A week in North Vietnam (1) - Hanoi

North Vietnam (2): Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay

Last year, I spent a week in spring in North Vietnam. It was an unplanned holiday, so we ended up spending most of our time walking around in Hanoi and exploring some areas around. In between, we went to Ha Long Bay for 2 days and were back again in Hanoi for a night, before heading out to Singapore.

Huc Bridge

It was quite an interesting trip, enjoyable in parts and quite an experience in others. For one, we were expecting hot and humid tropical weather that week as it is South-East Asia. But what we experienced was unusually cold weather with rain and no sunshine at all! That was definitely quite a bummer. And second, we had an interesting experience with our hotel in Hanoi, because of which our trip got a bit topsy turvy. Other than that, it was a fun holiday with friends, with lots to explore and experience, and I absolutely loved the vibe and food of Hanoi.

Our itinerary was quite simple as we didn't travel around a lot.

Day 1: Explored Old Quarter around our hotel
Day 2: Went on a guided scooter ride across Old Quarter, stopping at B52 museum and the famous Hanoi train street
Day 3: Explored Old Quarter around Hoan Kiem lake, including the Ngoc Son temple, a lotus water puppet show and beer street
Day 4: Guided tour to Ninh Binh, with cycling to Minh Quan temple, taking a local boat through Mua caves and hiking up Hang Mua viewpoint
Day 5: Explored Old Quarter, museums and art around Hoan Kiem lake
(5 days, 6 nights in Hanoi)
Day 6: Travelled to Ha Long Bay and onto the Signature Ha Long cruise, Kayaked around Vung Vieng fishing village
Day 7: Explored Tung Sau area in Ha Long Bay, visited Virgin cave and beach island
Day 8: Visited Tien Kiem cave and beach island, came back to Hanoi, around Hoan Kiem lake
(2 days, 2 nights in Ha Long Bay)
Day 9: Goodbye to Old Quarter
(1 day, 1 night in Hanoi)


Getting to Hanoi

Hanoi (earlier called Thang Long, the flying dragon) was a revelation. We ended up spending 6 full days in Hanoi, and somehow it didn't feel too much. In fact, we barely explored outside of the Hanoi Old Quarter area, and even then time felt short to see all it has to offer. There was just so much to experience and feel. The vibe and energy of the city can barely be matched by any other place I have visited. Though I will wait before I talk about Hanoi, as I must start the story with our hotel experiences 😝.

We landed in Hanoi in the early morning hours after taking a red eye flight from Delhi (with a child crying at the top of his voice the entire flight!), none of which helped our mood when we landed. On top of that, when we stepped out of our plane, we were met with fog, rain and cold! I attributed it to it being early morning and ignored what I saw at that time.

We took a taxi to our hotel which was located in the old part of town, the Old Quarter. It was a long drive to the hotel and we passed through many parts of the city during the drive. The roads were lined with narrow multi-floor houses, typical to Hanoi. A lot of them had pretty French facades decorated in varied colours and designs. They had an inviting character to them, though most of them felt old and run-down.

Hanoi streets (art)

The traffic all the way was crazy, especially given all the rains. Most of the traffic was made up of two-wheelers, scooters and mopeds, with people filing up all the space. People were driving on both sides of the road whenever they saw a gap, which was a bit unnerving. Though after the initial shock, I realised that even though the traffic felt chaotic, there was an order to it, a calmness in it. In fact, no one was overtaking anyone else even. Everyone just kept driving, fast when there was space, and slower when they needed to. All in their own lane. The hot nerves that we see in Indian traffic were definitely not there. Interestingly, everyone was wearing raincoats, so they were all definitely better prepared than us.

When we reached our hotel, called the Luxury Old Quarter Hotel, we were a bit underwhelmed. On the website, it looked like a small little cosy boutique hotel, with 4+ rating on booking.com as well as tripadvisor. We were hoping to experience a hidden gem. But it did not feel so, our first impression was quite underwhelming.

Balcony of Luxury Hotel

The staff barely spoke English, though they were flexible about changing our bookings. Still something felt off. And we felt more of the same when we checked into our rooms. It was supposed to be a huge room, with space outside but looked different in real life. The bathrooms had glass windows and no locks! They had some weird red velvet sofas in the room, and there was a central glass chute right through the middle of our room. We could close the curtains but when the curtains were open, we could look into the rooms below! The balcony was nice but given the weather, that did not feel welcoming either.
My friend wanted us to leave immediately but since it was raining and we had taken an overnight flight, we thought we would check-in anyway. Once we got in, we were so tired, we just slept off. When we woke up, we thought we would give the hotel a chance. We went down for breakfast, which was tasty though not as great an experience as all the reviews raved about.

