Our first stop in Vietnam was the bustling capital city, Hanoi. 

Known for its centuries-old architecture, Hanoi's rich culture is a blend of Southeast Asian, Chinese and French influences. We stayed in the lively Old Quarter, which is packed with one-room-wide hotels, tourist shops, bars and hundreds of street food vendors. The Old Quarter's narrow, zig-zagging streets seem even narrower thanks to the street food vendors and hundreds of parked motorbikes taking up all the space on the sidewalk. You have to walk in the road, being careful to not step in the way of the many motorbikes whizzing past. 

Of course, we don't have photos of any of that, since we walked around without our camera most of the time. Hope my description is illustrative enough to give you an idea. If not, sorry! 

We did bring the camera to visit the Ngoc Son Temple, a Confucian temple in the middle of the Hoan Kiem Lake, which was only two blocks from our hotel. We went back to Hoan Kiem Lake at night and marveled in the reflection of the neon city lights off the still, dark water.