Even though I know that I am too big of a baby to move away, I still usually judge a city by whether or not I would enjoy living there. Never in a million years would I have thought that Hanoi, Vietnam would be on that list. To say that I have been pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. I expected Communist block architecture, with sad, economically depressed people. Man my preconception of the place was way, way off base. Everyone seems to be happy, exercise by the lake in the morning, capitalism is everywhere, and all things considered the architecture is not only beautiful (French), but also intact. The topper is that the attitude of the city is way laid back. When comparing Saigon to Hanoi it would be like comparing Austin/Houston to New York. The pace is right, its near some really cool stuff, and its cheap. I was very impressed.