Last day in Hanoi and we head off to Hong Kong tomorrow for the last leg of the trip. I’m still in disbelief that this trip is almost ending but glad that I’ll be heading back and seeing friends and family again. Also, I’m excited to get back to working. I feel refreshed and excited for what’s to come.
We had breakfast in the executive lounge and then took the shuttle to the Old Quarter at 1 pm. It’s a free shuttle that JW provides for their guests. I thought staying at 5-star hotels for three weeks would be really expensive but it turns out that it’s been more relatively economical than expected because of the executive lounge access and other perks. We basically get free buffet style breakfast with high quality food, free drinks all day, and dinner buffet that they call “hors doeuvres” but it has enough food to sufficiently call it a dinner buffet. Just the access to the lounge is worth 50 USD per person. Staying at the hotels was also a great change that added a vacation element to the trip. I’m glad it all worked out.
The smog is horrendous in Hanoi. We first thought it was fog in the morning but when noon came around the “fog” wasn’t lifting. The city is perpetually covered in a hazy grey soot most likely from the endless motorbikes zooming around. We looked up the average pollutants detected in Hanoi and it was 93 compared to Los Angeles at 32. I thought LA was bad but Hanoi is at another level. We wanted to find some face masks because of it. My asthmas
Our goal in the Old Quarter area was first to find contact solution, get our sim cards charged up, and finally, find some face masks because of the air quality. It was easier than we expected to knock everything off the list. We walked into an optics store and they sold us some contact solution. Most locals don’t speak English much so we had to use Google translate. I can understand a bit of Vietnamese but not well enough to fully understand meaning nor even close enough to speak it.
We then went right next door to a 7-eleven and charged up our sims with 3gigs for 70,000 VND (around 3 USD). It was much easier than we thought. We then tried finding face masks but no luck. We saw a mall on our way over to get contact solution so we headed back there to check it out. It was nice but nothing we haven’t seen before.
We then headed over to a Bun Cha place but not the one Obama and Anthony Bourdain went to because it was a bit far. We decided to go to another place that seemed equally good, if not better based on ratings.
The walk was about 20 minutes so we got to see a lot of the city on the way. I think Hanoi has a fascinating charm about it. Where we were, a small lake occupied the center of the city. It looked like it was the epicenter of activity and everything spread out from it. It was beautiful during the day and even more stunning at night. The architecture was a blend of Vietnamese and French aesthetics. I can confidently say that I like Hanoi much better than Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
We found the place we were looking for. It was a small unassuming building but the food was exceptional. I’ve never had this Vietnamese dish before but I wish I did. We got noodles and veggies on the side and were given a broth that tasted like sort of like tomato with a sweetness to it. It had meatballs and slices of I think beef. We also ordered sides of fried eggrolls. To eat the dish, you put the fresh herbs and veggies inside the soup and you’d take some noodles an dip it into the soup. Then you’d take the noodles with some meat and herbs and eat it together. You could also take the egg rolls and dip it into the soup and eat it that way. It was incredibly flavorful and satisfying. It was hit in my books.
After late lunch, we went to get egg coffee which Hanoi is known for. We found a place with great reviews online. It wasn’t far from where we were. When we got there it was only visible because of a sign outside in a small slit of the street. The place wasn’t very big and it looked very under kept. It was packed from front to back so we assumed it must be a great place especially with all the reviews.
We got the hot egg coffee. It was good but it wasn’t better than the place we went to in HCMC. The placed looked really dirty. I didn’t like the vibe of the place either. I think we both started feeling a sick in the stomach because of the coffee from there. I definitely wouldn’t go back to the same place but I would get egg coffee again. I still think it’s delicious and has a unique creaminess you can only get from the eggs.
We had some time to kill after coffee since the night market didn’t really start until 6-7 pm. We went for a foot massage at a place right next to the coffee shop. The reviews were good and it wasn’t a sketchy looking place. The massages were decent but the towels they used on me seemed damp still. It cost 560,000 VND (approx. 22 USD) for a 30-minute foot massage and 1 hour back massage. The best massages were still from Chiang Mai near the Le Meridien hotel.
It was 6 pm once we were done with our
When we arrived, the place wasn’t fully set up yet so we had another 45 minutes to kill. I heard Hanoi is known for this Banh Mi so I wanted to try it. I found a place with great reviews. I ordered the mixed meat one with pate in it and added a fried egg. They were smaller than I’m used but it’s probably a good thing. The bread was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside with a nice chewy texture to it. I thought it tasted great. Jason didn’t have any because he was having stomach issues probably from the egg coffee. It was good enough that I ordered a bbq pork one to go. I also had an avocado/coconut ice cream. It didn’t have any artificial sweetener in it so it got it’s sweetness from the coconut. It tasted natural with a slight hint of sweetness and a creamy texture from avocado. It was delicious.
We head back to the night market. One of the streets gets filled with tents for all sorts of vendors. It stretched about 3 blocks. At this point, we’ve seen so many night markets it wasn’t much new to it. They have different things from Thailand but generally, the products are cheap knock-offs with some touristy products. It’s just fun to browse through and see what they have but we didn’t find much of anything we were interested in.
We walked the entire market and then headed back. The area we were in was so crowded we needed to find an open area to get a Grab ride back. We walked by the lake where we saw a vibrant night life. There were young kids to grandparents roaming the streets. There was so much going on; it was exciting. It felt a little bit like New York. I definitely like Hanoi and would like to visit again. I have no interest in visiting Saigon until another 5-10 years of development. Hanoi feels like a different country with a great atmosphere to it.
We got to the hotel and I hit the gym for a quick workout. I’ve been eating like crazy without much restriction with little time for the gym. I’m thankful I got at least one work out in.
After the gym, I showered and packed up the rest of my stuff to leave for Hong Kong in the morning. We need to leave the hotel by 7 am to make sure we make our 10:30 am flight safely considering it’s an international flight. Since the trip is coming to an end, I unloaded some unnecessary items to free up some space.
That’s it for Hanoi! It was a great time here and now we’re off to our last destination before our trip back to the States on the 24th of December. It’s almost been 4 months since I’ve been in South East Asia and I loved every aspect of it.
Now on to Hong Kong!