Still there...

"I heard the familiar sounds of the street below: the high-pitched call of the bread seller, the newsboys reciting the day's headlines through an amplifier on his bicycle, the growl of jackhammers, the tap, tap, tao of the bronze caster's hammer on an emerging statue of Buddha. It was a reassuring medley, a reminder that even as great changes were sweeping through South East Asia's oldest capital, the intimacy and timelessness of Hanoi lingered, undaunted by the suffering of war or the burdens of peace." David Lamb, National Geographic 2004