Hanoi Moment

We have spent 2 weeks in Hanoi and it has been great.
Living arrangements:
Situated in the Hanoi Moment Hotel in the old french quarter, as students we have been able to experience the part of Hanoi that has been around for a very long time. The city celebrated it's 1000 year anniversary recently and ut us actually hard to tell the city is this old. My understanding is that during the war Americans bombed the area and much of the city was destroyed. This is why it was so interesting to stay in the old quarter that was not destroyed during this period. This is not to say that area is 1000 years old but it is older than many places you may find in the U. S. cities.

Traffic here begs the question: Where is everyone going?
Motorbikes are rising in number as economic development has taken off starting in the 1990's. Everyone wants a motorbike! When we step out of our hotel to head to class, it is like a game of frogger in trying to cross the street. Motorbikes are constantly weaving in and out of lanes and passing high class cars. An aerial view would most-likely mistake the motorbike brigade for a school of fish swimming past coral reefs otherwise known as storefronts. Commerce is booming here. You can purchase plastic toy windmills off of someones bike, or fruit from a woman's balancing shoulder baskets and never see her face as she is covering her head with a conical hat and a face mask for pollution. You can also purchase the "latest" fashions.

Politics:
The communist party makes it's presence known in some ways: traffic police are big here. They stop people who don't follow traffic rules, publicly out them with loud speakers for their wrong doings and then take them to the police station to get a ticket. Can you imagine if that was the system in the U.S.?

People:
Simply said- everyone is very kind.

Class:
It is great to sit and learn so many details about the economic development of Vietnam to truly understand what is happening "behind the scenes" in all the business office, the types of dialogue that is going on. As a low-middle income class society, it is becoming very obvious how savy the Vietnamese are and how entreprenurial they are. We

In a nutshell, Hanoi has been a great moment.

-Sarah-