Loving the Vietnamese food

Trip Start Aug 24, 2008
1
27
129
Trip End Jul 07, 2009


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Vietnam  ,
Sunday, December 7, 2008

We arrived at the Chinese border after a long train journey. The journey took us through crazy shaped mountains, rocks and fields of rice. At the border there was a pretty colonial building and an arch. Getting through the border was pretty straight forward and then we were in Vietnam. The instant we stepped over the border the weather got warmer. We shared a taxi to the station with a British couple we met. We had been in the car for a while, passing European style colourful buildings with balconies (very unlike China), when we started to wonder where the driver was taking us. He stopped at a random house and us that there were no trains to Hanoi but luckily his friend had a minibus and could drive us there for $15 each. How convenient. We of course did not trust him in the slightest but he refused to take us to the station and we were in the middle of a village,leaving us no option but to take his minibus. We bargained him down to $10 each and then refused to pay half the taxi fare because he hadn't taken us the the station. Five minutes into Vietnam and we had already been conned! We drove through beautiful mountains on the way to Hanoi, and arrived in the old quarter. We checked into the hotel, had some showers, some dinner, explored the night market and then got some sleep.

The following day David and I gorged on free breakfast (banana pancakes) and then went exploring. We went down to Hoan Kiem Lake and went across to the temple in the middle of it where we saw an embalmed giant tortoise and a Vietnamese pop group shooting a music video. We had some tasty Vietnamese food for lunch and then  went to book some trips for the next few days. In the evening we went to the theatre to see the Water Puppetry, basically a puppet show on water which was quite funny,especially as sometimes the puppets didn't do what they were supposed to! For dinner we had more delicious Vietnamese food; I had stir fried shrimps and vegetables and we shared the Vietnamese speciality - spring rolls.

Today we booked more trips for the next few days and then went down to the Cathedral, which is in a very French-looking area so we felt like we had wandered into Europe. There were all sorts of French cafes and apartments with balconies. We had lunch in a restaurant where we sat in cyclos (a type of bike) and then took an actual cyclo to the Temple of Literature. We were totally ripped off for our cyclo ride where we were charged too much and the driver conveniently had no change (neither did we). Lesson learned, agree on price beforehand. We walked around the temple and looked at the drum and the statues and then went back to the French area for some Vietnamese coffee and some cheese for the first time in 3 months (China was not big on cheese). After this we packed our bags and then went for yet more delicious Vietnamese food. I had sesame shrimps (delicious) and David had pork in fish sauce (also delicious). We are loving the food!

Hanoi is a bit crazy, especially trying to dodge the motorbikes when crossing the road. There seems to be one rule - drive where you want. We have just walk out in front of these bikes and it scares me every time. There is no room on the pavement due to parked bikes so we have to walk in the road and I am constantly thinking someone is going to hit us. However it is much more relaxed and clean than China, and the people seem very friendly.

Tomorrow we are going to Halong Bay.
Slideshow Print this entry Hanoi hotels