Luxury Hotel

After getting ready, we stepped out in the afternoon to explore the Old Quarter. And then noticed a board outside the hotel mentioning that it also had rooms available ‘by the hour’! For all of us who have seen Jab We Met (and remember Hotel Decent), that did not bode well. So we decided we will shift. And we did, the same night. We booked a hotel online and were off.

However, given how traumatised we were by the experience, we were not open to taking any risks and my friends booked a very expensive JW Marriott to be sure of its quality. It was a luxury business hotel, with many pools, spas, and an elaborate breakfast menu. It was massive, with a well landscaped garden all around. But it felt very sanitised and had no local character. We could have been living anywhere in the world when we were there. But at least it was a comfortable stay.

The JW was in the financial district of Hanoi, with better roads, more cars than scooters, and loads of highrises and malls. The area felt so new, so different than the Old Quarter. The biggest downside though was that it was 40-60 mins drive from the Old Quarter. It cost us a lot of time as we had to travel back daily to the Old Quarter, as all tourist activities were either there or started from there 😂. So in the end, it wasn't a good move as we ended up travelling 2 hours daily in the crazy Hanoi traffic, but I guess getting away from Luxury Old Quarter Hotel was so important for us, that we did not care where we went 😝.

View of Hoan Kiem lake

But our hotel woes did not end there. After staying 4 nights at the JW we realised, they did not have rooms available to extend our stay by 1 more night (even though they had some 450+ rooms). So for the last night before travelling to Ha Long Bay, we shifted to another hotel, La Sinfonia del Rey, next to the Hoan Kiem lake. We had had dinner on the hotel rooftop one of the days and had found it to be quite a good place. So we took the risk of moving to an unbranded hotel. And what a delight it was. It was right in the middle of all the action, had an old world charm, an amazing decor, great service and a gorgeous view of the lake. There was live music outside the hotel everyday. We could see the lights of the Ngoc Son temple from our window at night and it was ethereal. It was just so much fun being there, a far cry from our other hotel in the same area.

Interestingly the La Sinfonia del Rey was cheaper than our Luxury Old Quarter Hotel, even though it was of far better quality, and very close to all the main sights in the area. I just can’t understand how that can be the case, and how the other hotel got such good ratings. All these moves did add some inconvenience to our stay. And then there is another hotel room story in Ha Long Bay, but that will be covered in the next article. So the hotels were definitely an interesting part of our stay in Vietnam.


Exploring Hanoi Old Quarter

Old Quarter

We spent five of our six days in Hanoi exploring the Old Quarter, in fact I think we didn't step outside at all, other than the drive to and from our hotel. The Old Quarter is the part of town with traditional Vietnamese buildings and architecture in one half and then grand French style buildings on the other, all merging into each other. The old part has narrow streets full of two wheelers, and is lined with all kinds of shops and activities on both sides. Roadside eating places, restaurants, cafes, art shops, massage places, handicraft shops, and so on. You can find everything here. And in between, there are pagodas, Buddhist temples, museums, antique fort walls, lakes, the Opera and other places to explore.

There is never a dull moment in the Old Quarter, just frenetic energy everywhere. It was just amazing to be there every day. The next few days, we walked in the streets, into shops, checking out (and buying) art, getting massages and eating (a lot) in between.

Markets

Random shop in Old Quarter

The Quarter is full of shops everywhere. There are some 36 streets making up the Old Quarter with some of them selling specialised things, famous for one particular product, like silk street, medicines street, silver street, beer street, the night market and so on. And what is not being sold by the shopkeepers is being sold by the vendors on the streets. The night market had many vendors selling different kinds of local handicrafts and clothes.

Beer Street

The beer street was full of eateries where people hung out till very late, sitting outside on small chairs, eating and drinking, and making a lot of noise. Interestingly, while we were there, the police showed up and within minutes, all the shopkeepers cleared up their chairs and tables outside (probably they don't have the license for it). And as soon as the police left, everyone put the setup back, all over again. (I have seen this scene play out once before, in Bombay’s Fashion street back in 1996!). The vibe on the street even late at night was just amazing, everyone sitting outside and eating - something I miss in Europe all the time.

There were also loads of massage and beauty places everywhere. And I think we got a massage daily, it was just so relaxing as well as cheap.

