01/14/14 - 01/20/14

Chaotic Hanoi, a city that is over a 1000 years old and is one of the most interesting cities in South East Asia. This fascinating city is known for it's crazy traffic and its captivating Old Quarter. It has the odd distinction of having twice as many motorbikes roaming the twisting streets, than people living in the city! The people were also strangely proud of this odd fact, as I was told this quite often throughout my visit. This may be hard to believe, but after walking the streets and seeing the mass of motorbikes on the roads and parked on the sidewalks, I believe it to be true.

I arrived in Hanoi on the surprisingly comfortable night train from Huẽ and got a taxi to my hostel. I wasn't at my hostel very long, before a friend of mine came to pick me up. Khanh Pham is a pretty, sweet Vietnamese girl, that I had met in Ho Chi Minh City. She has a very engaging smile and such a sweet and innocent disposition that I started to, ironically, call her "bad girl." Obviously, she was not a bad girl at all, but somehow the nickname stuck. Khanh lived in HCM City, but was in Hanoi on a business trip. She was heading back to HCM that afternoon, but since I had just arrived in town, she came by my hostel to take me out to lunch.

Khanh took me to local restaurant with some of her coworkers. The food was excellent and consisted of duck, beef, rice, veggies and various other foods. And in the traditional Asian style, the dishes come out on separate plates and everyone shares the food and picks from whatever dish they would like to eat. I, of course, had a little trouble because I am absolutely terrible at using chopsticks, but I managed and the meal turned out to be a lot of fun.

After lunch, Khanh and I went to a couple of little shops, because she wanted to buy some souvenirs and gifts for her family, before she headed back to HCM. We only spent a few hours together that day, but it was a lot of fun and it help cement our friendship. Khanh and I have become very good friends and we still talk very often and yes, I still call her "bad girl." She didn't like the nickname at first, but now she is fine with it and in return, she has started calling me "bad guy." I know, it's a little silly, but its keeps things light and fun!

After Khanh left, I went off to explore the tangled streets of Hanoi. The Old Quarter consists of many different streets filled with shops and tiny restaurants. One of the most interesting aspects of the Old Quarter is that each streets has specific shops on them. For example, one street is jam-packed with toy stores, while the next street over is full of hardware stores and then the next street may have many shops for women's apparel. Each street seemed to have its own little theme. It was amazing wandering around these little streets and stumbling upon different sights, sounds and smells around every corner.

I spent two days wandering around Hanoi. The twisted warren of streets gives a brief glimpse into the everyday life of the Vietnamese people, from hawkers selling food on the street, to motorbikes whizzing by two, three or even four or more people sitting on one motorbike, to people guiding bikes or carts with mounds and mounds of plastic or other wares that they are trying to sell or are collecting. You will see little old ladies walking around with the traditional circular straw hats with a triangular peak, and at every tiny restaurant, lots of tiny plastics footstools for people to sit on to eat their food. And at one restaurant, I saw the butcher chopping up the whole carcass of a grilled up dog!! And so, yes it is true, they do eat dog in Vietnam! To be fair, only certain types are eaten, the ugly ones, I was told.

Hanoi has a number of tourist spots to see and do, of which I checked out a few of them. The most interesting was the Temple of Literature, which is a nearly 1000 year old temple dedicated to Confucius and later became one of the first Universities in Vietnam. The grounds were very beautiful with well groomed gardens and traditional Vietnamese architecture. Another interesting site was the Hoa Lo Prison Museum. This old prison was where Senator John McCain was held during the Vietnam War. The museum focused on the living conditions of the American pilots held there, and about the Vietnamese struggle with France for independance.

My favorite place in Hanoi, other than the twisted streets of the Old Quarter was Hoan Kiem Lake. The Lake was right on the edge of the Old Quarter and was a beautiful place to stroll and people watch. There was a little temple on an island on the lake that was accessible by red bridge that was brightly lit in the night. There was also the ruins of another old building on another tiny island in the middle of the lake. This island was only accessible by boat though, but it was also beautifully lit up at night. I strolled around this lake many times in the few days I had in Hanoi. It was very peaceful and it was nice to see the Vietnamese people strolling and relaxing on the lake edge.

I was in Hanoi for two days, before I took a three day tour to nearby Halong Bay. I signed up for a two night stay on a boat on the Bay through my hostel. I had a great time on that trip, but I won't be writing about it here. My next entry will focus on that. When I returned from Halong Bay, I spent another day in Hanoi, of which I strolled around the lake and the Old Quarter some more. And it was on the lake, where I met Huong.

In many places that I have traveled, I always run into locals that want to talk with me to practice their English. I had a couple of students approach me in the first few days in Hanoi, however those were only fleeting conversations. Huong was also a student that just wanted to practice her English with me. However, Huong and I got along really well and we ended up spending the afternoon together. She was a sweet girl and was actually pretty good with her English skills. I would have to help her out on occasion, but for the most part, she kept up with me just fine. We met on the Lake side and just started talking. We walked around some and she told me about life in Vietnam. As evening approach she took me to one of the local night markets and we explored the different stalls. Finally, it was getting late and so she had to take a bus back to go home. I sat with her and waited for her bus and she seemed very sad to have to go. I had thought the day wasn't going to be a good one, because earlier in the day I was supposed to meet up with some friends, but do to communication problems we had missed each other, but it turned out to be a great night, thanks to Huong. Like I have said on many occasions, you meet a lot of people when you travel, be it locals or other travelers, and they are usually the ones that make a trip amazing.

I came to Hanoi, not really expected to like it too much, hearing about the crazy traffic, which I found wasn't all that bad and the chaotic atmosphere, which was actually quite charming, but I came away thoroughly enjoying Hanoi. The traffic was much easier to manage than I had thought, as there is a certain organized flow to it, that if you walk slowly and join in the flow, makes it very easy to cross the streets. The atmosphere was chaotic, yes, but also extremely interesting and memorable. And so overall, I believe that Hanoi actually became my favorite city in Vietnam and it was sad to have to leave, but it was time to head into Laos.