Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Although our friends here in Vietnam aren’t too keen on “recycling” (unless burning piles of plastic and trash alongside major motorways constitutes recycling), the news is full of climate change and the EU calls to focus on carbon caps. In countries where eating is more important than conservation, it’s all too apparent how critical a worldwide strategy to the issue really becomes. I hope so given the US is currently responsible for some 30% of total worldwide emissions.

Is climate change and global warming as big of a topic back home as it is abroad right now? Or is it just Iraq, Hillary and Obama?

I worked hard to not title this first post from Hanoi, “Good Morning, Vietnam!”

We’re in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, home to some 3 of the 83 million total people living in this country. After landing late on Friday, we caught a taxi for $12 to go the 45km from the airport into the Old Quarter of Hanoi. We arrived just before midnight and hit the sack, stoked that our room was just $20 for the night and was quite nice and clean. For our first night, we stayed at a Lonely Planet-recommended hotel, Star Hotel. More on the Lonely Planet syndrome shortly.

Hanoi’s Old Quarter surrounds Hoam Kiem lake and is a maze of short …