Hanoi
We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam by plane from Kunming. We didn’t fancy the road trip which could take 12 hours and the trains are slow. Plus flights are cheap in this part of the world.
Hanoi is the first place that we encountered real heat and humidity. Yunnan in China was warm but Hanoi was experiencing a bit of a mini heat wave for the time of year with temperatures around 30 and high humidity.
Our hotel was right in the middle of the old quarter of Hanoi. The old quarter area is really cool, loads of tiny streets with shops, food stalls and restaurants. And lots of westerners… We hadn’t really seen that many westerners on our whole trip so far so suddenly finding that some bars and restaurants were full of them seemed a bit strange for a while.
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and home to over 2 million motorbikes and mopeds. It’s crazy, at rush hour you stand at a junction and it’s like a river of traffic coming from all directions. There’s very few pedestrian crossings and the traffic rarely stops anyway. You get motorbikes going the wrong way up streets, on pavements and generally doing anything they feel like to get to their destination. Crossing the road takes a bit of getting used to. Basically you step out and walk steadily bu purposefully toward the other side. The flow of traffic will part and avoid you but if you hesitate or reverse direction you could be in trouble. You have to trust them to avoid you, which they do. The other thing you notice about traffic in Hanoi (and in Vietnam as a whole) is the use of the horn. Essentially they use the horn as a way to say “I’m coming through, watch out”. So at very junction or build up of traffic everyone beeps like made as they of through. This gets very noisy and quite disorientating as you cross the street (you can’t really tell where all the horns are coming from). Here’s a video to show the craziness of the traffic.
There are pavements in Hanoi but they aren’t much use to pedestrians. Generally they are used for motorbike parking and as extensions to homes and shops. All the locals are out the front of their houses and shops and there are many restaurants which are just tiny plastic chairs and stools outside a house. We had some amazing meals sitting at these little street stalls watching the crazy traffic go by.
The food is great in Hanoi. Lots of street food, BBQ, noodles and also some amazing French restaurants. Our best meals were street food or in tiny local restaurants which are generally not frequented by tourists.
In the centre of Hanoi is a lake, Hoan Kiem which is where everyone goes to cool off, do their exercises or for the young people sit with their girl/boyfriend. We spent a few evenings sitting by the lakeside watching the locals doing their thing. One night we met some guys who were fishing in the lake. After some broken conversation and smoking cigarettes they offered Em a go at fishing. Em proceeds to catch one of the smallest fish I’ve seen 
It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later we found out that it’s illegal to fish in the lakes in Hanoi!
We tried out the local transportation of cyclo which is a bicycle with a very narrow seat for two on the front. It’s a very cheap and peaceful way to get round town and our driver was really nice. The cyclo driver is a dying breed in Vietnam though as taxis and motorbikes are quicker. I had a ride on the back of our hotel security guards motorbike one day. He took me to the post office to ship home some cold weather clothes and took me for a spin around the lake which is one of the busier parts of town. Once you’re in the traffic and going with it you get a better view of how they survive without hitting each other. It’s actually pretty peaceful when you’re in the flow, and it just seems to work (only just, you’re never more than a foot from another bike).
We went to see the water puppets show one day. This is a traditional form of entertainment that used to take place in the rice fields in the countryside. It involves a big pool of water with a stage set and puppeteers who are hidden work the puppets who appear to float on the water. The music and singing is amazing!
We did a day trip to a place in the countryside about an hour from Hanoi called Cam Toc. This area is full of limestone karst mountains and is a bit like Halong Bay on land (we didn’t do Halong Bay as the weather wasn’t good enough). Cam Toc has the most incredible scenery! We cycled 12kms through the middle of the mountains past tiny hamlets and farms. Between the karst mountains are paddy fields and the deep green everywhere is amazing with the mountains popping up everywhere. After the cycling we had lunch and boarded an open sampan rowing boat to go along a river that cuts through the mountains.
The river is amazing; it winds through the limestone scenery with rice paddies on either side. It also goes through three big cave tunnels along the way. Two ladies were on the boat with us, one rowing (often rowing with her feet!) while the other basically joked the whole way. They were great fun and made the trip for us as we had a great laugh! The video below should give you a flavor of the scenery.
Hanoi has a bit of a curfew in place (as does a lot of Vietnam). Very little stays open beyond midnight and the streets suddenly empty late at night. This is a good thing as the noise of the traffic is incessant otherwise and will wake you up early anyway. So we didn’t have many late nights but with the heat and walking the streets we were pretty tired most days anyway.
We really liked Hanoi. We planned four nights there but actually stayed for six. It’s a really cool place with a very local and traditional feel still. Partly this is due to the old quarter having such narrow streets that they can’t modernise it too much but mainly I think the street life makes it for me. I love the fact that try live their lives on the streets and pavements, it means people are out and about, kids are playing and they eat outdoors. It also means tries a great feeling of social community everywhere. Of course the fact that the Vietnamese people are so welcoming and friendly in Hanoi makes a big difference too!