We were excited to arrive in Vietnam as we had both always wanted to visit the country. We arrived in Hanoi where we had to sort and organise our visas on arrival, pay for a SIM card and then find our way out of the airport into the city (oh and also nearly lose my passport). The journey into the city was crazy .. hundreds of motorbikes, crazy drivers and lots of beeping horns.
On our first day we woke up, went straight for breakfast and headed out. We did not realise the train street was basically on the doorstep of our hotel, so after an hour of walking around we finally found it! We sat and had a drink and then watched the train go past in the tiny street we were sat in.
After we walked around the city and explored more, we decided to go to the Hanoi Prison Museum which is a must if you are visiting Hanoi! It was really interesting and gave us a lot more insight into the history of Hanoi and the French colonists.
That evening we headed out into the busy city to try our first Vietnamese food. We shortly discovered that the only places to eat were on tiny little chairs in the street. We chose a ‘restaurant’ that was selling ‘BBQ’ and ‘Hot Pot’, which we found out were traditional Vietnamese dishes. We chose the BBQ dish which we cooked ourselves on a hot stove. We were told the meal was beef and chicken but we soon discovered from the Vietnamese couple next to us that it was in fact pigs intestine. It was actually really yummy but I don’t think I would have eaten it if I knew what it was!
We woke up early the next day again and headed straight into the city for our second day of exploring. We walked around the Hanoi Old Quarter, visited the Kiem Lake and saw the mural street of Hanoi. The city is such an interesting place to just walk around and watch, there is so much constantly going on that you can never get bored. The Kiem Lake was also a really great way to get away from the crazy city and escape from all the noise. That evening we experienced our first ‘Pho’ which is a famous Vietnamese dish, George enjoyed it but I was quite disappointed (only 4 weeks more of eating it though!)
On our final day in Hanoi we explored the city more and it’s culture. We decided to watch a Water Puppet Show at the theatre. This was a very weird experience but quite funny. It gave us more of an insight to the Hanoi culture and history of the city. For a lover of drama it was also interesting to see theatre in a different country.
We both had such a good time in Hanoi. We loved exploring the city (walking 20,000 steps daily!), trying the food, meeting some Vietnamese people and getting to know and understand more about the Hanoi history and culture. It was a great place to start our Vietnam adventure. Next stop… Ha Giang!
Adventure Awaits... 