Eating My Way Through Hanoi!

Hanoi..where do I start?! This small but bustling city has been a base for me for the better part of 11 or so days..in between my excursions to Halong Bay and Sapa ...but I never really had a chance to explore the city up until the last three days. I've been staying at the lovely Art Hotel in the old town for $33 a night with the staff feeling like my family.

My first full day here I did a street food tour and managed to connect with Noreen from NY, who I had met in Hoi An, and convinced her to join me. We were joined by two siblings, the Loacker (yes, the German wafer company) siblings. We tasted many scrumptious foods: bun bo, cha ca, bun cha, egg coffee and a few others. The four of us were such chatter boxes, especially over sunflower seeds, that our guide has to reign is in from time to time.

What I still can't get over in Hanoi is the amount of stuff people load on their bicycles and how they manage to balance and navigate the nonstop honking traffic!! My second full day here some days later, I checked off the museum circuit I wanted to do. First up was the Women's Museum. Life is extremely tough for some of the women here.  They leave their families in other towns to come to Hanoi to work. Some consist of starting their day at 2am to go to the market to buy materials they want to sell in the city on bikes. Their day doesn't end until 5-7pm only to start again at 2am the next day. The Ho Chi Ming Mausoleum was next. The Mausoleum experience was spiritually weird for me. Why preserve a body if the man wanted to be cremated? Next up was the Temple of Literature and while it demonstrated historical architecture, I didn't find it to be a highlight. Lastly, I went to the Hoa Lo prison, which has nothing on Alcatraz (obviously) but it was strange to see photos of John McCain being treated for his war wounds. I would say the prison is a worthy visit if you're into history of that sort.

The latter part of my time in Hanoi was spent just taking the town in, being in the present and saying no to motorbike taxi offers at every corner. Many people have asked if traveling solo is hard or they wonder how I do it. While it may sound daunting or intimidating, it's really not. I find that you observe a lot more solo and quite honestly, you make friends all the time, or at least I have. People see you traveling alone and they just want to help you or they want to talk to you. Most people are either fascinated by the fact that you're traveling solo or they think you're nuts and by default, fascinated hence it's often a conversation starter. This couldn't have been more true my first evening in Hanoi when I sat down for a bowl of bun bo for dinner, this couple, Jenny and Michael from Canada immediately started talking to me. They have a daughter who wants to start traveling solo.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in both Cambodia and Vietnam. I still have a tough time wrapping my mind at how much they can make do with what they have. People here have been very kind to me and just making sure I am ok. For example, when I went to take the overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa, Art Hotel insisted on sending their bellboy to accompany me. Once we arrived, he switched my voucher for a ticket and walked me to my cabin bed. It wasn't necessary but definitely appreciated!  I'm constantly saying thank you but I did have an American moment. I was at a cafe in Hoi An, in my bliss, when this Chinese man was saying loudly to the waitress that he didn't want sugar in his coffee. She kept telling him it's not sugar, it's condensed milk. They didn't understand each other and his voice kept getting louder as his posse laughed. I couldn't stand it anymore so I walked over and said to him in Chinese, "This is not sugar, it's condensed milk, do you want condensed milk or not?" He said no, I relayed it to the waitress in English. Done. I'm really not a fan of loud voices in my bliss.

I ended my time in Vietnam much like how I did in Colombia. A spa visit! For $100, you get massage, scrub, lotus bath, facial and a hearty meal of pho after. They send you back to your hotel or wherever in a taxi with a gift. La Siesta Spa, I wish I can take you with me!

Traveling is a constant learning experience for me and it's what I crave. I love conversations with folks from other countries. I love discovering new places and outlooks. My eyes behind the camera is inspired by it. It's wanderlust.

Some favorite quotes and moments:

"This is more expensive than that fake Prada?" - with Noreen shopping for a luggage bag to bring her shopping back to NY.

Martin (refer to Halong bay post) would ponder, "Why didn't they produce another Concorde?" Michael would answer without skipping a beat, "The Americans wouldn't buy it, no offense Yi." None taken.

Me: "how much?" Sales lady, "$200,000 vnd." Me: "200?! They sell this to me for 150 down the street." Sales lady, "ok, 130!"

Michael in Halong Bay, "where are you going?" His wife, "I'm being nosy, you fool." As she goes to check out the captain's cabin since we've been stuck in fog for two hours.

"You want to believe Indurain didn't dope because you're Spanish!" Said Barcelona Spaniard to Madrid.

Loacker brother, "you're doing this wrong, you're suppose to litter not put it in the tray!" As he points to the street full of sunflower seed shells giggling at me.

Key observation: I see many couples traveling together on this trip but they're not talking to each other. You wonder if they're happy?

Cambodia is not on my list to go back to but Vietnam just might be. Now that I've mastered crossing the streets in wild honking traffic, though not without incident (nearly got taken out twice in Hoi An and nearly lost my left arm twice in Hanoi), I shouldn't let that go to waste! Oh, before I forget, tip for Hanoi, the ANZ bank by the lake let's you withdraw $5,000,000 vnd ($238 US) at a time vs. $2,000,000 in all other ATMs in Vietnam. Include the ATM fees and the bank fees, withdrawing can get expensive! So, with that, until next time, Vietnam!