10 Whole Days in Hanoi

After what felt like a non-stop stretch of adventures in Japan, Nepal, and our first week in Vietnam, we were excited to unpack our bags for a little bit and explore all that Hanoi had to offer [while we waited for those damn Brazilian visas]. We had great exploring weather, and spent most of our time eating delicious Vietnamese food and drinking coffee.



Our favorite things:

1. Egg coffee. We didn't order it until our last day in Hanoi (which is where egg coffee originated), but it was amazing. Also, The Note Coffee Shop was a huge win.

2. The super-friendly people who always wanted to sit and talk with us around the lake to practice their English. So nice. At first we thought they might try to swindle us, but really they just wanted to chat for a bit. Also, the lake is just beautiful, especially in the evening.

3. The Women's Museum. Neither of us are actually into museums- we find them generally pretty dry, and can be in and out in under 30 minutes. This, however, was very different. We spent over 2 hours here! It was SO interesting. Also, there was a presentation that just happened to be occurring in the lobby on the economic impact of women in business in Vietnam, a study that was funded by the International Finance Corporation and Australian government. We watched from a little hiding place for most of the presentation. It was amazing.

Side note: Vietnamese women have been ass-kicking warriors for a long, long time. It's so interesting the difference in their attitudes towards women in war.

4. The night market was fantastic. Everyone was out and about, dancing, doing aerobics, jumping rope, singing karaoke. It's way better than just a "market"-- it's more like a street festival, and it was targeted for the whole city, not just tourists.

5. The food. Specifically, Bahn Mi 25 [which we ate an embarrassing number of times]. But really, all of the food like Bun Bo Nam Bo, and our amazing Thanksgiving dinner of 4 P's  pizza and red wine. 

*Side note: sometimes the police come while you're eating outside. Turns out most restaurants aren't allowed to seat people on the sidewalks, but they do anyways. The servers will clear your plates, put your food in the doorway, and snag your chairs before the police take the tables and chairs away. Don't panic: eventually you'll get your food (and maybe a chair) back after the cops leave. You can hold your beer.

6. Dong Xuang Market. You need to be in the mood to negotiate and navigate crowds and crowds of people and junk, or this will be your nightmare. We knew what we were getting, so it was great. Ben scored a pair of sunglasses, and I got a purse (from a kind one-legged man who let us know the Americans stole his leg in the war, so really a purchase felt like the least we could do).

Things we did that we felt "meh" about:

1. The Water Puppet Show. The art of it was neat, but there is zero context, so we found it to be the most boring 45 minutes we've had in Vietnam.

2. The Prison (which surprised us, as we had heard fantastic things). We realized we knew way too little about the background of the Vietnam War. It went on for 30 years, with the US involvement being only a small component of their national history (#duh, we know, but we really thought we had a better grasp on it until we went there). It was interesting, but we wish we had done more research before we went.

3. Bat Trang, the ceramics village. We enjoyed getting into a quieter part of Hanoi and away from the chaos, but we felt kind of swindled here. We knew we wanted to make and paint pottery, but we struggled to communicate and negotiate. It was fine, but make sure you communicate on prices BEFORE your hands are deep in the pottery wheel (and if you're only in Hanoi for a few days, I'd cross this off the list).

4. Cocktail prices. Woof. It's a good thing we like cheap beer.