Tour de Force.

Toy street: ironically, not a place for kids.

Hanoi, Vietnam – Machine-blown bubbles seeped into the humidity as we wove through a street of toy stores. Around us, a cacophony of colour – doorways framed by bright plush and plastic objects of desire for squealing children.

And still, the scooters. So many scooters.

I was quickly surprised, however, to see how assertive I had become with traffic. With some common sense, crossing the street amidst the mayhem actually came pretty naturally.

It’s a form of organized chaos: the jabs of the horn, the flash of the lights. The sheer volume (exhibit a, to the right).

Turning onto another street, buildings full of mannequins with pointed heads, curved like turretella shells, grinned at us through second-storey windows. We were glad to have guides today.

I've been dragon these doors around.

We visited many of the city's key sites, including Hoàn Kiếm Lake, and the Temple of Jade Mountain. We visited the Temple of Literature, which hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam’s first national university. It was built in 1070. (!)

Founded in 2879 B.C., Vietnam is an ancient country.

We also visited the Museum of Ethnology, and learned about some of the country’s 54 ethnicities and 53 minority groups. The site included full-scale ethnic houses from across Vietnam, and hosted a performance of a traditional water puppet show.

It was helpful to learn about some of the culture and history, and it was obvious our guides were proud to be sharing it with us.

Given my mandate here, it helps to understand the audience.