Hanoi day 1

By the time I left Bangkok I had sort of had my fill for one week. It can be an overwhelming city when your traveling alone, and it can be more expensive than you anticipate. So I was ready to go this morning and happy to be off on a new adventure. Everyone I have met on this trip that has been to Vietnam so far has said great things about it.
I arrived in Hanoi bright and early already exhausted from the early morning flight. But I gathered some strength and pushed on. I went a few blocks away from the hotel to a recommended restaurant. Wow, crowded but awesome. Noodles and pork, fried calimari, a 20 ounce beer and a cup of coffee for 7 dollars. When I did the math I couldn't believe it at first. And this was a nice place. So far so good. So like the little tourist I am I grabbed a little map and started off on a walking tour of the old town. I have to say I am kind of impressed a little with Hanoi. It is crazy and busy in that Asian metropolis sort of way but there's a completely different feel here. Bangkok sort of felt like Asia mixed with new York. Where Hanoi seems more like Asia mixed with Europe. Most of the buildings are only two or three stories high and a lot of the old buildings have the architecture going back to the French colonial period. Not only that but there is good shopping here as well. Most of the stuff in Thailand was all tee shirts and the regular trinkets you might find at any flee market in the world and if you wanted anything unique you had to dig to find it. Hanoi is a completely different beast entirely. All of the big fashion houses have stores here and there sort of spread around the shopping area so that there not all lumped into one street or section. But the coolest part is that each of the streets and little sections of the old town were originally set up by what that area made. So on one street you have all cloth and cotton goods, on another all of the tin. Then a street for shoes and so on.... It is not strict anymore and you can find a smattering of things all over but it is cool to see. Not only that but some of the stuff is actually cool and worth buying! The only draw back is that the street hawkers and tour cycles are very aggressive and I spent as much time fending the off as I did looking at the wares. I do like it here so far and the staff at the hotel is very nice. The gril at the front desk actually sat down with me for about ten minutes and told me about all of the cool things to see, places to eat and gave me a full run down over my complimentary fruit plate. There are some things I am really going to miss about Asia.