Welcome to Hanoi! Home of the street food

 

We are in Hanoi, Vietnam, staying in the Old Quarter. Its a beautiful but busy area of the city that has not developed since the war. It's made up of thirty something streets each with their own specialty item. You can find a whole street of food, art, paints, massage, silk etc. We've spent a lot our time here watching the locals buy and sell, cook on the streets, and go about daily life. 

Along the streets there are women washing dishes for the local restaurants. Not sure how clean it is but it seems to be the normal way everything gets washed- a dip into soap, a dip into water and done. 

This is the entrance to the "Hanoi Hilton" Prison. Here we were able to walk through the cells, see the life of prisoners and read tons of propaganda about the US. 

Yum! We're hoping by only eating street food cooked in front of us we will avoid some stomach issues. So far so good :)

Or you can buy a whole rooster and bring it home to eat. Notice that right next to it is a raw bowl of some type of mystery meat. Neither are refrigerated or heated. 

Here's one of our meals cooked inside. Total $10 with drinks. It's delicious but not like anything we've tasted back home. 

What can we say? There's no denying we are tourists, might as well embrace it!








Selling fruits



Cooking up some fried bread with fruit in it. Kind of like a pancake. You just take a seat on the little red stool and for a quarter you have yourself some roadside dessert.