Hanoi -- plunging into communist chaos, dust, cold and The Tet

Apparently our Thai travel agent hadn't known that we would be arriving in Hanoi right at the beginning of the Tet -- kind of like arriving on Xmas day, but even more so -- and the already authoritarian planes of marble that defined its architecture to me -- already reminiscent of Moscow airport -- were rendered colder by the dim cloudy sky, the lack of people, and actual cold -- a real shock after Bangkok's sweaty shorts weather -- the driver who was supposed to meet us is missing, and we are suddenly surrounded by a frankly predatory knot of grinning taxi drivers trying to get every last dong out of their holiday overtime. We got into the cab of the lowest-bidding driver and he immediately began talking about how we were going to pay him more money; then he started honking his horn continuously to an empty road, only increasing his auditory antics and wheeling-dealing as we began to hit traffic, completely disregarding lane markers and any rules of the road as he hurtled through the dusty, noisy, dreary city. He was quite upset at only receiving several dollars more than the price we agreed upon, would not help us with our luggage, and was still demanding more money as we walked away.

This turned out to be an appropriate introduction to Hanoi, and soon we were just trying to figure out how to get out of this deafening, dusty dystopia, heading north in a gray train dimly lit by green fluorescents, sitting on wooden slats for eleven hours as all other berths were taken due to Tet, surrounded by locals clearly wondering what the hell white people were doing in their car.

In the cold, misty mountains we met sweet, mostly shy folk from hill tribes -- the Black Hmong and Rainbow Hmong mostly, who wear their traditional clothing made by hand from scratch -- including large panels of shiny, iridescent purple cloth that I was certain must be some sort of synthetic, but which they make by repeatedly banging the cloth against the limestone rocks of the region. Came back with a big bundle of their gorgeous handicrafts, greatly refined haggling skills, and great hopes for the warmth of the South.