Hanoi- Day 1

It's raining in Hanoi. It feels like it always rains in Vietnam. Or maybe that's just what Forest Gump said. Darryl and I bought blue bags to deflect the rain and the lady said our bodies were too big. They were. We bags were torn and tied around us like bums. Didn't stop the begging. Crossing the street here is an exhilarating experience. 90% of the traffic is made up of motorcycles and they're travelling like a school of fish. They don't go too fast because they can't. And it never let's up. You really can't see the street, just a constant flow of bikes. The cacophony of horns serves as a nice wakeup call at 8am. I think the honks are saying 'hello' more than they are warning. We walked guideless through an ancient temple that had the old folks mesmerized. We've been in Asia too long, been in too many temples, to have that feeling. I bought a guitar for 20$ after singing a song called, "I love my 20$ guitar." The sales girl wanted 30$, but she was visibly impressed with the tune. That's the most harmless bartering yet. Darryl paid 10$ for pineapple after the girl let him wear her rice hat and hold her bamboo scale-like fruit carrier. We put our heads down and prey as traffic swerves around us and says 'hello' in horn. I feel like I've seen a weeks worth here. There's enough information and life on every street to contemplate for days. Darryl's playing guitar, his 3-chord special. We already wrote a catchy tune about the male and female clerks in our hotel but it's time for more music.