Greetings from the land of the Dong

Just a quick clarification. The "dong" is the currency of Vietnam.
It took 2 hours to fly from HK, and almost 2 hours to drive from the airport into Hanoi.
I took a minivan from the airport to the city, and as soon as I got in it reminded me of Guatemala. There were 14 of us in the minivan plus all the luggage, Crowded wouldbe an great understatement.
The other thing that reminded me of Guatemala was all the garbage along the roads. The air pollution, I think, is worse than Hong Kong. At night the sky turns a metallic bronze.
And the traffic is insane. That's the only way to describe it. Think about rush hour traffic in any Canadian city, and then add a thousand motor scooters to all the cars. I kid you not. There are intersections like Yonge and Bloor, but no traffic lights. Nobody stops, traffic just weaves in and out. It is unbelievable that I did not see one accident. When you cross a road you just start to walk at a steady pace. You don't want to look towards the oncoming traffic. It would scare the hell out of you, and they would see the fear in your eyes; which is never a good thing.
I love it here though. The vitality of the city is unbelievable. And the motorscooters are priceless. You see everything from families of four, on one scooter, to ladies in fancy dresses and high heels, weaving in and out like professional motorcycle racers. And the loads some of them carry. I saw on that had about 40 flats of eggs hanging on the back. A flat is 12 by 12 eggs.

I did have one interesting interaction. A very beautiful lady in a red dress, with a slit up to her neck, high heels and all, stopped and asked if I was interested in a massage. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I hadn't been to an ATM yet.
That was another experience. I did go to one later, and withdrew 12 000 000 dong. Instant millionaire. The reality though is that's only about 600 dollars. The dong is not large. And size does matter. I did not encounter the lady in red on the way back.
I did have a great dinner. 8 spring rolls and a bottle of Tiger beer. My kind of meal. And all for 4 bucks.
My hotel room is right in the old city, there is a safe ( the kind to store money) in my room, air conditioning, mini fridge, fresh fruit, and beakfast included, all for 40 dollars.
As I said I love it here.
Tomorrow it is time to venture forth and discover Hanoi.
Wish me luck
Ralf