After a month in Thailand, I made my way to Vietnam for a nine-day adventure. I started in north Vietnam, flying into Hanoi.
Having read plenty about taxi scams, especially from the airport, I had coordinated a pickup with my hostel. On the drive into the city, there were vendors selling flowers on the side of the road. Motorbikes were everywhere; they outnumbered cars three to one, and were VERY courageous drivers.
My first hostel was in the Old Quarter. When the taxi stopped, I swear it was in the middle of the busiest/smallest intersection I had seen yet. A contact from the hostel ran out to meet me and bring me inside - I must’ve looked like their typical discombobulated backpacker standing there with no clue where I was or how this organized chaos around me was functioning.
I settled in and the next morning jumped on the free walking tour. The first note by the tour guide was the most important: walk with confidence, the cars and bikes will work around you. The traffic in Vietnam is still top of mind for me; as a city dweller myself, I’m used to crazy Bostonians driving and paying no mind to pedestrians. But this was a whole new level of chaos; sidewalks were either nonexistent or cluttered with vendors, forcing you to walk in the street. There were crosswalks but no signals, so vehicles always took the right of way. I took what the guide said to heart and walked like I owned the city, which ended up in a few close calls but thankfully no injuries.
The walking tour took us around for a few hours and eventually ended at a famous spot for egg coffee, a Vietnamese beverage that was created when milk was hard to come by. The shop was at the end of a small alleyway that I would’ve walked past unless someone had told me about it (a theme that would continue through the rest of my time in Vietnam). Our group of nine sat on short stools at a small table in the back, exchanging travel stories.
I met some fun people on the tour, including a Brit named Henrietta who was a long-term solo traveler. We adventured the next day to the botanical gardens, where we had some beautiful moments with some locals. We were watching a mom and her young daughter feed fish, when the little girl offered us bread to do the same. They didn’t speak English but the little girl was so proud of herself and we took turns throwing bread pieces into the fountain. Then a very outgoing little boy came up to let us know we had “cool faces” and that he really liked us. On our walk back to the hostel, we thought we had stumbled onto a wedding because everyone was so dressed up and taking photos with the flowers I had seen being sold on the side of the road. Turns out, those flowers bloom once a year and Vietnam goes nuts for them. It was so fun to see this local event. They were all small moments, but they collectively made our day.
While in Hanoi, I also stumbled across the folks from Tahoe who I had met in Chiang Mai. We met up at their hostel and had a fun night exploring the city before they left the next morning. Every weekend, Hanoi shuts down some of the main drag to have big parties - we watched and danced to a concert that was happening (FYI the culture in Vietnam is to be very subtle in dancing, unlike ours) and then had some dinner at a restaurant on the sidewalk. In Vietnam, you’ll see a lot of small chairs and tables on the sidewalks/streets - the restaurants will expand a bit and seat as many people as they can before the police come around to shut them down and make them shrink back to their designated size. The ones with plastic chairs are the ones that often get in the most trouble; I was told that you can gauge how nice a restaurant is by the size of its chairs. Smaller plastic ones are not as nice as the restaurants with regular size wooden chairs. In any case, it was a lot of fun to see some familiar faces and meet more new friends!
I later moved to another hostel because I was meeting my friend Molly, who was on her own solo adventure for a week. We had scheduled a food tour for the night she arrived, in an effort to get acclimated to Vietnamese food. Before I left for my trip, a couple friends of mine (hey Luke and Lauren!) told me that “You haven’t really experienced Vietnam until you’ve sh** your pants.” I was determined to love Vietnam and not let that happen.
The food tour was amazing. We were with a small group of Americans, led by a local guide named Hana. We ate so much delicious food and had some great laughs. Our guide took us to places which, from the outside, looked like sketchy alleyways or dilapidated buildings but turned out to have the yummiest food which she assured us would be okay for our Western stomach sensitivities. We stopped at an illegal sidewalk spot (they paid off the polices) where we had rice wine and brave souls including Molly tried Balut, which is an egg with a developing bird embryo - a dish our guide said she would have regularly growing up. I drew the line at bugs; I couldn’t handle this one but Molly took it like a champ. We ended the night with desserts and egg coffee, then made our way through the night market back to the hostel.
Molly and I hit pause on Hanoi for a two-day cruise in Ha Long Bay. We were picked up by a bus and driven a few hours to a pier, where we hopped on a speed boat that took our group to our boat for the night. It looked like a jungle cruise boat, with about 8-10 rooms. We stayed in a room that was nicer than most of the hostels I’ve been in on this trip. We kayaked to see hidden caves and monkeys on cliffs. We swam in the bay before heading back to the boat where we helped make spring rolls and enjoyed happy hour, followed by a several-course dinner.
The next day, we took a tour of a local cave system on Cat Ba Island that served as a hospital for the locals during the war, which was really powerful. We headed back to the boat, took in the views of the bay for a while, then headed back to Hanoi. For anyone heading to Ha Long Bay, make sure you stay at least a night - it’s a long way to go for just a few hours of exploring. We loved our cruise and would highly recommend it! Our guide also gave us great recommendations for pho back in the city; we waited in line, ordered a couple things even though we weren’t sure what they meant, and enjoyed a last meal on small plastic chairs together.
The next day, Molly and I parted ways; she continued on her adventure to Cambodia while I headed to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). After two months on my own, it was so amazing to hug on a friend who knew me and my life. There’s something to be said about meeting people from all over the world, but there’s nothing that can replace the joy of a best friend finding you halfway across the globe. Thank you Molly!!!
Stay tuned for a recap of the rest of Vietnam...
