Conquering the Old Quarter of Hanoi  

We arrived in Hanoi cold and tired about 6:30 am without hotel reservations. After looking at a couple of hotels we decided on the Hong Ngoc Hotel in the center of the Old Quarter and 3 blocks from the Hoan Kiem Lake which is considered the center of the city. It was nice to have plenty of hot water and heat since our hotel in Hue didn’t have either. But for $15 a night I guess you can’t expect much. But we do, the pack raters, I mean, the back packers that we are!!

After a shower and change of clothes it was time for breakfast and then to conquer the city. What a difference from Saigon. The city is much older with very narrow streets. That doesn’t mean that there were any less motorbikes on the streets or sidewalks. After learning the art of ‘dodge and weave’ and playing chicken with the motorbike drivers in Saigon, the game was much easier with these very small streets. And you can’t walk on the sidewalks because they are all full of motorbikes. The Old Quarter is laid out with different types of products on each street. We did the walking tour described in our travel book, and were lost within an hour of starting out. The challenge was finding our hotel again when every street looks the same except for what they are selling. There is the hardware street, the belt street (that’s right, a street with little stores that sell only belts for men and women), paper products, bamboo, yarn, men’s clothes, women’s clothes (many more than one street!),etc., etc. You get the picture?? And people selling street food everywhere. Speaking of food, we have found the food very good throughout the country. Although we do watch what and where we eat. No street food! We have tried Vietnamese food but get tired of rice and noodles but there is an international variety of restaurants and foods to eat.

We have found the people of Hanoi to be very gracious, friendly and helpful. So helpful that they want to take us for rides on their motorbikes, their cyclo’s, make sure we have enough to eat, clothes to wear and trinkets to take home. All for a price, of course.

We wanted to see the Halong Bay which is a 2 ½ hr. bus ride from Hanoi and after finding our way back to the hotel, again cold and tired, we checked on tours to the bay. The hotel had a 2 day tour available through a tour company and we booked it for the next day. Here we go again, back on a bus. It was a great trip and you can read about it in another Article.

We have now been in Viet Nam for 2 weeks and it’s been a great time and adventure. The country is beautiful to see and the people are great. We feel that we have really experienced the different cultures, climates, history and country side from the hot south to the much cooler north. However, it’s time to move on to Thailand.

Stay tuned……….

Where’s Pat and Mike?