Hanoi is booming, but still retains its character. Tree-lined streets, cool cafes and pavement beer stalls fill with tourists and locals alike.

It is the only major city in south-east Asia that I know of that one can actually walk around. OK, so the traffic is getting to be a bit of nightmare, but there's always another cafe around the corner to take shelter in.

PhilSen writes:
There's a thing they call the Hanoi shuffle, and the Green Cross Code Man certainly wouldn't like it. You don't stop; you don't look and listen; and thinking is fatal. With the buzzing swarms of scooter traffic - private cars are still rare - the only way to get across the roads here is to take a deep breath and plunge straight into the maelstrom. Yet miraculously, the ever-alert moto drivers always seem to miss you. It's all part of the charm.

Shaking off the past, these days Hanoi is booming yet still retains a charismatic allure. Tree-lined streets, cool cafes and dirt-cheap pavement beer stalls fill with tourists and locals alike. But for the heat and noise, you can almost imagine yourself in one of the cosmopolitan continental capitals of Europe; even 50 years on a French influence lingers. And all this despite the US Air Force's best efforts to bomb Hanoi "back to the Stone Age". The resilience of this city and its people is incredible.

Aside from the finest undiscovered cuisine in the world, a delicious fusion of south-east Asian and Chinese influences with Vietnam's own tasty little twists, there's something here for everyone. Whether it's getting lost in the labyrinthine alleys of the old quarter, catching up with Vietnam's recent turmoil or ancient history at the city's museums and monuments or simply chilling out by the centrepiece Hoan Kiem Lake, in a continent full of frantically modernising cities Hanoi is one of the few oases of moderation.