Ha Noi, Vietnam

As Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi are the 2 biggest cities in Vietnam, I wanted to find out what Hanoi has to offer while I was making my way up North from HCMC (read) and a stopover in Lang Co for 3 days where I've pre-purchased a voucher to stay at the Angsana resort early on during the pandemic where they were selling cheap vouchers to raise cash (read).

Upon my arrival, I wanted to take Grab to my hotel as it didn't seem to have any reliable public transport options, I went up to the information counter and they offered a similarly priced service, and after I checked the Grab pricing and comparing to theirs, I took the offer as it was a bit more convenient as they will arrange everything for me. After making the payment at the counter, he called the driver who promptly arrive at the pickup area and he escorted me to the car. It was a fairly old car and not very well maintained or as I would assume up to standard compared to a grab car if they have a limit on the age of the vehicle. After arriving at my hotel and checking in, I was looking for food as I had an early departure and was getting past mid noon by that point, and being located in the heart of Old Town, I was within walking distance to several eateries, however most of them were shut for the day or don't have the correct information on Google Maps.

My time in Ha Noi taught me that there are restaurants who will reward you in exchange for providing reviews and keeping up with their online presence to attract foreigners, and this was the case when I walked into this restaurant called Met Vietnamese Restaurant (29 P. Hàng Trống, Hàng Trống, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội 11000, Vietnam), after my first meal I was offered a 5% discount for writing a review while making the payment. The first meal I had with them I felt the portion was small and I didn't feel like I was able to get filled up without ordering another portion, they definitely noticed my review and hinted at it on my second visit. I went back almost on a daily basis simply because it's only a 3 minutes walk from my hotel, it's one of the most tasty meal I've had, reasonably priced, the staff were friendly and they operate from day to night which was rather impressive given a lot of other restaurants I went to may open later during the day or close some time during the day which makes it difficult to keep track as to when I can visit since they don't display an operating hours board for their premise. This seems to be a family owned business with a 2 star hotel on top of the restaurant but you'll need to climb up some stairs as the hotel doesn't seem to have elevators installed, the restaurant seems to have been operating sometime around 2019 after converting it from a lobby, it would be a convenient spot to stay and have eatery right underneath your accommodation, but there are also plentiful of accommodations around the area, which I noticed were something similar to mine or of a more upscale boutique hotel, but not backpackers/pods that I noticed.

The next morning, I wanted to grab some breakfast but as I've mentioned, Google Maps isn't really reliable in this country, I found a vegetarian restaurant about 10 minutes walk away and I couldn't find the entrance to the restaurant. I walk around confused and then eventually manage to find a staff from a cafe next door to show me where the entrance is to the restaurant, apparently it is located on top of an optometrist store and a stair case is inside so you'll have to go in there which was a very weird concept to me, also the lack of good signage is to blame. Anyway when I got up they were still preparing to open up so I went to another cafe nearby to have a drink and wait. At the opening time, I went in and ordered my breakfast, I ended up coming back to this spot fairly frequently as well, they also have an outdoor seating for people who may want to enjoy some fresh air, the name of the restaurant is The Veg (48 Tràng Tiền, French Quarter, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam). After that, I wanted to check out the shopping mall, I went to the southern part of the city which is the newer central district, the mall is fairly small which is similar throughout Vietnam, a rather surprising thing given how populated the country is but I am assuming the smaller commercial shops preferable to the citizens needs while big retailers are not too fond or popular among them.

The second day was a fairly easy going one, after breakfast at Met, I walked to the Vietnamese Women's Museum where I spent around 2 hours seeing all the artifacts and culture from the perspective of women and also learning about what was expected of them. The Hoa Lo Prison Relic museum is nearby that was on my list so I walk over, they do not take card payment from memory so be ready to bring some cash with you. This museum shows the prisoners of Hoa Lo and how they lived in their cages, this is one of the many hundreds or even thousands across Vietnam throughout the war, and this is not even the worst one I've witnessed.

