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Published: November 20th 2012
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As we were talking to our new friends on the cruise boat, they asked us for recommendations of where to stay in Hanoi. Sara responded, "Well... we are staying at the Hanoi Hilton, and its pretty nice."
I was like, ummmm Sara, I don't think you want to recommend to our friends to stay at a prison. What she actually meant to say is that we are staying at the Hanoi Guesthouse, which was a bit more accomodating.
When we arrived at the Hanoi airport, we headed down to the luggage carousel. As we were waiting for our bags, an extremely tall (6'3" or taller) but attractive German woman approached me (probably because I was the only other Caucasian in the airport). I could tell Sara was jealous. J/K. She asked to share a cab with us. We told her we had already arranged a ride with our hotel, but we'd check with the driver to see if she and her boyfriend could come with us. We left the baggage area, and looked for our driver. He was nowhere to be found. So we caved and hailed a taxi with our new friends. Which ended up being a good
thing, because she had a smartphone that worked in Vietnam, so she was tracking our drivers route to our hotel. He looked like he was about to take the "long route", so she asked him where he was going. He was caught red-handed, and changed his course to the optimal route. You always have to be on guard. I'm noticing that more and more, which sucks because I don't want to constantly think I'm being scammed because there are very nice people here.The cab fare from the airport to the Old Quarter worked out to be about 400,000 dong (~$20 US) for four people during rush hour.
So we are dropped off at the Hanoi Lucky Guesthouse, not the Hanoi Guesthouse. It seemed weird, but the address matched the "lonely planet" book we had. So we figured it must be the right place. The cab driver leaves. Sara goes in the hotel, then walks out deflated. Just like bangkok, this process is always an adventure. Apparently the Hanoi Guesthouse switched locations recently, and this place has a conspicuously similar name (probably to poach customers from the real Hanoi Guesthouse). In addition, there is a guy on the street (obviously
aware of this address change), who is telling us that the Hanoi Guesthouse is booked up and we should go to his hotel.
Arrrrrrrrrgh! Stop it people!
So Sara goes back into the fake hotel, uses their internet, and goes to the website for the real hotel. Finds the new address, and we hop in the cab. Its only a few blocks away, but its night time, its a busy unfamiliar environment, and we have our packs on, so the cab was a no brainer. Now admittedly, its our own fault for not having the correct address. But what were the odds of us picking the one hotel in the book that moved. We walk in the hotel, and the girls at the front desk greeted us. They were so nice, and apologized for the confusion at the airport (I guess the driver was actually there, but we didn't see him). They give us a welcome drink as they sorted out the details for the room. One of the girls asks us if we are on our honeymoon. Without skipping a beat, Sara responds, "Yes". Then I remember that Sara booked the honeymoon suite because it was
"Fair Trade" artwork store, cool sculptures
They brought us here on our bus ride to Ha Long Bay only $9 more per night.
Clever girl We walked into our hotel room. It was decked out with flower pedals, and bride and groom teddy bears. It was pretty hilarious.
It was about 7 pm when we got settled in, so we figured we'd try our hand at finding some good street food. We walked out the door, and the streets were alive. Motorcycles, cars, scooters, street vendors, horns honking, etc. Not nearly as busy as Ho Chi Minh, but the streets are very narrow, and the sidewalks are cluttered with parked scooters, so you have to walk on the street and constantly be aware of traffic. We happened upon a place on Ma May street that has mini tables, mini chairs, and camping stove-looking things on the tables. It looks intriguing. Its basically a DIY BBQ. We sat down, and they brought us loads of chicken, beef, rice,and vegetables to grill up. They also gave us a couple beers. Life is good. All for the price of $9. I'm loving Hanoi despite the earlier troubles.
Next we wandered down Hang Duong street. This is where the night market is. Its chaotic, there is an endless line
of vendors as far as the eye can see. Selling mostly touristy crap, and counterfeit goods. But that doesn't mean I can't look for a good deal on foakleys. 😊 I needed some sunglasses, so I bought some for 60,000 dong (~$3 US), talked him down from 100,000. I think the rule of thumb is that you can bargain about 30-50% off the price.
We called it a night because we had our Ha Long bay cruise the next morning (which Sara wrote about in the previous entry). When we returned to Hanoi three days later, we made plans with 6 friends from the cruise who were also staying in Hanoi. The plan was to catch dinner, and then go to the "water puppet" show near Hoan Kiem lake. Somehow word spread, and our group actually grew to 14 people from our cruise. Oddly enough, the restaurant we went to could easily accommodate a group of 14 with no advanced notice. The group included 3 couples from Australia, 1 couple from the UK, 1 couple from Finland, one couple from the small island of Malta, and Sara and me. Their was good entertaining conversation all around.
Now, contrary
Vietnamese Red Bull
i needed a little energy boost to what some of us thought, this "water puppet" show does not occur on the lake, it occurs in a theatre about one block from the lake. And contrary to what you would think, tickets usually need to be booked in advance. And lining up with my personal expectations for a puppet show of any sort, it was horrible performance. As one of our friends put it, "The show was mercifully short". To be fair, I'm told its just something you have to do when you visit Hanoi, and some people enjoyed it. However, it did nothing for me, even though I am usually a fan of the bizarre.
After the show, the original group of 8 of us went to Rockabilly's for some drinks. I bought the first round of cocktails for everyone (only $20...fantastic!). Then the Aussies followed suit. And finally the Maltese couple bought the last round. Its funny, at one point the bar owner turned off all the lights in the bar. We looked out the window and realized a cop car was nearby. I guess there is some sort of city curfew for bars (some time before midnight), so they play this game of
cat and mouse. The cop car drives away... all is well, the lights come back on. We finished our drinks, and say our goodbyes as everyone is headed their separate ways.
The next morning Sara and I wandered the streets of Hanoi. We stopped at the Hoa Lo prison (sarcastically referred to as the Hanoi Hilton by American POW's). It was quite interesting, but again laughable as the staged photos made it seem like the POW's were at Summer camp. They did have John McCains flight suit from when his plane was shot down. And also there was a giant guillotine from when the French originally built the prison in the early 1900s.
On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Gambrinus brew house for some beer and lunch. The beer was actually quite tasty, they even had some non-lager beers which are hard to find in these parts. After that, we stopped in to a shop that was selling North Face jackets. From what we've been told, the jackets you buy from the stores (not the stands) are legit as they actually manufacture the jackets in Vietnam. So we both bought a jacket, for
about 25%!o(MISSING)f the cost in the states.
We stuffed the jackets in our backpacks, and then hopped in a cab to the airport.
Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Laos.
-Nick
video links eating on streets of Hanoi: