Word: hanoi
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Thousands of motorbikes swerving at high speed and near-misses at every corner can make the roaring streets of Hanoi a terrifying place for the uninitiated. But for Vietnamese teenagers like Trinh Thanh Van, the motorized maelstrom is a party on wheels. It's 8 p.m. on a weeknight, and 19-year-old Van is out with two girlfriends on the back of her red Honda Wave, darting through ever-shifting streams of motorbikes as they look for new friends. It's a typical evening of luon lo (literally "wandering"), the nightly ritual where young Vietnamese cruise, flirt and flaunt...
Vietnam has a history of expelling foreigners: the Chinese in 1428, the French in 1954 and the Americans in 1975. Fortunately for tourists, those who come in peace are welcomed with open arms. Hanoi, Vietnam's well-preserved capital, is a cosmopolitan mélange of Chinese temples, French colonial architecture and American consumerism. Remnants of French rule stand out the most (think baguettes, berets and wide, tree-lined boulevards), but that can't mask Hanoi's distinct Vietnamese flavor: nightlife as fiery as the local chilies, and street life as memorable as the fish sauce...
...something a little more sophisticated, there's Restaurant Bobby Chinn (www.bobbychinn.com). The star of Hanoi's growing foodie set, owner-chef Bobby Chinn offers first-class food at developing-world prices, with entrees like aromatic green tea-smoked duck and braised pigeon wrapped in rice paper. The eclectic and lavish setting - including a red-silk hookah lounge with suspended white roses - reflects Chinn's Egyptian-Chinese-Kiwi roots. The origin of the popular codeine-tablet cocktail is less clear...
...better sense of the city, hit the streets. Hanoi's pulse beats hardest in the maze-like Old Quarter, a collection of 50 streets and alleys, each named for its primary goods, such as silk on Hang Gai and silver on Hang Bac. Art houses sell communist-era propaganda reproduced on posters, canvas and mugs, and galleries offer stroke-perfect replicas of famous paintings for as little...
After a day's shopping, it's time to wind down. Hanoi's center, both geographically and culturally, is the pristine Lake Hoan Kiem. According to legend, it was here that a giant tortoise swam off with the Emperor's magical sword, after the Emperor drove off those Chinese invaders in the 1400s. Today it's a popular gathering spot where locals stroll, play chess, practice tai chi and, at night, admire the jewels that dot the lake: the red-lacquered Rising Sun Bridge, the Jade Mountain Temple and the Tortoise Tower. Here visitors can soak in the real Hanoi...