Hanoi, Vietnam (Center on Interactive Map)

Capitol city of Vietnam.

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Trips

Around The World in 66 Days

1/13/2013: Upon arrival in Vietnam from China, differences between the countries were immediately clear. The first thing that happened to us was a taxi driver trying to scam us on pricing. It seemed to us that a sizable minority of taxi drivers in Vietnam are crooks.

The next thing that happened is that we were able to buy a real coffee while waiting for the bus!

There were several people in the bus station who tried to either help us or scam us speaking English. This was several more people who spoke English than we encountered in ten days travelling around China.

Anyway, after some time waiting, we rode the bus for a few hours to Hanoi. We were greeted in Hanoi by another English-speaking taxi driver quoting us double the price for our destination. We were a bit more lucky with the metered cab, and we arrived shortly thereafter at our hotel.

Hanoi is quite the chaotic city, and crossing the street there is a real adventure. I would rate it level 8 (of 10) on the International Frogger Scale with the main risk being run down by hundreds of mopeds moving at moderate speeds. I was glad to see that most of the Vietnamese were wearing helmets (see China, Detian Waterfall for the alternative scenario...)

Another thing that was welcome upon reaching Vietnam was the availability of familiar foods such as bread and pizza. Hanoi, however, did not have a high percentage of vegetarian food, and I will not eat in a restaurant full of caged birds. I ended up eating a vegetarian doner kabob in a German/Turkish restaurant... maybe the best meal of the entire trip to Vietnam!

I was hoping to watch the 49er's playoff game while in Hanoi, but, alas, there were not any bars around that had the game available, and I was not willing to pay $50(!) to watch it on the internet.


Previous Visit (Detian Waterfall: 1/11/2013)
Next Visit (Halong Bay: 1/15/2013)

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Lifelists

Asia
World