HANOI – VIETNAM
Day 15 – Part Two – Hanoi Vientam
Long crappy flight to Vietnam. Finally got thru customs and my reward was my good friend Sandy from Kelowna waiting for me on the other side. She is here to travel Vietnam and Cambodia with me - yay.
We cabbed to our hotel 45 min from airport. We are staying in Old Quarter. Can you say culture shock!?! In a good way. I immediately fell in love with Vietnam.
We settled in and went to walk around Old Quarter. We found Hanoi Train Street. If you’ve never heard of it, google it now and click on images and videos. 😊
Our tour guide told us Hanoi has 12Million people and 7Million motorbikes. Hanoi! One city. And we must have seen half a million of them our first night in town.
Like Seoul, there are bikes and cars and people everywhere. But somehow the systems make more sense here. Doesn’t feel totally safe, but if you walk with confidence - you can maneuver your way. It is mind blowing the amount of people going through one intersection at one time and the variety of everything crossing.
I am already in love with Vietnam. The energy, the lights, the people, the noodles haha. People are a little pushy trying to ask for business - peddlers. But it’s ok - they are pleasant. Lovely people.
We wandered around and ended up stopping on train street for a drink and a bite to eat. Met some people. Great chats. And ended up starting to walk home since the train kept getting delayed.
Train street is a street where a train grows through directly beside what seems like 100’s of cafes offering food and drinks. It is actually a residential street, lined with houses and cafes a few feet on either side of the train tracks. Locals walking the tracks selling everything from fresh fruit to a shoe shine to handmade crafts. It is something to take in!
When the train comes, all vendors pull in their chairs and product and get all tourists to set back slightly. It is slightly shocking, you can touch the train as it barrels through. A real train serving a real purpose transporting goods and people to and from the city several times each day.
Sandy and I each put a loonie on the track and got a squashed souvenir to take home. We ended up watching the train further down the track closer to our hotel. Wow- what a thing to witness.
Our hotel was quaint - had a good sleep.
DAY 16 – Hanoi / Halong Bay, Vietnam
Up at 7am for a free breakfast from the hotel it was great! On the rooftop of our hotel.
8am pick up for Halong Bay. What a day. One for the record books wow.
3-hour bus ride with a couple of shopping stops. I bought a gold necklace with a single pearl. Caught in the water right beside the shop.
We got to the bay and boarded our boat. They served us a lovely buffet lunch super yummy.
After lunch, we visited 3 caves. Breathtaking. 700 steps up and down and totally beautiful.
Then we had the choice of bamboo boat or kayak. We chose bamboo boat since we were wearing dresses. Wow - God’s handiwork. Just WOW. The most beautiful bay I think I have ever seen. Our guide named Ham was so awesome - loved him!!
Then we went to Ti Top island. Huge beach and the option to walk to the top of a mountain for photo ops. We made it halfway up. So many boats it was unbelievable. And more beautiful than words can say and than photos can convery.
Then we had a sunset party on the boat with music as we sailed back to shore. We met some great people today - had so much fun.
Vietnam you are so totally amazing so far!
Our guide, Ham was just awesome. Super informative and just great at his job.
3-hour bus ride home. Sandy sleeps literally twice as much as I do – I am pretty envious. We crashed. What a very amazing day!!
If you have not heard of Halong Bay, google it now. Just WOW.
Day 17 – Hanoi, Vietnam
Another beautiful free breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel. Then we wandered the streets of Old Quarter and shopped, met a designer – tried on her dresses but they did not fit quite right. Gets harder to find that right dress at this age lol.
Got back to our hotel in time to be picked up for our motorcycle city tour. Another INCREDIBLE day. Jackie Chan was our leader, my driver was August, Sandy’s driver was Hi.
This tour was 10/10 OMG!!!! We went through insane streets, busy, tiny, skinny streets. Had an amazing lunch in a hidden crazy cool restaurant. We were with an Australian family on the tour.
