Cat and I embark on a different type of tour We’ll get to be passengers with our drivers taking us in different parts of Hanoi on antique Minsk Russian bikes.

We’ll get to sample street food, home made beer, go to various small factories where artisans make flavored peanuts, wedding green gelatin desert with coconut, home made beer and last but not least… the best coffee I’ve ever had Vietnamese coffee made with whipped egg yolk and condensed milk! ( it must have a few calories!)

The beginning of our ride!

Chin Chin my very skilled driver

Our street food experience. I can’t say that I loved the food but I tried everything and we survived!

Hopping on the very dangerous train track with absolutely no protection, plenty of ways to fall by the wayside. In so many parts of the world it would have been disallowed!

Riding on bumpy paths on an farmers island near Hanoi.

An illegal compound of floating houses which houses mostly poor people with no birth certificate. This is right off the farmers island.

If you look carefully you will see that a tree trunk is part of the building structure in addition to many home extensions being their balconies as space is at a premium in Old Hanoi

A factory of rice wedding sweet delicacies sprinkled with coconut. Buildings are quite narrow, many people who work downstairs also live on upper levels of the same house, which often times is divided with the next generation thereby becoming smaller!

The most expensive and smallest coffee house in Hanoi, no bigger than my closet with a 1 million dollar value!

The famous Vietnamese coffee. A fabulous way to end the day!

Hanoi apartments with water tanks outside

We celebrate the beginning of our journey with Stacey our leader on the rooftop of MK hotel