Greeting from Hanoi

My mornings begin with a crow from a rooster, and the honking of passing motorbikes and cars. Three days into my journey of Vietnam, and let me tell you if i can find that rooster and make Pho Ga out of it, my Hanoi adventure would be close to perfect.
People scattered along the streets perched on their little plastic chairs and dripping coffee, would make any smuck from the west green with envy. They sit, chatter and gossip about anything worth talking about while the word passes them by, to your left you have the 'noodle lady with her boiling pot of broth, and cuts of meats that would make any health inspector cringe, and to your right you have a man with colorful bottles of soda pop with infested ice to chill the midday sun. Hey its Vietnam and they dont give a rats A** about food handling mambo jumbo and if you're going to be a traveler and not a tourist neither should you.
No I'm not telling you to put yourself at risk, if a sip of local ice is going to put you in the toilet for the rest of your trip then, go to the restaurants named 'ladybird' etc and eat the same old s*** you would be eating at home. There are dozens of restaurants catering for homesick tourists serving up, steak and chips, American style burgers and chips..excuse the crudness but eating western food in asia is like wiping your behind before you go to the toilet.
Call me a cowboy or just damn crazy, but i love street food and forever it shall be. Some of the most lip smackingly tastest things ive ever eaten have come from a seedy looking street stall, and i've survived to tell the tale. Just for precaution bring along Probiotica...my little magic pills full of happy bacteria to combat the nasty ones. See the country experience the joys it has to offer, and do try the food.. the real food of the people that live there. Ease your body into the new food, slowly introduce your body to the shock, dont go kamakaze and go drinking the tap water.. i dont think any amount of conditioning will get your body for that shock. So for the Guide for S.E.A noobs...
FOOD TIPs
1. NO TAP WATER... duhh... skys blue, grass green dont drink local water
2. Do not eat copious amounts of shell fish in one sitting .. no matter how fresh
3. If there are stacks of locals chowing down at the restauant... its usually a good indicator
4.Buy your own knife and cut your own fruits...(people are bound to cut themselves...better it be your blood than someone else's)
5. (restaurants) Always ask for the price before parking your behind on a seat, 3rd world countries think tourist are millionares.. so the might be a chance of the price being jacked up,sad but true poverty is real. so unless you want to get stung with a disguisting bill ALWAYS ASK!!
GENERAL RULES (COMMON SENSE)
1. familiarise yourself with local laws(curfew), spending time in a seedy jail for the duration of your trip is worse than a poo pie.
2.when buying things from the market cut the asking price by 50% if they still dont budge... do it like craig david and *walk away... they will call for you back.
3. Dont always go to places your hotel reccomends, they're usually 'toursisty' places go off the beaten track, who knows what you might find.
4. Dont go wearing your a jewels/ or things of value, again its a 3rd world country..unless your chuck norris.. thats a different story.
5. Research on the repitible taxi companies that operate in the area, there are ALOT of dodgy taxi's around just dying to rip you off.