Jackie Chan was 21 yrs old and found out I have a 19 yr old daughter. He brought out wedding cake and told our group that he is giving this in honour of his new ‘mom’ – me. He is going to marry my daughter. This became the joke for the rest of the tour. Everyone saying, ‘see you at the wedding guys!’ haha – it was hilarious on motorbikes through the city, Jackie Chan yelling, hey mom!.. too funny. I took a few videos, one video the Austrailian father yelling, ‘say yes Jorg!’ Oh my it was so funny. One pic of us in traffic with him on the bike behind me and he is making a heart symbol for her. Pic on my FB and insta post.
We came back to hotel, changed and went out to the night market. Oh my oh my. Another insane experience. There must have been 50,000 vendors setting up at 6pm on many streets. The chaos was actual culture shock. I bought some pop-up Christmas cards for my family. And a tacky flower hair clip for my Asian travels. We had enough ..peopled out.. so we went on the hunt for a sit-down restaurant. We found one, had a nice dinner then home to pass out so tired.
Day 18 – Hanoi, Vietnam – Part 1
Got up, walked across the street to get a Starbucks. That is the one thing about Vietnam that would be low stars is the food. I have not really enjoyed one thing here so far in terms of food. Almost everything tastes like old greasy oil. The coffee is not good either, in my opinion. But the city 1000 times over makes up for it.
We had a nice breakfast on the rooftop again. (Our hotel breakfasts have been the best meals we have had here) Today, I took a private car to the airport – Sandy booked the wrong flight in error so she is staying in Hanoi one more day. I am on my way to Ho Chi Minh City, she will join me there tomorrow morning.
RECAP OF HANOI
HANOI!! You have captured a piece of my heart. I LOVE your city. It is vibrant, fun, and totally crazy. I would safely say I could never live in your city, but I could certainly spend more time there. The people I met were lovely.
The absolute chaos is somehow very controlled. It was so much more chaotic than Seoul, yet I felt much safer in Hanoi. On Train Street, where the train comes within inches (I saw people standing and touching the train as it whizzed by which is certainly not safe) – I asked about fatalities because one slip and it would be certain death. There are 1000’s of people having food and drinks on the train tracks at night. With a few minutes warning, the shop owners shoo everyone to the sides, and the train comes through carrying passengers and cargo. The answer to my question was ZERO. It is mind-blowing. There is oddly a great system in this chaos. It is a sea of people walking, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses… a complete mishmash of traffic. Jackie Chan told us the paint for cross walks is only for decoration but it means nothing. You have to walk into the crazy intersection with confidence and they will weave around you. And truthfully, it somehow does work very well. Chickens, dogs, and cats all around all roaming free but close to their owners – no leashes.
No toilet paper in toilets here either but it is totally acceptable in an amazing city such as this! Haha..
Most rooftops are used to maximize real estate square footage, no railing up there for many of them. Housing is shared between often 3 generations in a very tiny space. For this reason, many people cook outside on the sidewalk instead of indoor. Jackie Chan told us the drying laundry on everyone’s deck is their national flag… haha.
A totally tattered run-down house in Hanoi costs about $40K U.S. and often they use the first floor as a family business. There must be a million shops in Hanoi, I asked him how they all survive. He said many people are loyal to certain shops so that each shop owner has their loyal customers.
He told me that for a full day tour as a tour guide, he earns approximately $20 Canadian. It is not an easy life for the Vietnamese, but then I suppose it is relative as most global economies are now tough to make ends meet.
Every street is littered with small children’s plastic furniture as the seating for restaurants. They eat dinner for breakfast every day. Sticky rice with meat is for breakfast, white rice for lunch, rice and noodles with meat for dinner. When you walk out of your hotel at 7am, they are all cooking dinner on the streets, the tiny tables and chairs are full of adults all eating together. They put plates of food on the small tables, and everyone shares from them.
Children on fronts and backs of parents on motorbikes everywhere. I saw a mother with I would say a 1-year-old in front of her on a motorbike in fast traffic while talking on the phone with one arm. Many children standing on the motorcycle seats while racing through traffic. There are very few accidents.
