WE ARE OFF THE BUS! FINALLY! (Spoiler Alert: less than a week later we will be on another one. #budgetProblems).
Yes! We are off the bus and safe and sound in Hanoi, our first stop in Vietnam. Walking off the bus after a grueling 24+ hours was a strong reminder of our 33 year old bodies as every bone cracked and ached while trying to stand in a normal position. Toto, we aren’t 22 anymore.
Not wanting to waste anymore time in the vicinity of buses, we hobbled over to another lost couple and asked if they wanted to share a ride into Old Town. Our cab driver told us our car could fit five so when another solo traveler asked if he could tag along we figured why not? Wrong.
The five of us piled into the back of his Kia with all of our bags. We must have looked like a traveling pack of clowns when we all exited the overpriced metered ride. 10 KM ended up costing us 500,000 Dong ($22!). Once again I was elected to confront the driver and reject the outrageous price. We settled on $15, or 70,000 dong per person. Which by the way, is still an insanely high price. Our suggestion, take Uber! Its reliable, cheap (we are talking around $1/$2 max), and no bargaining necessary. Meter, schmeter.
Hanoi hit us hard the second we ventured into the old quarter. I’m talking Tyson vs Holyfield, and not the new school, bite your ear off Tyson. We’re talking old school “I’ll end your life” Mike Tyson. (PS. I don’t know what got me on this whole analogy. I don’t even watch fights). We were desperate for a shower and showed up to our hotel, Camel City, beat up and defeated. Defeat turned into complete desperation when the sweet Vietnamese man told us they regretfully didn’t have a room for us (even though we had a confirmation) and said he rebooked us at another hotel across the street. Noticing a trend here? Why does this seem to always happen to us? Why do we even take the time to book in advance?
Walking through the old quarter of Hanoi at 10pm on a Friday night with all of your luggage, after a twenty-four hour bus ride, and an equally uncomfortable cab ride might be the definition of torture…but we survived. And 30+ hours after leaving Luang Prabang, we were finally settled into our dungeon (read: hotel room) and passed out. I didn’t eat dinner. Enough said.
Fully rested (although waking up at 7:00am in a room without any natural light is a feat in and of itself) we finally set out to explore this quaint city. And we started the only way possible, with a cup of cà phi trứng, also known as egg coffee. Gross? Yeah I thought so too, but our good friend Karia swore it was worth it and that was good enough for us.
We found our way to Cafe Giang, passing several wedding photoshoots along the way (so fun!), and climbed the tiny stairs to the patio level and ordered two hot egg coffees (they are also served cold if you prefer but the waiter told us hot was the better option). The story goes that the owner of Cafe Giang developed this alternative method for making coffee during a time when milk was scarce in Vietnam by replacing it with egg yolk, specifically from chicken eggs. Other ingredients include coffee powder, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and strangely, cheese. It was delicious. Thank you again, Karia for the awesome rec! We are now five pounds heavier 😃.
Everyday from then on started with an egg coffee. Some days we would venture out to try different cafes, but we always came back to Cafe Giang. After getting our coffee (or perhaps dessert) fix, we headed out to explore Hanoi by foot (and sometimes uber). We visited the first university in Hanoi, also known as The Temple of Literature, and even got to witness a graduation (we think).
We followed Anthony Bourdain’s footsteps and had some of the best Banh Cuon (rolled noodles) at Bahn Cuon Gia Truyen. We discovered our new favorite Vietnamese dish, Bun Cha, and pretty much found a way to eat it at least once a day. Our favorite spot for Bun Cha was Bun Cha 34 and Bun Cha 82, and the best part? This mouth watering lunch for two will only set you back 70,000 Dong ($3.00).
Other than eating and drinking our way through Hanoi, we also squeezed in a couple work days at Bluebird’s Nest Cafe, a great spot with a beautiful roof deck and reliable wifi that attracts a lot of the expat community. Funny enough, what kept us coming back to this charming spot was once again, food related. Shocking, I know. They had this incredible coconut coffee drink (read: dessert) that I ended up having three days in a row. I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL.
The weather took a turn for the worse and we experienced a week of overcast, without ever seeing the sun (still, better than being underwater in SF 😉). One of the guys working at our hotel told us that this weather dates back to an old Vietnamese fable. It’s believed that a long, long time ago, a man and wife were married right before the man was sent off to battle. He was gone for so long, and with no idea of when he would return, the wife decided to make clothes for him to keep him warm during the cold months. As soon as she finished, he finally returned home from battle and the sun came out, making it impossible for him to wear his new clothes. The wife prayed for cloudy weather so her husband could enjoy all the work she put into his new clothes and voila that’s why the month of February is said to be cloudy. Strange story? We think so. But it was fun listening to everyone in the hotel trying to piece it together for us.
Some other Hanoi highlights included indulging in various types of milk desserts, watching powerwheel traffic jams around the lake, and splurging one night ($15) at a bar after four glasses of wine (Shiva), five beers (Brian) and coming up with a million and one ways we could fund our travels indefinitely.
My instant hangover wasn’t enough to talk me into going back home, so instead, we decided to try out one of the infamous “beer corners” to continue the debauchery. PS. The night concluded in smoking way too much shisha and maybe even indulging in a balloon…or two. We will leave it at that.
Hanoi really felt like an Asian Paris. It’s no wonder too, that this capital city still holds resemblance to France, having been twice occupied.
The next morning we decided to book an overnight train up north and check out the rice fields of Sapa. Forty dollars later we were packing our bags, ready to head out for our first train experience in Vietnam!
S+B
