Breakfast in Hanoi

There are really two ways to eat breakfast in Vietnam. There's the Vietnamese way, which is usually Pho Bo(A noodle soup with beef and vegetables to which you add chilies, herbs, lime or whatever), and then there is the Western way. Eating Pho usually means grabbing a little stool on the street sitting down and just digging in with the locals.The French presence in Vietnam history has left an mark on the cuisine, and you can get some really good baked goods and pastries anywhere you go here. Usually I choose the Vietnamese way, since the Pho is amazing, and really gets you going in the morning. Plus, a big bowl costs around a dollar, so it really can't be beat.

That being said there is something special about sitting in a cafe in Vietnam sipping coffee, and eating some french toast and a bagette. You can't help but feel a little colonial, like you're a french gentlemen coming to Vietnam to teach the savages how to be civilized, despite the fact that anyone who has been to France can tell you who really needs to teach who some civility. After a 9 hour train from Lao Cai in a cockroach inhabited sleeper, it was a nice to feel a little bourgeois. So I sat in the cafe read some Marquez, and tried to regain a little bit of calm amongst the hustle and bustle of pre-Tet Hanoi. It was a welcome feeling, and not one I really thought I'd need on this trip. The feeling was short-lived however, as 10 minutes later I was seated on the street corner eating a bowl of Pho Bo amidst the constant honking of the motorbikes