hanoi day three

Loud smoky streets teeming with life, scents both foul and pretty damn nice. Stared at by people who instantly recognise me as a foreigner (guess I don't look Vietnamese!) and getting constantly hassled to buy things. Am I in India again? Nope, just someplace pretty close in a lot of ways. After a second day of getting adjusted to life here, and being anxiously exhausted by it - culture shock, I guess - I'm starting to get accustomed to things. Went to visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum yesterday, but it was closed; I think his corpse was getting embalmed in Russia, no I'm not joking. I'm going to Halong Bay tomorrow, it'll be a welcome break from the backpacker's ghetto that's the Old Quarter of Hanoi. If you've been to Kao San Road in Bangkok, you know what I mean.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, a previous tenant of my room left a package of suspicious herb wrapped in newspaper in the bedside drawer. Could've helped yesterday, but judging from the lack of any scent, it's probably pretty old stuff. More later folks!

PS. Nope, no news of image hosting yet.