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gravestone street hanoi
This entire block was gravestones and they were making them on the side walk My first stop in Vietnam was Hanoi. It seems that you either pick the route of working your way North or working your way South through the country. I think going North to South might be less of a culture shock, I still have not made it to Saigon as I am writing this and I have heard from many other travelers and friends that it is Crazy, with a capital C for sure. Busier than NYC only all mopeds, looking forward to it.
In Hanoi, I felt like I was able to see Vietnamese culture while walking the streets. I stayed at two different hotels in the Old Quarter and found a great little bar with lots of other travelers and cheap tiger beer close to both hotels. The reason for the two different rooms is that the volcano in Iceland caused a lot of people to be stuck wherever they were so hotels got a little booked up. This bar was great. Big Tiger beers were 15,000 dongs (less than $1 for a beer and a half). One charming little thing about the bar was its size, it was tiny, and to go to the bathroom you had
to walk through the owners living room and kitchen which was much more modern than I expected. I think I ended up going there twice in the two full days I was in Hanoi and saw the same people at the bars both times.
The old quarter of Hanoi is the more touristy area but I really liked it. Usually at home you would think that putting a business next to your nearest competitor would make sense but here you actually have a street that is packed with the same products. ie. wood street for furniture, one wood furniture place after another, a street that is all gravestone shops, a street for toys, etc.
The first place I ate was Kangaroo 2 and I had my first Pho (yum). The restaurant was good but the only reason why I really remember it is because I was later walking down a street and saw another restaurant called Kangaroo and on the sign it said "the REAL kangaroo" I realized that I had eaten at the knock off kangaroo which cracks me up. I have found that in Vietnam there are a lot of restaurants and bars that have very
close names to their famous counterparts with the hopes of confusing people like me into eating and drinking there.
One of the most popular side trips from Hanoi is Halong Bay. I did a two day one night tour. You are picked up in the morning and taken to Halong where I stayed on a very nice boat. It was fun to meet and talk to people from all over the world that were also on the boat, we had a really good group.
While on the bay you see floating fishing villages, go kayaking and walk through caves. It is truly a remarkable site. I really enjoyed kayaking, the water was incredibly still. The roof of the boat had lounge chairs and it was great to relax and take in the natural beauty of the bay. The only downside of the excursion was the weather. At one point we were in a downpour so the plan to get some sun while we cruised around the bay didnt really happen.
The food on the boat was really good. We would get at least 4 different types of seafood at both lunch and dinner. The squid was always
fantastic and the boat guide said everything we ate was caught in the bay. Overall all of the food in Vietnam has been wonderful. My first breakfast was a diet coke and a warm french baguette that was only a quarter, delicious.
If going to Hanoi, I think Halong Bay is a must see.
One of the top touristy things to do in Hanoi is the water puppet show. It is a form of traditional vietnamese entertainment and it cute and fun. There were about 13 acts with wooden puppets in water. The puppeteers are actually standing in waist deep water behind a curtain and there is a live band with traditional music. The acts center around the farming and fishing communities and my favorite was "catching frogs".
While in Hanoi I also got 2 massages, not the best in the world but felt pretty good. I think they pounded on my skull for like 5 minutes which was a little much but for $7 my expectations are usually pretty low.
So far so good in Vietnam, looking forward to heading south!!
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