My brother (Hive account@fronttowardenemy) and I recently traveled to Vietnam for a few weeks. He was wanting to finish a motorbike trip he had previously started but didn't finish due to an expired visa. I had heard so many wonderful things about Vietnam from him that of course, I jumped at the opportunity to go.

With layovers and everything it took us 24 hours to arrive in Hanoi from Portland Oregon.
We got checked into our hotel and unloaded our bags. Then, It was off in search of beer and exploring the touristy area of Hanoi called the old quarter.

The view from our hotel room. I'm glad I'm not a cable guy here.

We hit the streets and wandered around just taking it all in. Everyone was out and about selling what they had to sell.

After a little wandering we found a place that had fresh beer on tap for about .45 cents a glass. Needless to say, we spent some time at this Bia Hoi location.

@fronttowardsenemy checking messages and having a beer.

The next day we were catching a sleeper bus to the city of Ha Gian. This is where out bike trip would start. We had some time to kill so off we went to find the single pillar pagoda and other touristy attractions.

Found it! Near the Ho Chi Min museum.

A communist monument	An old gate that was attacked by the French

On our way back to the neighborhood that had our hotel, We walked through a busy area that had the foreign embassies and decorated streets.

Arches into a city are a very common theme all over the country. Even the small towns.

We were getting hungry for lunch so we took a shortcut through a botanical garden to get back to our area.

I should have taken more pictures here.

We stopped at an out of they way restaurant. Hive account@fronttowardenemy got the fried morning glory and I had a stir fry beef dish. Twas delicious and cheap!

I was not brave enough to try any dog dishes while there.

We got back to our hotel and packed up. It was time to wait for our ride to the bus station.

Our hotel, Talk to Twee about booking a room. Nice place, reasonable rates $15 a night!

A VW van came to pick us up. Little did we know, He had many others to pick up as well. How many people can you fit in a VW van you ask? We got 16 people in there! Two days in Vietnam and I already have a girl sitting on my lap.

If you think that sounds uncomfortable, Try being 6'6" on a sleeper bus built for Vietnamese people on a seven hour trip.

This is my new best friend for the next seven hours... I call him Mr. Elbows

That is the end of day 2. Tomorrow we start the motorbike trip!

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