Next stop Hanoi

I could hear the recommendation of Halong Bay echoing in the back of my mind. I bought a ticket to Hanoi, ordered my visa online (thank you Internet) and expected that I would board the plane happily on the final day of my Thai visa. I felt so spontaneous – so out of this world.

Needless to say, things didn’t go to plan. The next day visa service didn’t work out. I often don’t know what day of the week it is, but in this situation it would have really helped to factor in Saturday and Sunday. I wasn’t allowed on my flight… not even when I begged to let them hold me in Hanoi immigration and deport me if the visa wasn’t processed! Bleary and exhausted I returned to the fabulous hostel I stayed in when I first arrived in Bangkok, HI Sukhumvit,  and fortunately they had a bed. It was still dark. I had traveled across the city at 3.30am, been rejected by 5.30, and was back in a different bed by 6.30. I was exhausted! After this escapade when I finally made it to Hanoi it was all a bit of a blur.

 

I remember Hanoi being a charming, bustling city. The Old Quarter beaming with stores selling hidden gems, beautiful beads and silver jewelry from the hill tribes, and amazing stitch work. This was the first place I caught a ride in a cycle rickshaw; it was eight years ago, late at night and the driver offered me opium. I was completely freaked out.  The thing I remember most clearly though was the men sitting on the street corners with an open flame burning, ready to fix bicycle tyre punctures. There were so many bicycles back then that there was call for it. Today, the Old Quarter of Hanoi is still charming and beautiful, but completely overrun by motorbikes and scooters. It’s entirely nuts. Granted, I was there in the week prior to Tet (Chinese New Year) so it was extra crazy. Remarkably I hardly saw any bicycles, no cycle rickshaws and the men with the flames on the corners seem to be gone. I can’t help but wonder what they are doing now.

 My street crossing technique everywhere else I have traveled has been to walk slowly with my hand held up in a ‘stop sign’, I saw some Indians doing this a while ago and it seems to work really well. I know if I did this in Australia I would be run down in a second. In Hanoi this turned out to be an incredibly dangerous technique, and I was quickly taught that you wait for a thinning of the traffic and then just walk, walk straight out into the traffic at a steady pace. Don’t stop, don’t look at the drivers, and don’t change pace. Amazingly I haven’t been hit yet.

I had some great street food in Hanoi, tofu with fresh herbs and noodles, and salad baguettes Newtown Vietnamese bakery style. Yum.