After 2, 3 hour flights and a 5 hour stop over in Kuala Lumpur we had arrived in to the unknown, Vietnam! We passed through immigration pretty easily and went to find our driver! We headed into the city towards Hanoi’s old quarter which is where we were staying for the next 3 nights. As we were landing we instantly saw the difference in scenery and it looked so strange! I learnt that the Vietnamese paid taxes on their properties according to the square footage which is why the buildings are so thin and tall and that’s one of the first things we noticed!
We arrived to our hotel, North Hostel in the old quarter of Hanoi and went straight out in search of some food! We were staying down a little side street where locals constantly cooked on gas burners, weirdly; mainly chips, and hung out. We were excited to try the food as I feel its very vibrant and has such depths of flavour! We came across a really quirky looking cafe which we went in for a coffee and to connect to wifi to work out where we were in relation to everything. One of the first things we were confused about was the size of the seats, they are honestly made for 3 year olds! We looked so bizarre sitting on these tiny little stools, a local guy even took a photo of us!! We spent the day wandering around the old quarter and getting used to the crazy roads, crossing them is just walking and hoping that you don’t get hit!
We went to the old prison, Hao Lo, which we had heard was a must see. Most of the prison was actually knocked down for office space and apartments to be built so it was just a small amount of it left which they had turned into a museum. The prison was most recently used for imprisoning Vietnamese who spoke out against the communist government but it was better known as the Hanoi Hilton, this was when the captured American soldiers were taken here during the war but they were treated extremely well with good health care, good food, games and a way better life than what they’d had in the army!
We found a small restaurant serving Pho (noodle soup) and it was amazing! We were given a plate full of fresh herbs, chillies, garlic, limes and bean sprouts to add to the dish as we pleased. We received the Pho which was a beef stock broth with noodles and sliced beef! The flavours were so different to Indonesian food, so light and fresh! We were super excited for the meals to come throughout our trip after this!
We carried on just exploring the old quarter and roaming around before heading back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner! We took a walk around the night markets – open friday to sunday – with the roads blocked off from cars and scooters which didn’t really matter as we were almost ran over 100 times. It was all the usual tat that you find but it was great to walk around amongst the hussle and bussle!
The following morning we headed straight to the Military History Museum which seemed like it would be right up our street! We walked through maybe 6-7 rooms full of interesting facts and photos of the Vietnam war and French Colonist war, we also got to take a walk around all of the original war vehicles. It was pretty surreal learning about the Vietnam War whilst being in the country where it all happened not actually that long a go! We found it quite hard to navigate around the museum as there wasnt any real sequence to how it was set out which was a little difficult when you don’t know the ins and outs of the wars!
Another thing on our bucket list of Hanoi was to find the original Egg Coffee shop, Giang Cafe. The name of the coffee sounds gross as it is but it’s even grosser when you know all of the ingredients – Chicken egg yolk, Vietnamese coffee powder, sweetened condensed milk, butter and cheese. Now, how that is turned in to a famous delicious drink I do not know but Tim thoroughly enjoyed it!! You can have it hot or cold but Tim opted for the hot version and apparently it was just a very sweet milky coffee, you couldn’t taste the egg or cheese.. I’m still not convinced.
That evening we grabbed a taxi to ‘BBQ chicken street’, and yes it was as good as it sounds! The street itself isn’t one you would walk down if you were to pass by, it wasn’t particularly busy or had much happening but its famous for the best bbq chicken! We took a seat in one of the restaurants and ordered some wings, breasts, sweet potatoes and bread with honey! Freshly BBQ’d and smoking hot they brought it over to us as and when it was cooked, the chicken was out of this world, Tim ended up ordering 6 more wings! The sweet potatoes were very different to what we call sweet potatoes but they were delicious and the bread with honey was a perfect side! BBQ chicken street was a winner!!
The following morning we were up bright and early ready for our day trip to Ha Long Bay which we had booked the evening before. The lady in the tour shop was lovely, really helpful and even let me cuddle her baby!
Being one of the most iconic landscapes of Vietnam it was a no brainer and we could not wait to be surrounded by the beautiful islands!
We hopped on a mini bus as around 8.30am and started the 3.5 hour journey to the bay, along the way we stopped off at a ‘service station’ which was just a chance for the driver to get a free meal and for us to buy over priced food which we found quite unnecessary but soon enough we were arriving at Ha Long. Our guide got our tickets and directed us straight to the boat! We were first given a buffet lunch which was super yum, we had fish, pork, shrimp, rice, vegetables and salad which filled up us nicely for the next few hours on the water.
We went on to the top deck of the boat and entered the bay! We were very lucky with the weather as we were pretty certain it would be foggy and not great visibility which is the case a lot of the time but it was so clear! Very overcast but that didn’t bother us at all! We watched the boats from the earlier trips sailing back in and explored the beautiful rocks for around 40 minutes before stopping for the next part of the trip. We were given the option for kayaking or bamboo boating with a local, we opted for the kayaks so we could just freely row around the area and explore the caves! It was just beautiful!
After the kayaking we also got to explore one of the many natural caves formed at Ha Long Bay. We walked up around 100 steps, got to the top and it opened up into this enormous cave! It just went on and on, it was all naturally formed and was incredible! The detailing in the walls and the size was crazy, we could hardly believe that nature had made it!
After around 4 hours on the water in the bay we had to sail back towards the bus to head back to Hanoi. I dont think photos will ever do it justice on just how beautiful it is! There are so many islands which are still so untouched by tourists and its insane!
Our last day in Hanoi we spent chilling out in cafes, researching and waiting to board our overnight train to Hue! We were so excited about the train journey as we booked 2 beds in a 4 bed birth for the 13 hour trip! Neither of us had ever been on an overnight train so the experience was going to be a fun one!
We got on the train, found our cabin and settled in! I felt like we were boarding the Hogwarts Express it was so exciting! We set off and began the long journey ahead, we went prepared with loads of snacks and our favourite Banh Mi’s from Banh Mi Bread which whilst eating we just had a conversation about how good they actually were, honestly the best sandwich/roll i’ve ever eaten ever. We soon fell asleep and woke up 9 hours later to sunlight and beautiful scenery of rice paddies and local houses!
Overall the train trip was amazing! Comfortable, convenient, fun and cheap! Our next stop was the Imperial City of Hue.
tosstravels 