It was a long journey, but we made it. For some reason we were not able to check into our flight online or at the kiosk, but the travel agent couldn’t find anything wrong, so she printed our boarding passes, and we were off, me slightly skeptical and definitely wondering at what point something was going to go wrong.
But then we got on our first flight to Chicago with no issues. And then came the big one, 12 and a half hours from Chicago to Tokyo. I had prepared myself for this flight. I bought an amazing travel pillow. And I bought “LegsUp” to allow me to bend my knees and take some pressure off my lower back for the flight. While I can’t pretend I was comfortable, I was way better than I would have been otherwise. The Tylenol PM probably helped with that too.
After our layover in Tokyo, we had one final leg, a 6 hour flight to Hanoi. By this point, we were tired and a bit frazzled, and we still had to figure out our Visa On Arrival. We had 2 options for our Vietnam visas – spend a lot of money for the peace of mind of getting our actual visa before going, or do “Visa on Arrival”, going through a company online to get an approval letter, fill out forms, take a couple pictures, and then wait in line at the airport and pay the stamping fee. Being the frugal people we are, we went with the cheaper option. No regrets! We had a few moments that caused stress (flight agents asking about whether or not we had a Visa), but everything ended up going smoothly!
We got to Hanoi at around midnight… on a Friday night… to our house right down an alley from Beer Corner in Old Quarter. It was madness. Pure, beautiful chaos. Unfortunately we were too tired to take part in it, so we just walked down the street, bought a few beers (FIVE beers for TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS. I love this country), and came back to the house to unwind and catch up on sleep. As we were unlocking our door, a lady was lowering a basket of food to someone else that nearly hit Anthony in the head. Made me smile.
Our house is charming. I love the decor, and the location seriously cannot be beat. Even though we are right next to Beer Corner, you could barely hear the loud music and people and honking from inside.
My plan of sleeping off the jet lag didn’t work, as I was wide awake by 5:15am. Once Anthony woke up, we headed out to walk around Hanoi and drink some Vietnamese coffee. We instantly learned that pedestrians apparently do not have the right of way here. There are scooters EVERYWHERE, never ending, and they do NOT stop for you. It was a real-life game of frogger every time we had to cross a street, but we figured out pretty quickly how to manage.
After breakfast, we went to the Hoa Lo prison, aka “Hanoi Hilton” where American POWs, including John McCain, were held during the Vietnam War. While most of the prison has been demolished, the parts that remain have been turned into a museum.
We were exhausted, so we decided to sit down in a park and people watch for awhile. We watched people zoom by on their motorbikes, carry heavy baskets on a pole thrown over their shoulder, push bicycles topped with insane amounts of goods, and sit on small stools, drinking, eating, cooking, or doing their own people watching.
After we ate some lunch, we decided a nap was necessary. We woke up somewhat refreshed and decided to walk around Old Quarter and do some shopping and exploring.
We headed down to Hoan Kiem Lake, and walked all the way around with a few detours. The atmosphere was so vibrant and fun.
People were playing games.
Kids were in little jeeps or on hoverboards or rollerblades.
Guys were working out?
There were some monuments and pagodas and bridges to be seen.
After making our way around the lake, we went and got some dinner at a restaurant with Vietnamese “street food” style food. Vietnam is known for its street food. A lot of it smells amazing, and a lot of it looks rather terrifying to be honest. As a vegetarian, I haven’t tried any of the actual street food places because I’m not sure how to tell if there is anything vegetarian for me, and there is too much of a language barrier for me to figure it out by asking. But I knew from research that the restaurant we went to would have options for me.
I was SUPER excited when our server explained to us how to eat our meals. Everywhere else just put a bunch of stuff in front of us, and if we asked how we were supposed to eat or drink it, they would just kind of point at some things and then walk away.
We stuffed our faces and then went back to the lake for some evening shots.
We then battled the absolute MADNESS of Hanoi street life to see the night market.
And now I am sitting here typing this up before we venture back out for the nightlife.
Hanoi is a crazy, crazy city with the most active street life I have seen in any of my travels thus far. I can’t imagine trying to live in a city like this, but it sure is fun to visit.