In the last half decade the Hanoi moto (a larger version of the Italian Vespa) has become ubiquitous. The deleterious effect this has on the environment cannot be over-exaggerated. The noise and exhaust fills the streets, and there seems to be a competetion amongst drivers to see who can honk the loudest, drive most aggressively, and best assert onseself on the road. Such contests are unpleasant enough on regular bikes, but on motorized ones it becomes an entirely different story. As S mentioned in a post on Chinese drivers, the ability to own motorized vehicles has far outpaced the ability of the society to insure that drivers are adequately trained to operate them. The statistics on yearly road carnage are appalling, and in this nation of 83 million people I think things will get worse before getting better.

Minus the oppressive heat and obnoxious drivers, Hanoi is an extremely pleasant city. It has wonderful tree-lined boulevards, well-manicured parks, delightful restaurants, and enticing market stalls. Today we ventured out to Hanoi's lovely West Lake. Two steps out of air-conditioned hotel and we were dripping with sweat. We soldiered on stopping at a military museum that housed a host of fascinating relics from Vietnam's two twentieth-century anti-imperialist wars for independence. The museum outlined the chronology of Vietnam's defeat of the French (which culminated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954) and then its defeat of the Americans and their S. Vienamese proxy army. We saw the tank that entered Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) just as the final American helicopter fled the American Embassy. The museum also houses downed imperial aircraft (Chinook helicopters and an interesting heap of French and American plane scraps).

When we reached the lake we strolled down a causeway dividing the lake and saw a memorial comemorating the place where John McCain parachuted into Hanoi after having been shot down. It was a bit surreal, but totally fascinating to see. It is a little sad to have so much of our sightseeing in this city focused on military history, but it is very much the case that Vietnamese identity has been forged in resistance (to the Chinese, the French, the Japanese, the French, and the Americans). This history is still very real and alive even as this Communist society becomes more market-based and consumer orientated.