Another side of Hanoi

Each day we've been here, we have attempted to go exploring in a different direction from our apartment.  The first two days we spent walking along busy, crowded roads with lots of traffic, looking at office buildings and stores and going grocery shopping.

Friday we headed out due east and discovered an amazing collection of small streets and alleys and little mom-and-pop shops selling everything from housewares to chickens to fashion to hair styling to food stands.  It was an amazing discovery and completely unexpected being right across the street from our apartment.

In the middle of those alleys and streets, this is a pagoda that we saw for the first time.  You can see from the picture how close it is to our apartment, yet we missed it:

It is not uncommon to see the live animals and the butchered meat all in one stand. At least you know it is fresh!

I love how the wires are all exposed and just hang everywhere. Very common on the side streets of Hanoi.

This woman is paying tribute to her deceased relatives by burning fake paper money, a tradition in many Asian countries. We saw this a lot today.

A little different than the meat department at the Garrettsville IGA:

There are many, many of these mom-and-pop shops that consist of a bench with a few items on a table, and almost all of them have a collection of drinks such as this.  You order your drink and then sit down on a blue plastic stool while they pour the beverage into a glass with ice, and sit and have your drink.  No rush, no worries (unless you're worried that a motorbike might hit you...).