Yesterday, I woke up at 3:30am in order to give myself plenty of time to cook breakfast, shower, finish packing and cleaning out the last of my apartment. I dropped off my keys to the guanli (doorman) and hopped in a taxi. From entering the taxi to arriving at my gate, it took 40 minutes. I love flying out of Kaohsiung!
I arrived at Hanoi International Airport, and was shocked at how small it was. I was able to walk right up to immigration, and didn't even have to fill out an arrival card. Luckily, since the airport was so small, I was able to spot Ali, my travel partner who had flown in from Denver to meet me, quite easily. The driver we had arranged wasn't there when we got through customs, so we got some Vietnamese coffee to kill some time until he arrived.
My initial impression driving away from the airport and on the highway was it looked just like Thailand. As we approached the Old Quarter, however, the view became a new experience for me. The architecture has a very unique style, and the streets became increasingly chaotic as we drove deeper into the Old Quarter. I am used to crazy Asian traffic with scooters darting around every which way, but even I am intimidated by the traffic here. Unfortunately, our driver didn't handle the traffic so well and hit and knocked over a motorcyclist! The motorcyclist wasn't injured, but was quite angry. As our driver tried to pull over, the motorcyclist started pounding on the window, thinking our driver was going to flee. The driver pulled over, got out of the taxi, helped upright the motorcycle, and consoled the motorcyclist. Perhaps there was also an exchange of cash? For we were moving again within a minute. When we got to the hotel, the first thing I saw was Jackie, my other travel companion who had arrived a day earlier, getting ready to return her bicycle she had rented. Perfect timing!
We got checked in, and headed towards the Hoan Kiem Lake, which we slowly meandered around. It was very peaceful and beautiful, despite the chaos enveloping the lake due to the crazy traffic on the encircling roads. We looped back in time to catch a water puppet show we had bought tickets for, which was highly entertaining. There were some very funny acts, but we were all tired so we were glad when it didn't last too long. We went back to the hotel and mustered enough energy to go out for the legendary bia hoi. Bia hoi is a beer that is made fresh every day, so it has no preservatives. The best part is it's only 5,000 VND, the equivalent of about 0.25 USD. We found a spot on the street, where we were given plastic stools to sit on while enjoying the beer, which surprisngly wasn't bad! After one drink, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.
This morning, Friday morning, we got up and had breakfast. We changed rooms so the 3 of us could be together, and discussed plans for when we return from Sapa. We unfortunately spent a lot of time discussing the plan, and didn't leave the hotel until after noon, despite an early start. We meandered our way (very slowly) to the Temple of Literature. We stopped to arrange a tour to Tam Coc on the way, and had some delicious street food. (The food is so amazing here! Will definitely be taking a cooking class.) We made it to the temple, which was nice, then relaxed at a cafe before walking back to the hotel. Due to our very slow meandering, it was evening by the time we returned. We got some dinner down the street and checked out the weekend market, which was quite crowded, which is par for the course for Asian markets.
All in all, I like Hanoi, but feel like the two days here was enough. I am very excited for the next five days, as we have planned Ha Long, Sapa, and Tam Coc, all known for stunning scenery. Definitely looking forward to escaping city life for a bit!
