HANOI, VIETNAM

Chris flew down to Hue City today to meet up with one of his sponsored children, so I'm hangin' by myself in Hanoi for a couple of days. So far I've stuck to the Old Quarter, where I've checked out the shops and markets, dodged a lot of motorcycles, and walked around Hoan Kiem Lake. Legend states that an ancient king encountered a giant golden turtle there which took a divine sword from him and returned it to the gods (the name Huan Kiem translates to "Restored Sword Lake").

And strangely enough, there actually are giant turtles in Huan Kiem (or at least there were at one time), one of which is preserved in a big glass case at Ngoc Son Temple, which sits on a small island in the middle of the lake. There's a photogenic red wooden bridge leading to the island, which I discovered makes a pleasant place to rest on a hot day.