Dear Class,
Last week we made a trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. There is always
a hustle bustle in Hanoi and the guys on motorbikes like to graze your shirt
with their rear view mirrors.
If you asked me what the most dangerous thing I had done in
my life? Well it was probably crossing the street in Vietnam. The key is to
walk as slowly as you possibly can that way bikers see you and swerve out of
your way.
Trust me it makes you feel like a living security cone.
They have restaurants that I like to refer to as police
stands. You sit on these little plastic chairs like the ones we used to have in
kindergarten. Why? Because in Hanoi it's illegal to sit on the side of the
street. Why? I have no idea. So back to the plastic chairs, it is easy for the
owner to pick them up and away when the police come. Why? I already told you.
So after the police pass every one gets their chairs and food back out and they
continue to talk and eat and continue to have a good time. Why?-~--~-Will you
cut it out with the why stuff already!!!
Hanoi in the day time is still wonderful even without all of
the fancy neon snowflakes. We have a favorite ice cream place called Fanny.
Fanny is a
French ice cream place with stuff as weird as coffee sushi ice cream or the
alcoholic Amazonia shake with green crème de menthe.
Speaking of Fanny right next to it is
the Hoan Kiem Lake or Restored Sword Lake.
I will give you a quick summarization of why it is called
this. (The time period of this was 1406 so boys don’t be expecting guns) So this commander named Le Loi finds
this magic sword and he uses it to beat the Chinese solders of the Ming dynasty
who are currently occupying the country. Once he beats them a turtle comes to Le
Loi to retrieve the sword while he is taking a leisure ride on the lake. There
actually are turtles in the lake like that, colored like obsidian and as big as
me.
Le Loi's memorial in a dragon temple by the lake.
Well if you're not satisfied then that’s ok because I will
be writing three more blogs on Hanoi and its leisure tours. The three different
tours are on Halong Bay (beaches), food tour (I ate silk worms) and village
tour (MSG).
Sincerely,
Parker
P.S. If you don't write me a class letter within the next
three days I will stop writing you. I am tired of talking to nobody.
P.P.S. (Pam) Yes, that's Parker with Anthony Foxx. Mayor Foxx was
visiting China to promote Charlotte to Chinese businessmen, and we got a chance
to see him when he was in Shanghai. Parker tried to give him bunny ears, but
said that his head was too big, so only the tip of one finger showed. We liked the name tags because they all said VIP.
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