The third day I wanted to check out the newest monorail in Ha Noi, while also visit one of the bigger shopping mall outside of the central area. I took a Grab to Cat Linh station which is the start of the line closest to the city, about 10-15 minutes drive from Old Town. I bought an all day ticket as that work out the cheapest, the ticket is stamped with a date so each time you want to enter, you will need to show the stamped ticket to the office staff to get a new ticket, not the most efficient way of travel but that's how it works at least during my time there, they may refine it over time as well since it's the first and new system that has only been operating for a very short period. I stop at the closest station to the mall and walked there which is another 10 minutes walk, I'm not sure why they didn't build it closer or have protected walkways as the majority of the time I had to use the road which is dangerous given how chaotic it is and the whole point of public transportation is to stop people from relying on the road? Anyway, after arriving and having my overly expensive pizza at the mall, I took it slow to shop around and went into the supermarket to pick up some groceries for my stay for the remaining week and a half. After finishing my shopping, I got out and found myself in the wide open space overlooking supertall apartment buildings and giant statues. I walked back to the monorail and took the opportunity to ride it to the end of the line since it's not that long and giving me the opportunity to have a quick glance at part of the suburbs outside of the city centre, which is still fairly populated and dense of course as you will barely be able to find wide empty fields until you're a few hours outside of the city. I saw a water puppet theatre on my way to The Veg the other day when I passed by and today they have a show, so I decided to go for this session, there are other ones nearby as well but I am not very sure how they compare in terms of performance or pricing. One thing I did notice was how many mosquitoes they have in the theatre though, so the few of us that was inside were a feast for the buggers. Given Vietnam was probably a month in with their border reopening, tourism number was still rather low which is good for a lot of us early travellers as we will not have to struggle to get better seating or queue up for tourist attractions. On the northern and eastern side of the lake, it was shut off for a tourism event, I found that this occurs on the majority of the weekends I spent here so it could be a regular night market event.

I decided to stay in on the fourth day to catch up with some work, and on the 5th, I found a restaurant with some vegetarian options that seems to be good so I headed over there, which will also lead me to the very famous Ha Noi railway track. The Essence Restaurant is located on the top floor of the Aira Boutique Hotel. The French decor was opulent and with a view overlooking the city is a good way to start the day, although the food was much smaller in portion, there were a few treats after the meal but it was more of a one time experience for me given the price was higher and the food is smaller in portion. The staff was very friendly and engaging, recommending me to several spots around the city to visit which I would say is about as top notch as you can get. After that, I walked around the area near the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum but the ground directly in front was blocked off so I ended up doing a big loop by entering from the northern end. The ground was fairly empty and there was no viewing, not very sure if this has got to do with the upcoming anniversary but I didn't have any expectations so I just take what I've got given that I didn't plan that much for this trip as it was a lot of reshuffling prior to my departure and busy schedule prior to arriving. There's a pagoda near the mausoleum where I chilled for a bit and enjoy some of the architecture before heading back towards the hotel. As I exit the area, there was an older man approaching me asking where I'm from, and then he took out a small booklet showing all the people he has taken on his tuk tuk and the reviews they have written, this is probably fairly common in Vietnam as I've been approached at least twice while I was in Vietnam, they didn't pressure me to take the ride but they offered to take me for tours around the city and such, but I'm more of a solo adventurer I don't like to be surprised by people bringing me to spots I am not familiar with or have yet to research. While the 40 minutes walk back was a bit longer than I would normally do, it gave me a good opportunity to explore the different parts of the city that I may not be able to see in a vehicle.

On my sixth day, I took a Grab and headed across the Red River and to the Aeon Mall, the mall wasn't too big but I was more interested to check out the Aeon supermarket and department store. I got a suitcase which I needed to carry some extra items I bought while I was here and at my next stop as well. As I will be heading out for my Ha Long bay cruise for the next 2 days, I went back to the hotel to pack up and get ready for the trip. You can read about my experience on this trip (here).

My ninth and tenth day was mostly just staying in the hotel room as I was starting to get some recurring migraines, on my eleventh day I went out for some fresh air and a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, I saw some big stage set up and some MC on stage shouting something which I don't understand obviously, and then they started playing bangers which was kind of hilarious because everyone was just standing and watching them 2 on stage jumping, which I found out later in the evening it was a Southeast Asian game match, there were huge crowds with little to no room to walk and nearby cafes with views all occupied. It was surreal to see this many people celebrating the win, oh yea the Vietnamese team won the game and everyone went absolutely nuts, many shops along the route of my hotel and the lake have the match on as well, it was a very huge event for them I would assume and there was a lot of beeping and people taking all kinds of pots and pants to make noise to celebrate the win on the streets. The noise only slowly calm down after midnight as people headed back home.

My final 3 days were also mostly resting and getting a bit of work done due to my migraine issues. I tried going to the public hospital which is nearby to my hotel, however none of the staff can speak English and while I had a friend who helped translated by speaking to them on the phone, they still can't really point me to the right direction. The hospital was chaotic and seems to represent some post war / mass casualty depiction that you may see on movies or TV shows. Everyone was rushing and there was not really any orderly system, people were sitting or laying on the floor, beds were set up along corridors, this is not a healthy image especially for a foreigner and there should be a better system to also assist foreigners who may require healthcare in the country.

This concludes my 1 month stay in Vietnam, 1/3 of my time would have been spent inside my hotel room and that was partly down to my last minute organisation and I usually like to plan out trips far in advance but since this was not the case, I wasn't able to find more spots to explore or do more research on tourist spots and such. I would say that I have got a mixture of tourist hot spots and local spots, and there are definitely more parts of the city and country that I have yet to explore. Da Nang is one on the list which I will return to someday in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmok29_yn3M