Art shops

Art shops

There were loads of art shops in Hanoi. We walked into so many of them, and loved the vibrant colours in the paintings everywhere. The most common pieces were of the multi-storeyed narrow Hanoi buildings lining the streets, filled with people on scooters. There were so many versions of this scene everywhere, all painted in a different artistic style. Mostly in oil. They were all just so captivating, attracting us as we walked past.

Hanoi streets

We also walked into a war posters shop twice. These shops were selling old leftist propaganda posters, which was a different kind of art. And most of these posters were anti-capitalist, anti-American. Rummaging through those, and talking to the shop owners, I realised that the Vietnamese are very proud of the war, and how they beat the strongest country in the world. We also tried to find out if we could find the original posters in the museums, but couldn't.

Places to see

The Old Quarter has a lot of historic places to visit, most of which we just walked into. There were a few temples and pagodas too, but not many, as most of the population is atheist now, after the communists took over.

Ngoc Son temple

On our third day in Hanoi, we spent most of our time walking around the Hoan Kiem lake. It felt like the lake was the boundary of the old and the relatively new side of Old Quarter. One side of it had old buildings, and the other side was grander, maybe it was the French side. We went over the red Huc Bridge, to the Ngoc Son temple on the lake. It was devoted to the local king as well as Buddhism, which was quite an interesting mix. (Also I have not seen temples dedicated to kings too often). Apparently the temple had appeared on a turtle (there is a whole mythological story around it). And there is an iconic Turtle Tower on the lake to celebrate that too.

Around the lake

We walked around the lake, exploring art shops, old historical buildings and temples, cafes and eating places. In fact, the area becomes a pedestrian only area on weekends, and it was fun to just walk around.

Lotus water puppet show

While walking around the lake, we saw a signboard for a lotus water puppet show, and decided to go in. It was quite an entertaining show, showcasing a local art form, with puppets acting out stories in a pond of water. And a few musicians sang and provided live music to the show. It was quite folksy, with the puppeteers behind the screen using a stick in the water to move around the puppets. It was quite an artistic and skilled performance, and it was interesting to hear the local folk stories being enacted. Some of the stories involved dragons, some goddesses, and the others showcased local myths. We really enjoyed the show, as touristy as it was.

Food

The food in Hanoi was outstanding. Most of the time we ate at streetside places, or just walked into a local restaurant without checking reviews, and each of them served the tastiest meals I have ever eaten. I think I ate pho everyday, it was my favourite. And all the other dishes I tried were just finger licking good, whether in a shop or at a roadside place. And everyday it was the same story. We would decide, we would eat only twice a day as we were eating a lot already. But then within two hours of the previous meal, we would be hungry and ready to eat again! It was like we were in food heaven.

The first day, we ate at one of the streetside food places. They have these small stools that we sat on, right on the street, eating a huge amount of hotpot and observing all that was going on around us. Vendors selling, tourists buying, scooters buzzing past and everyone just moving about with a lot of energy. It was such a great experience, something I do miss in Europe.

Coffee Culture Cafe

One of the mornings, we walked into a coffee shop, Coffee Culture which felt like an instagrammable place. It was all painted in deep Van Gogh yellow. Also apparently, Vietnamese coffee is very good (Not being a coffee drinker, I can’t vouch for it but my friends were definitely impressed by it). Maybe that's why there were so many cafes all around, many with outside sitting places, gorgeous ones but which were more suited for when the weather was warmer. Also interestingly, the Vietnamese call it ca phe (as the Vietnamese language is mostly made of single syllable words) and not coffee.

Everywhere we ate was the same experience, Tasty and light food, with lots of spices. Yum! And the service everywhere was great, quick and efficient. And everyone smiled so much while serving, it felt nice to be eating so much too.

The vibe

Vietnamese fields (art)

The vibe of the Old Quarter was electric (almost crazy, and so different than the vibe in European towns which are more subdued). There was just so much activity and energy everywhere. So much colour. So much vibrancy. There were so many young people everywhere. Everyone was moving fast, with a purpose. And mostly smiling. Also many of the locals were wearing the straw hats which protect them from rain. They looked so cute. (We even bought one to help us in the rain but had to leave it behind as it was too bulky to carry in the plane).

Hanoi vibes

A lot of the shops were decorated with colourful lanterns and lamps and they added so much to the experience. They were colourful during the day, and lighted at night, adding so much vibrancy around. And of course, the roads were crowded with scooters and people.

Very early on in our trip, we realised that the weather was not going to turn “tropical” anytime soon, so we all decided to buy some warm clothes anyways. We walked into a few shops selling sports wear which were everywhere, all of them selling knock-off branded clothes, with North Face being the most popular. The one I bought actually looked quite authentic, and has lasted me more than a year already, so maybe it wasn't really fake?!

Also, our first day in Hanoi, we had been surprised when we noticed most people wearing North Face jackets. I actually mentioned to my friends that the locals seem to be mostly well to-do, all wearing these expensive jackets. I also wondered if it must be the most popular brand here. Later it turned out most of them were wearing fake pieces. Also all the tourists we met were wearing the same jackets - it turns out that everyone had expected to find hot weather, and on landing there, when they realised how the weather actually was, decided to buy some local warm clothes 😁.


Guided scooter tour of Old Quarter

Opera House

One of the days, we joined a guided scooter tour of the Old Quarter. We met the group at the Opera House. (It was a beautiful building btw, with lovely gardens outside). There was one guide on his own scooter, and three other young girls each with a scooter, for each of us. And then they took us around town, zipping through the traffic, showing us the city as the locals experienced it.

It was a bit scary at first, given how fast they drove and zigzagged through traffic. We had to hold on to them for our dear life. And it did not help that it was an extremely rainy day. Thankfully the guide had raincoats for all of us, which comfortably covered us fully on the scooter, saving us from the rain, wind and cold. And though the weather was a bummer, we did see the city in a new light, scootering with the locals made us feel like a local too.

B52 museum

We started with a buffet style vegan Vietnamese lunch at a local eatery called the Veggie Castle House. Then we drove to the B52 museum where we saw the pride the Vietnamese have in their history, their war against the US. This is the museum where the B52 planes shot down by the VietCong during the war are displayed. We were wondering how so many of these were shot down without sophisticated weapons, and the guide told us the unpredictable weather of Hanoi had a part to play in it, as the planes had to fly low whenever unexpected clouds covered the skies (And we were experiencing the unexpected weather ourselves too!).

Farms in Hanoi

The guide then took us to farms which were on an island in the middle of the city, on the Red river. We didn't know what to expect, and then we found huge farms, growing all kinds of vegetables and fruits, right within the chaos of Hanoi. It was pouring all afternoon, so we were not able to enjoy as much as we would have done on a sunnier day, exploring these lush green farms on the island. From there after some more crazy driving, we walked to the Red river and crossed the oldest bridge on the river.

Train Street

Our last stop of the day was the famous train street of Hanoi. This is a street surrounded by old narrow high houses, with regular trains moving through the tracks in between even with the houses being so close to them.To be honest, when I had read about it, I thought it was too touristy and I wouldn't want to go, but the real experience was totally worth it. It’s definitely worth visiting.

Train Street

The guides know the train timings, so they took us to the street 10 mins before the next train was to arrive. We walked along the train tracks for a bit and the houses all around had a beauty in spite of the chaos. With lanterns, colours, cafes and a lot of activity. Just before the train was to come, we sat at a cafe next to the tracks (where our guide had already reserved a seat). There was barely any space for the trains to pass by. Just before the train was to come, the cafe owners disassembled all the furniture and made space for the train. They ask the people sitting there to fold their legs and be careful. And thereafter, the whole experience was surreal. Slowly the train comes into view, passing by just inches away from where we all sat, a few inches from our knees. For a few minutes. It is a daily occurrence to the locals, but it was scary for us. I barely moved during those few minutes. Even to take photos 😂. It was definitely scary, but such a different experience. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

St Joseph Cathedral

The last stop of the tour was the St. Joseph Cathedral, a cathedral in grey white stone, something I have never seen before. It was charming. And then the guided tour was over. We were so cold by then, after having spent the whole day in strong wind and rain, we walked to the nearest hotel - La Sinfonia del Rey - and had a lovely rooftop dinner overlooking the Hoan Kiem lake. The view was awesome and the food even better. And the heating inside was a welcome relief too.

Rooftop Dinner

Overall, we spent so much time in the Old Quarter, that by the fifth day, we felt we knew the city, We knew what we liked, and where to find it. We had walked all its streets for the past few days and it felt “known”. One of the days, I even went for a run around the lake, it just felt like we lived there. And it was always a pleasure to explore it. I will always remember the vibe of Hanoi which we all enjoyed, it's tough to ever forget that.