Good morning Vietnam - literally

So, apologies first for the tardiness of postings. Vietnam has (unsurprisingly?) one of the lowest ratings for internet freedom in the world, and sites like facebook and blogspot are extremely temperamental at best. Nonetheless, the trick seems to be staying up really late into the morning.
That being said, our first (and technically third) stay in Vietnam was Hanoi. It's actually a pretty fun city, but hectic to say the least. It's been said that to cross the street, you have to pretend that you are a rock, and the thousand oncoming motorbikes are the water. In other words, simply walk out into the street at a steady pace - don't hesitate! - and the bikes will simply drive around you. Seriously.
We spent the majority of our time in the old city, specifically around the juxtapositionally (it could be a word) serene Hoan Kiem lake, pictured itself in the first photo. This is a great place to take a walk, stop for a coffee and pastry, or start a meander down one of the shopping streets such as "silk street". You can also catch a cyclo (the bike-powered love-seats) as a bunch of tourists did in the second photo, or get scammed into taking a photo holding fruit carts, as we did in the third photo. Hanoi is also littered with propaganda (Vietnam is celebrating 80 years of communism, well sort of). While there, we caught a showing of the internationally-acclaimed water puppet theatre. It was as good as one could expect for $2 each, but definitely a fun and interesting way to spend an hour. The last photo is simply of a child fishing off the famous "red bridge".