White Knuckles on the Open Road

The streets of Vietnam are alive with them. The sidewalks too, from time to time.  Motorbikes weave nimbly around one another with such controlled precision you might feel silly to fear them striking your jaywalking heels. Actually, probably not. I, for one, have developed a deep admiration for this two-wheeled species of transportation which, at…

A City’s Delicious Defense

Hanoi is a city turned inside out.  Narrow buildings jam together like too many books on a shelf, and its doorsteps are alive with activity you might be more accustomed to finding behind the glass panes of a window. Do your eyebrows need plucking?  The woman on the corner of Gia Ngu and Hang Be…