In short, a huge party and chaos in the traffic

I’ve included an image of Hanoi from my balcony. Is it the calm before the storm?

Hanoi Just Before The Birthday Party Starts

The lake with the small boats is called Truc Bach lake and this is the lake where senator John McCain was shot down during the Vietnam war. The lake in the distance is the East West Lake or Tay Ho in Vietnamese.

Hanoi – 1,000 Year Birthday is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

I quickly went home, fetched the camera and quickly walked back to the balloon. Of course i forgot take a memory card so i had to go home again (very, very annoying). Nearly running i got back in time to take this photo hand held at 70mm.

Hot Air Balloon Pictures

The balloon is reflected in Truc Back lake which is near central Hanoi.

Hot Air Balloon Pictures is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

Me and my friend Stefan were in Hoi An in central Vietnam a few days ago and we passed a small ponds with some flowers. The flowers and the pond looked ordinary so I walked past the pond and the flowers. Something nagged me however so I walked back to the pond and quickly snapped a couple of close up images of one of the flowers. At first it looked like the image was over exposed when i looked in the LCD screen but I didn’t care, i just walked up to Stefan who waited for me.

Once i was back home in Hanoi I opened up the image in Photoshop CS and i was amazed by the colors. I’m no flower expert but i think it’s a water lily or a lotus flower.

Water Lily or Lotus Flower

So something that looked ordinary turned out to be so beautiful. I really love the colors that almost look like painted.

Close up of water lily or lotus flower

In this close up the colors are even more amazing and can you see the small fly in the image?

Is it a Water Lily or a Lotus Flower?

Water Lily or Lotus Flower? is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

Moments after i took the first picture another cock came from behind me and attacked the first cock. It took only about 10 seconds until the owners separated the cocks but it were some pretty intense seconds.

Here’s the first picture i took before the fight

Before the cockfight started

And here the second cock attacks the first one.

The cockfight has started

Now it’s full war between them.

Full war between the cocks

Both cocks were unharmed and i was OK to

Cockfight in Hanoi is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

I’ve made this short video that takes you from my home at the beautiful Truc Bach lake which is where John McCain was shot down during the Vietnamese was, passing through the presidential palace and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and finally arrived to the office in Dong Da district.

Commuting on the Streets of Hanoi. A Vietnamese Traffic Experience is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

I’m blessed with a fantastic view over Hanoi where i can see both Truc Bach and Tay Ho (west lake) from my balcony. The sunsets are just amazing and I can see it almost every day.

This image is smoking fresh, just taken minutes ago from my balcony. I can still almost see this sunset by looking out from my window

Sunset over Truc Bach and Tay Ho

I stitched together two images into a panorama.

What do you think? Please let me know by leaving a comment below.

View of Truc Bach Lake From My Balcony is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog

I live around Truc Bach lake so i walked about 30 seconds from my home, sat down on a wobbly plastic chair at one of the local cafes lining up around the lakefront and ordered a fresh lemon juice.

One hour and two lemon juice later i had taken 86 images on people doing all kinds of exercises, plus a cock fight going on just a couple of feet from my wobbly plastic chair.

I’ll get back to the cock fight in a later post so in this post I’ll focus on fitness in Hanoi.

The first image is of a guy stretching while he looks out over Truch Bach.

Man stretching and looking out over the beautiful Truc Bach lake

Next image is of man doing bench press with weight of concrete.

Man doing bench press with weights of concrete

And finally an image of some guys trying to improve their fitness by doing push-ups on a bar.

Two guys doing push ups on a bar

In the next few days I’ll come back to the cock fight that pretty much took place in my knees. Pretty dramatic actually.

Fitness in Hanoi is a post from: Peter Bergdahl's Personal Blog