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Published: November 25th 2006
At the airport we found a minibus taking a crowd of tourists to the Old Quarter. We asked to go to the Stars Hotel based on the Lonely Planet guidebook recommendation. We were dropped off at "Stars Hotel" but it wasn't the same address as the one in the Lonely Planet! What happens is that once a place gets mentioned in the Lonely Planet, other hotels use the same name so there are actually 3 or 4 "Stars Hotels" in the Old Quarter of Hanoi now! Our place was ok for a night but the next day we moved to the Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel which was excellent. It's run by two Aussie guys, Michael and Max. It's a place where everybody gets to know everyone and there's always something going on. It's one of the few places in Hanoi with dorms and although it's a little more expensive at $7 a night, it's money well spent. They also organise tours and transport at the hostel. The Eggs Benedict for breakfast can't be beaten either!
There's supposed to be almost as many motorbikes as people in Hanoi and walking the streets, it's not hard to believe. Very often you have to
walk on the road because of all the bikes parked on the pavement. Crossing the street is an experience as the traffic lights and the few pedestrian crossings are ignored here. All you can do is walk slowly across and let the traffic drive around you.
We spent a few days relaxing and exploring the Old Quarter during the day. The food here was excellent. The chicken, beef and seafood was so good I wasn't tempted to try dog or anything else. There's a whole strip of dog restaurants in one part of the city and also an area that specialises in snake. One of the guys at the hostel ate a snake heart that was still beating!
We saw huge differences between Vietnam and China. The Vietnam is much more tourist oriented and as a result there are far more backpackers and even families to be seen around the place. Almost all the locals speak English and you sometimes wonder how much of what you see is really Vietnamese because the place is overrun with tourists. There are tour companies and hotels everywhere. It's interesting to see such obvious capitalism in a communist country.
We took
a three day tour to Halong Bay to see the famous limestone islands. This was the hilight of the week and was a refreshing break from the city. We stayed on the tour boat, called a junk, the first night and on a paradise island the second night. We spent the second afternoon kayaking around the bay. The islands themselves are just like on TV - quite stunning. After 8 days soaking up the energy of the city, we headed south to Hoi An.
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