Hanoi - Buzzing With Amazing Street Food

After spending the past few weeks in nature or only smaller towns, it was time to hit Hanoi, Vietnam's vibrant capital. We stayed in a small Airbnb right in the middle of the buzzing and historic Old Quarter, which is the beating heart of the city.

However, once we arrived in the late afternoon, we spent our first evening just outside the Old Quarter - on Train Street. Train Street is a narrow alley with train tracks running right through apartment blocks and countless cafes. A few times a day, an actual train is still driving through the street, literally centimeters away from people sitting at their cafe tables.

We picked a spot on the 2nd floor with some smoothies and watched the train pass by - it was quite spectacular to see a train this up-close. Afterwards, we took the opportunity and walked on the tracks and took a few quite amazing pictures and videos.

The next day, we took it rather easy as the weather was not ideal (drizzling for most of the day). Nonetheless, we strolled through and explored life in the Old Quarter. What striked us the most was the sheer amount of little street stalls selling all kinds of food that we had and still have no idea what they were. We also went to a little local cafe to try egg coffee that originated here in Hanoi - it’s actually quite nice! In the afternoon, we opted to take a Free Walking Tour through the Old Quarter to learn more about the history of this area and Vietnam customs and traditions. We also visited the wet and dry market (i.e. alive/dead animals), which made us realise that the standard of animal welfare in Europe is definitely higher.

On our second and last full day in Hanoi, we visited the Government area, i.e. the mausoleum of Ho Chi Min (the guy who beat the Americans and reunited Vietnam), the parliament, etc. As the weather was again not quite on our side, we also made a stop at the well-known, even if quite touristy, NoteCafe, before opting to learn more about the various dishes we saw over the last two days by going on a Free Street Food Tour (we sampled own-rolled spring rolls, dry Pho, bamboo sticky rice, fermented pork, and some desert that I forgot).

That wrapped up a good couple of days in Hanoi. The weather wasn't great (bit wet and cold) and we hope that our next stop, the Ha Giang Loop, will be a bit more pleasantRead more