Hồ Khẩu

And so the next leg of our journey begins in Vietnam! Before we left for Asia, we both agreed somewhere along the way we’d treat ourselves to a little bit of luxury. As it turns out this would be in Hanoi so we checked in to a rather fancy 5-star hotel with a rooftop infinity pool. For a five star hotel, it was not expensive at all as 1- it's in Vietnam and 2- hotel costs are below usual rates due to Vietnam's recent re-opening. The hotel was gold plated everywhere including the exterior. The room was lovely and the bathroom was something else with a gold plated toilet, bath and even basin - pretty nice although a little garish!

So far Hanoi looks to be a busy place with scooters absolutely everywhere and cars honking 24/7. To be honest the roads are just ridiculous and good luck trying to cross the road, you literally have take one look and go. A tip is to step out and keep walking in a straight line and never dodge traffic or change pace allowing the motorbikes to weave around you as you cross.

We wandered the streets of Hanoi, stopping for a mid afternoon lunch to sample the Vietnamese cuisine Pho-Bo. Very yummy! We then went to the famous train street consisting of shops, bars and restaurants situated literally on the side of a train track. Although we didn't see the train, at its sight shop keepers uplift their items laid across the tracks and everyone scrambles to the side making way for the train. We suspect it would be chaos - what health and safety?

Later on we returned to the hotel to get on top of upcoming bookings before making our way to the Old Quarter, Hanoi’s area for night life. We heard the city has a slow start but ramps up in the evening and so far so true. We took one scooter taxi between us, both of us pillions this time, and what an experience that was! We thought Bangkok was bad enough but Hanoi is something else as even we wouldn’t ride here. The Old Quarter was all hustle and bustle along its narrow streets with music, performances and bars at every sight and lots of people sitting outside on plastic chairs enjoying food and drink. We enjoyed some happy hour drinks before finally calling it a night (or morning).Baca selengkapnya