Hanoi Hanoi!
Background: Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the country’s second largest city. It is located in the northern part of the country and once served as the administrative center of French Indochina.
Itinerary Highlights: We left Manila at 10pm on a Saturday and arrived around Midnight on Sunday. First things first, you need a visa to enter Vietnam. You can get a visa on arrival but an even easier and time saving alternative is to apply for the evisa online. It costs $25 and is processed in 3 days. Just make sure to remember to print it out and take it with you.
Airport transfer was arranged by Hay Hostel, which was our accomodation for the 3 day trip. One thing I’ve come to rely on is an accomodation which includes breakfast. I like being able to get an early start to my day and not worry about trying to find my first meal. Thankfully, Hay Hostel provides a light breakfast.
Day 1 in Hanoi started with a city tour through OneTrip VIetnam. This tour is donation based so it’s pocket friendly. We visited the Temple of Literature, an outdoor market in Old Quarter, and had an egg chocolate (hot chocolate with egg yolk) at Cafe Giang. I was nervous to try this drink but it’s actually very good. The egg yolk is whipped up into a thin custard before it meets the chocolate (or coffee if you prefer) and creates a super sweet and creamy treat.
Temple of Literature. Photo by J. Lynn
We took the rest of the evening to explore Old Quarter. The interesting thing about how the streets are set up is that each one is designated for a certain thing. For example, on one street you will find all shops selling cooking accessories, on another you will find clothing stores. We stumbled upon Hanoi Walking Street around Hoam Kiem Lake which is closed to vehicle traffic from Friday evening through Sunday night. Plenty of people were out and about enjoying family friendly activities and live music. We even saw what appeared to be a boy band shooting a music video!
While you’re in the area of Hoam Kiem Lake, you absolutely must stop by Pizza 4P’s. We actually went three times throughout the course of our stay. The ambiance is fantastic and the food is even better! You can watch your brick oven pizza be made from almost anywhere in the restaurant. Everything from the house-made cheeses, house-made sodas, and desserts are fabulous. This might actually have been my favorite part of the trip. Also nearby I got two traditional Vietnamese style dresses custom made.
The second day started with a tour of Ha Long Bay. At 8am we were picked up at our hostel by a coach bus. We arrived around 11:55 am at the docking location and had to wait for the boat for about 20 minutes. The first activity on the cruise was lunch. Each table was served a large spread of fish, tofu, cabbage, rice, chicken, eggs, and spring rolls. The water in the bay is a beautiful blue green color. It was slightly overcast that day, so I can only imagine how gorgeous the scenery must be on a clear day. The first stop on the cruise offered a bamboo boat ride around parts of the bay. You can see some monkeys there and even purchase some bananas at the dock to feed to them. Then we went to the beach where you hike to the top of Ti Top Island to get a better view of the bay or just sit around and relax on the sand. Lastly, we stopped at a cave to see stalactites and stalagmites. The size of the cave was quite impressive so it’s a good idea to wear some comfortable shoes. The tour ended around 4:30 for the drive back to Hanoi and by 8pm we were back at our hostel.
Ha Long Bay. Photo by J. Lynn
On the last day we went back out in Old Quarter. We signed up for a walking food tour via Air B&B. In a couple of hours we got to try a ton of tasty dishes. We started with a dry beef salad which contained jerky beef, roasted beef, green papaya and fish sauce. Next we had steamed rice roll cake with rice paper, mushroom, pork, and fried onions. Then we sampled a warm sweet sticky rice with coconut and cold sweet black beans with black jelly, boba, ice and coconut. Next we had a cup of yogurt with fruit jelly. We ended the tour with the famous egg coffee at Cafe Dinh. I also picked up two beautiful paintings paintings by a local artist later in the day.
Tips: Bring a light jacket. The breeze is chilly especially after sunset. Bring sunscreen. Bring bug repellent.
Budget: Flight round trip from Manila on Cebu Pacific was PHP 14,836 which is just around $280 but I will note that we bought these tickets pretty last minute. A four night stay at Hay Hostel for two people ran us $52 total. The Ha Long Bay tour which was arranged by the hostel was $50 per person. The walking food tour was just $14 per person.
Overall Experience: I’m a certified beach bum so I didn’t expect to enjoy this trip at all. However, I was proven wrong at every turn. If you get the chance I’d highly recommend spending a few days in Hanoi. If for no other reason, you must try the food!
