Melbourne – Singapore – Hanoi.
Its now been a few weeks since I got back from Vietnam so I have decided to get out of slackass mode and write about my trip!
I had agreed to go on a trip overseas with one of my oldest friends and we decided to go for two weeks to Bali or Thailand. However after a tipoff from one of her mates, my friend decided Vietnam it was! It was somewhere I had never really considered travelling to, but it was just a gorgeous place with gorgeous people, not a relaxing holiday by any means - but a really great experience :)
We arrived in Hanoi and picked up our Visas which was not too painful. I had organised Visas on Arrival which apparently can be a long process with lots of bribers cutting in front etc, but we were lucky enough to get through the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. Hanoi Airport is really not up there with international airport standards, think more domestic in the wilderness airport standards – so the best thing to do is make sure you can get in and out as quickly as possible. Of course taxi scams are also notorious in Vietnam so I had organised Hotel transfers wherever I could. The cost may be a little more than a standard cab but there is also zero hassle. We were met straight away at arrivals with a sign and whisked away to the hotel. The drive to the hotel was pretty interesting, straight away we got to see Vietnams most infamous attraction – the crazy traffic! Cars, mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, trucks all careering past with their horns blaring. Motos wobbling along with a few pigs stacked on the back, others with entire families holding on for their dear lives. Going through intersecions with cars coming from all directions, and then bam – we were right in the thick of the Hanoi traffic – heading into the old quarter with its narrow roads and hundreds of scooters. Insane!
After the traffic the next thing we noticed, as we were escorted from the air conditioned car into the air conditioned hotel – was the intense humidity, heat and smell of scooter exhaust. All three of these were almost inescapable for the next 12 days.
We checked into Hanoi Elegance 4 and were given a welcoming drink of a mango smoothie. So refreshing and I completely forgot my new-found allergy to fruit (especially mangoes) and downed the whole lot. Suprisingly my allergies didn’t flare up for the whole trip despite all the fruit I ate – must be something to do with my local pollen? The staff at HE4 were extremely helpful and welcoming, showing us to our rooms and helping us with walking routes and places to see during our short time in Hanoi. When the girl on reception joked that I might even see her uncle sleeping at the mausoleum it took a few minutes for me to get it… haha sometimes you just don’t expect humour in english from a vietnamese local! I discover throughout the trip though that most Vietnamese that deal with tourists have exceptional english and are extremely good at picking up on humour and slang – I guess its almost a way of survival for some of them.
Our room was $45USD for the both of us, and was a small room, but clean and very good value – there was a computer with internet in the room, free bottled water, fruit platter and breakfast each morning. It was a great place to base ourselves in Hanoi.
We had landed in Hanoi at 12.30 so after getting into the hotel we had a few hours to explore before calling it an early night. We were also getting pretty hungry so scouted around for a few restaurants, although both of us had the best intentions of trying out the street vendors and eating with the locals, we both wussed out pretty quickly after walking around for a few minutes and we ended up eating at Hanoi Garden, where there were many other foreign tourists, all looking as ashamed and defeated as us for choosing the easier – stomach friendly option. But really – gastro on your first night would not be nice! The food at Hanoi Garden was very good. We had a green papaya salad, beef with black pepper and a banana flower salad – all were delicious!
Hotel: Hanoi Elegance 4
Price: $45USD per night
Breakfast included
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