Controlled chaos in Hanoi

Hello! Here we are again with our adventures.

Saturday the 12th of January we started our South-East Asia experience in Hanoi, Vietnam.

We were so excited to leave again but at the same time we were also a bit nervous as we didn’t really now what to expect of Asia.. The only thing we already knew was that it was going to be so different than Australia. After a 12hour flight we arrived in Hanoi.

The first thing we noticed was the controlled chaos if you can call it like that. It’s a bit of a culture shock. The traffic is crazy here! There are no rules at all and there are so many scooters which make the traffic a chaos but still it’s controlled everybody knows what they are doing and one tip if you pass the street just go they will stop and let you cross if you wait you can keep waiting for a looooong time!!

We stayed in Hanoi for 5 full days which is more than enough. You can do it in less but we have time so there is no rush, that’s the way we like to travel. Hanoi is an amazing place to explore and there is loads of stuff to see and do. You can do almost everything by foot so there’s no need for taxi’s. There is Hoan kiem lake and West lake with both some beautiful temples and pagoda’s around them. You can visit the Long Bien bridge and Hanoi’s train street, or go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. There is also an old prison you can go to which is a bit out of town so you might have to take a cab. And in the weekends there is the crazy big and busy night markets. After you have seen everything you want you can just walk around the old quarters and enjoy the Vietnamese food and culture.

We stayed in the D’annam Hostel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. We definitely want to recommend this hostel. The location couldn’t be any better, the rooms were good we had a 4 bed dorm with double beds for the price of €10 per night for two persons breakfast included, there were neat toilets and showers. The only negative thing was the mattress, it was a bit on the hard site hard. But we had a jetlag so we slept pretty bad anyway😅

Here are some tourist scams you need to look out for when you go to Hanoi. When you arrive at the airport you’ll probably need transport to your accommodation. There are loads of options but you need to make sure you choose the right one. In the cities there are some fake taxi companies which are overpriced but there are two who are trustable, Taxi Group and Mai Linh.

Best is to take a Grab, it’s an app you can download on your phone it’s a bit the same as Uber, fast and easy to use and you’ll get the best price.

In the Old Quarters there are a few people you need to be aware of. At first there is “the shoe shine guy”, he walks around and asks tourists if he can clean and repair their shoes. He will definitely do the job but at the end he’ll ask for money and it’s overpriced. The second one is “the fruit lady”, she will walk around with a bamboo stick with a basket at each end which has fruit in it and asks tourists if they want to hold it and take pictures. When you’re done she’ll ask for some money. Last you have “the donut ladies” they are everywhere. Don’t buy these donuts of them. You ask one or two like we did and you will get a bag of 10 pieces and they will charge you a lot…she charged us 150k VND which is crazy..They are not even tasty.. So if you really want to try them make sure you find a place where you can see them be cooked fresh.

Here you will find a list of places you should visit and things you should eat in Hanoi.

Places you should visit when in Hanoi:

-Night market (from Friday to Sunday)

-Hoan Kiem Lake

-West Lake

-St. Joseph’s Cathedral

-Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

-Schwedagon Pagoda

Things you should eat when in Hanoi:

– Buffet at Veggy Castle for only 70.000 VND per person (€2,5)

– Typical Vietnamese cuisine at Cumulus, William’s Restaurant

– The best Pho in town at Pho 10