Hanoi - capital of Vietnam

Hanoi and its attractions

Hanoi is completely different to any of the other Asian cities we have experienced. It feels more 'authentic' i.e lots of women with those cone hats wandering round selling fruit from baskets balanced on their shoulders and lots of tailors selling silk and food stalls selling proper Asian cuisine (*ahem, dog, and bull's testicles), but at the same time, its also more modern. I'm not sure I would go back there, it is VERY polluted and busy, but it was an interesting experience. When we first arrived in the taxi and I was looking out of the windows, I got an 80's vibe from it. It reminded me of East Germany; everything drab and concrete. And then Jemma pointed out that it was probably due to the communism. During our time there, we visited the little castle in the middle of the lake and also went to see the embalmed body of Ho Ch Mihn – Vietnam's saviour. That was weird – he looked a lot like a wax work. We had to queue for ages to get in, in a queue that wrapped around the mausoleum, but was constantly moving so it wasn't that bad. We got up at 6.30am because we'd heard the queues were bad and it was a Saturday so lots of locals were there on pilgrimage (we were the only Westerners!). The mausoleum is shut on Mondays and Fridays, which was annoying because it meant we had to come back to Hanoi one extra day especially to visit this.

Uncle Ho

Also in Hanoi, I met a random student whilst I was sitting on a bench by the lake. She approached me and asked if she could practice her English, and 2 hours later she was till there chatting to me. I was quite lucky it wasn't a scam (I later read in the guide book this is a common scam). She took me around the city and bought me some Vietnamese ice cream. She also showed me how to cross the road without getting killed. We met her again when we went to the Ho Chi Minh museum and she took us around that and her friend bought us some Vietnamese drinks which were quite nice. At the end, we had to go back to our hotel to check out and were running out of time so they offered to take us on their scooters. I didn't want to because I was afraid for my life, but in the end we did it and it was quite an exhilarating experience driving around one of the world's busiest cities with the dodgiest traffic system, on the back of a moped. Later, we had to go on mopeds again, this time it was a dodgy taxi driver, and that WAS a near death experience – weaving in and out of street stalls and other motorbikes coming head on.

A busker band in the park

Vietnamese food & Service

Our first time trying Vietnamese street food was a success. We found a little stall on the corner and the woman picked a dish of the menu she thought we'd like and we did. We paid very little for it and both enjoyed the meal. 

Our first meal

The second experience was not so good. We picked a little street stall, but I did something which extremely out of character for me (I have never done this before in my life, I must have been relaxed), I forgot to check the prices. I guess I just assumed it would be like the other stall the previous night. Anyhow, we ordered some food; I ordered sweet and sour chicken and rice and when it came, it was a black bird in a black sauce and just looking at it made me feel sick. It still had its curled claws and beak on and the restaurant owners were all laughing at us. Clearly it wasn't chicken. Neither Jemma or I cared to taste it and just ate the rest of the meal (which for me was just a plate of fried rice) and then when we went to pay, a big grin came across the woman's face as she charged us triple what the meal should have been worth. Whereas in the other place we had paid £1 for a meal, here we were asked for £6. We had no choice but to hand over the money, and when we questioned why it was so high, the woman smiled and said 'you should have asked me the priced first'. So yes, that was our first, and so far, only (fingers crossed last) experience of being scammed in Vietnam and it hasn't really ruined my impression too much, after all it was only £6. After that food experience, we ate every other meal in a New Zealand restaurant around the corner from our hostel. We also ate once at a good restaurant, where I tried 'chicken porridge' which was, ok actually!

What I have found (having been here about 2 weeks now), is that rather than try and scam you in the traditional sense, which is what I'd been expecting, they are very nice to you and over charge you, but because they are so nice you feel guilty and can't complain. Also, I feel a little apprehensive about complaining because I've heard they can get aggressive, so so far, we've just paid that little bit more and all has been splendid, in fact I'd go as far as to say they have been the friendliest nation yet.... just don't want to step over that 'line' we've heard about.

The hostel in Hanoi

The hostel in Hanoi really made our stay there. As I mentioned in another post, the men working there treat us like Kings and did everything they could for us, organising all of our tours and really taking the weight off our feet. It was a really nice experience, service I have never before come across in my life, but as mentioned above, I think there was a price tag to it (we later found out they'd added $10 here, $10 there to the various tours we'd booked when we compared with others on our tour who had booked elsewhere). BUT, for this we got service out of this world and they gave us a room to relax and shower in when we were checked out and waiting for our train/ bus so that was really nice. I'll definitely give them a good rating on Trip Advisor.