New York's Central Park is a defining part of the city. Museums and wealth hug its edges and its cleaning power regenerates the air. Most Asian cities are missing this kind of grand central green lung and although they can boast ancient monuments and historic contexts, very few can combine the two.
Hanoi has West Lake partly filled with floating greenery, partly surrounded by hotels and restaurants, its edges dotted with temples and pagodas. West Lake is a vast cooling air conditioner in the heart of the city that can cook your toes in May and June. It's not a pond. It will take a few hours to walk around it and even the battery-driven tourist cart is an hour and a half venture.
It is about $4 for the trip and you can stop in some of the areas you are interested in and picked up the next car that comes along.
We were lucky we were the only passengers at the time we chose so we could ask the driver to slow down when we wanted to take some pictures of some of the pagodas dotting the area.
A number of fishing hobbyists are enjoying themselves preparing their gear. Restaurants were full of the morning coffee drinkers. Some families have brought folding tables and chairs with their picnic baskets and are enjoying al fresco breakfast on the lakeshore.
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