January, 2025

Shopping at the local street markets. Then working out and chilling at the hotel. 

Walked 10 mi around Westlake while stopping at different temples and coffee shops. I’ve never seen soooo many coffee shops in my life. The entire 10 mi radius is literally lined up with coffee shops wall-to-wall.  We stopped at a couple of temples, first Quang An, which had people burining insense. There were a lot

Went to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, 11th century. It’s a big area with multi generational relics in there of which were the command center and the bunker called the “D67 bunker”. It served as an important military command center during the Vietnam War for the Vietnamese Communist Party leadership, where key decisions were

Our first day of Hanoi’s exploration.  Roads in Hanoi are a royal glorious motorcycle mess! There is never-ending honking, endless lines of motorcycles weathering everywhere with occasional car stuck in between (which looks like a giant bug stuck in a stream of other nimple insects). There is an occasional traffic light, although it largerly taken

Flying from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Hanoi, Vietnam.  We are staying at InterContinental on the Westlake, because #points. It’s a lovely place, and our room is with a gorgeous lake view. It’s cloudy today but there seems to be a smog overhangingthe area, but contrary to HK, it actually smells like smoke. I think it’s