Jason Devitt

The view across Hoan Kiem Lake by night.

We asked Mr Hoi, a civil engineer from North Vietnam whom we met on the way here, to tell us the difference between Hanoi and Saigon. He said simply "Saigon is only three hundred years old."

Hanoi is a thousand years old. She moves more slowly than Saigon and even goes to bed earlier, with most businesses shuttered by 11 p.m. or midnight, bars and restaurants included. She is too dignified, pompous even, to hustle for a living and she’s poorer as a result; the President of the Party* said yesterday that Hanoi ‘must do better.’ But tighter controls over construction, more measured growth, and the intangible benefits that accrue to a capital have made Hanoi the more beautiful city.

We’ll stay here for a while.

N 21 deg 1.871 min E 105 deg 51.070 min

* There is only one.

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