It's amazing that after an overnight trip to the Laos border, on a almost seamless bus ride, the second you cross in the Vietnam border, all hell can break loose.
Ok, not quiet fair to Vietnam. Hell broke loose the second we stepped off the bus still in Laos to cross the border, in what should have been a tops half hour operation. After dealing with Laos authorities by candlelight in a power outage, a walk up a hill to the Vietnam border in the pouring rain, and the sight of a very distressed border building, things weren't looking up. By the time we got back on the bus three hours after we got off, things really weren't looking up. Then in another three hours when I nearly left my passport behind in the most disgusting roadside lunch stop, I almost had my wits end with Vietnam before I really even got to the country. To top it off, our once calm driver to the Laos border immediately switched into a honking maniac to drive us the what should have been 9 but turned into 12 hour drive the rest of the way to Hanoi, only to be massively scammed by the taxi driver. Did I mention most of this was done in the pouring rain?
So we arrived in Hanoi a little worn out, and expected the worst. However, we managed to be pleasantly surprised, and did enjoy our time there. We spent the day wandering around, soaking in the sights that Hanoi has to offer. There were the quintessential temples-Ngoc Son Temple
A lake-Hoan Kiem Lake
And even a statue in the middle of the lake, dedicated to the giant turtles that once lived there-Thap Run Statue
And then the cultural sights were nearly done. What to watch for in Hanoi is not the charming temples and sights of the old world, as we did in Bangkok or Luang Prabang, but the people...
the random odd corners....
And the traffic...
The place is seriously full of motorbikes, more than ANYWHERE yet. Just stepping outside the hostel was a giant game of chicken, and perfecting the art of the consistent slow walk across, no matter how fast the cars are coming, was the only key to survival.
We luckily had a great recommendation for a restaurant very close to our hostel, and it was so delicious, we made it twice.
New Day was a bustling place, and filled the four narrow floors and back rooms to capacity during lunch and dinner. On good review we opted to get the fixed menu, to fill out empty stomachs. Not long after ordering and receiving my Hanoi Brand beer, we started to receive foods of epic proportions
First there was chicken soup
Then Hanoi style (deep fried) spring rolls,
And finally a rich carmel braised pork, still with the melt in your mouth pork fat prices attached
It was a meal to be remembered
Because there was only two of us, we were limited to only one fixed menu option. So we dragged along some friends for lunch one day to get the grand menu for four
It included-spring rolls, chicken corn soup, sautéed morning glory with garlic, a cucumber and tomato salad, pork patties of some sort, black pepper beef, the obligatory rice bucket, duck a la orange (hello French influence)
And an impressive fruit latter at the end, just in case we weren't stuffed enough as it was. All for a fabulous price of $6 per person, which after nearly a month of spending $1-$3 a meal, seems like an absolute fortune. But it was incredibly delicious, and since the Vietnamese people were licking their plates as much as we were, I feel that saying it was one of the best around is not too far off.
So with the interesting people watching, the delicious food, and even the incredible game of checkers between humans and motorbikes, Hanoi was an interesting start to the race around trip of Vietnam.