Everyone seems to be very happy with their communist system. They all revere Ho Chi Minh, former president of Vietnam to the point it is almost a religion. I mentioned to our tour guide, he is very loyal at such a young age. He kept saying thank you so much, that is such an honor you see that. They are thrilled to serve their government in honor of Ho Chi Minh.
I have to say Hanoi was such a huge, pleasant surprise. Thank you, Hanoi, for such a total 100 experience. Highly recommend! I would certainly crave quiet if I lived here but for this visit, zero complaints, just love for this city.
Ho Chi Minh’s body perfectly preserved for viewing in a park museum type building downtown Hanoi. Pic attached.
Quick recap of the story of Ho Chi Minh’s life is so tragic I must share. The internet does not seem to corroborate this story, but this is how it was told to us. Ho Chi Minh fell in love but wanted to explore the world. At the age of 21, he left Vietnam to do that. He told his girlfriend to please wait for him – he would be gone a long time. He returned 30 years later, and she had waited for him all the years. She was told a lie, that he had died. For this reason, she decided to become a monk. After she became a monk, she learned he was still alive. The way things were, once you decide on a monk life you may not return from that. They lived their entire lives waiting for each other and never being together. Her name meant 2 flowers and his entire life; he had a vase with 2 flowers in his home. A Romeo and Juliet tragic love story.
Boarding now to Ho Chi Minh City. Which was called Saigon previously, but to honor him, they changed the city name to Ho Chi Minh City. More on that after the next city.
Pics posted with permission / even offered by Sandy: :)
Dominoes delivery driver - Jado this is what you would have looked like in your Dominoes delivery days if you lived in Vietnam
Me waiting for the train on Hanoi Train Street
The view for Sandy and I sitting on our rickshaw
Sandy & I at Hanoi Train Street
Sitting at our restaurant at Hanoi Train Street showing the totes we purchased from one of the ladies walking the train tracks
Shoe-shiner shining a pair of Hoka shoes
Waiting for the train, so many shops this is only one tiny section on the street
This kid Lewis from London, 18 yrs old traveling alone - we chatted with this kid for a while.. gotta love kids exploring life
Typical scene every few feet on every street. Families and friends sitting on short kids furniture cooking outside and sharing meals
Sandy and I put loonies on the track to get squashed souvenirs
Almost time for the train
My face got cut off, you can see my blond hair bottom left screen right beside the train!
Again, common view everywhere morning and night
Pets not on leashes in this city and the doggies follow their owners through all the chaos it is unbelievable
Yes, Sandy offered I could post this.. it was just too hilarious - and hey… who even looks this good when they sleep like that!?
On the bamboo boat with a girl from India
So many bamboo boats going through the cave at Halong Bay
Hello Ham! Super guyide!
Beach at Halong Bay
Sunset at Halong Bay
Could not count the number of boats out there
Sunset was incredible
Our friends we met from Germany and chatted with throughout the day (and Ham)
Friends <3
She is out again, anywhere, anytime so lucky
Amazon deliveries in Hanoi
Motorbikes take everything in Hanoi!!
A designer we met, I am wearing her dress but didn’t like it so much - did not buy it
Our motorcycle drivers August and Hi picking us up from our hotel
Trying their traditional coffee with egg yolk cream on top that you have to make a moustache with. we could not drink it, super thick and sticky
The cooks who made our lunch, and Jackie Chan
Riding around the city with my driver August
Ho Chi Minh’s body preserved like this.. amazing!
Ho Chi Minh’s body is held in that building behind us for viewing. Here we are with the Australian family on our motorcycle tour
Jackie Chan told us this is the National Flag of Vietnam, laundry hanging outside on the deck haha
A yummy typical scene on every street corner
This flower was on my plate when I ordered pad Thai. I asked Sandy, this must be edible? she said ‘oh yes, they are not allowed to put it on the plate unless it is!’ So I immediately put 2 petals in my mouth. Then Sandy said, well we ARE in Vietnam so we better ask. So we asked, server said no - you cannot eat them. Haha .. oh well, I didn’t eat any more but it actually was crunchy and it tasted yummy! :)
Our morning yummy breakfasts on our hotel rooftop
