Footloose in Hanoi: Celebrate city's charm, street food and relics from past

HANOI -- It is 6 a.m. on a chilly December morning, but Hanoi is already alive, breathing and buzzing. Female street vendors with bicycles are peddling colorful roses, chrysanthemums and tulips. Groups of older women dance to loud, upbeat music around Hoan Kiem Lake, one of the city's natural freshwater bodies. Nearby, office workers in suits sit on plastic stools on the sidewalk, chatting over bowls of steaming pho (rice noodle soup with bone broth, meat and herbs).