantly surprised at how efficient and professional people are: our hotel travel agent have booked the remaining of our Vietnam journey saving us a lot of hustle. Vietnam can only get better. Although it is overpopulated, and people are not of aware of that issue, they are still proud and willing to have several kids and are very family orientated. I hope life gets better here.
One thing that saddens me is how Vietnamese hate China. Yes, China did a lot of horrible things and is still causing some harm to this region, but unless the whole of Asia get itself together, Western influence is not going to let this area progress. A whole lot of diplomatic and government negotiations are required.
Back to Hanoi. we stayed at the old city, a crazy maze of streets crammed with motorbikes, bikes, street vendors, stalls with all kind of goods, restaurants, tables, chairs, dogs, chickens, people and food. Good food. Great food. Phos, noodles, noodle soup..., Vietnamese food is fantastic and extremely healthy. Food is a very good reason to come to Vietnam, or one of the several good reasons. I could eat phos, needles and needle soup for the rest of my life. And dragon fruit and baby bananas.
After visiting the old city, lakes and colonial architecture for two days, I am exhausted: there are just too many obstacles I have to dodge to walk around. This is a busy city, exciting but maybe too exciting. I am now looking forward to move on and see the many beautiful and exciting places Vietnam has to offer.