I happened to get on a trip to Vietnam in Feb of this year. Was looking for the much needed break from my toxic manager and the toxic job. I landed up at just the right place for a vacation that would calm my nerves and help me in reestablishing my worth in life.
Though I did cover the length and breadth of the country which is right from Hanoi to Danang to HCMC, I quite fell in love with the quaint and the cultural Hanoi .
I reached Hanoi from Delhi in the early morning hours and was welcomed by its cold and misty weather . It was pretty unexpected and the chill in the air was anything but mild and pleasant !!
My hotel was in the old quarter of Hanoi often referred to as the Hoan Kiem District. Hungry after the flight , I rushed to Indian restaurant to have something to munch. And boy! It played the Nirma ( bathing soap) ad on a repeat at that place. It’s old ad from 1980s and not sure why would the place run that ad on a repeat ! Funny …but amusing .
The old quarter indeed provides a very immersive experience for every tourist . Be it conical hats, hand woven crochet tops or lovely dolls , flowers– all seemed like a wonderland for any girl to shop. Despite being in my early 40s, I felt like a little girl who wanted to grab it all.
The real stars of this place are of course the street hawkers who bring this place to life. Local ladies ride past on bicycles selling all sorts of items from donuts to hair clips. This is what makes this place a hustling and a bustling quarter.
The no milk Vietnam special tea in those side walk stalls is a delightful experience. You will catch both local folks and tourists sitting around with tea/ coffee , cigarette and possibly a newspaper in hand.
It is often said that to understand the true spirit of Hanoi, just visit any old sidewalk tea shop to fully experience every facet of this city. I couldn’t agree more.
There are also countless cafes in the city and specially in the old quarters that literally spill out onto the already congested pavements. Hanoi possibly runs on coffee and many of these cafe are highly instagrammable! The beauty of the cafés decor adds to overall charm. I am not going to lie that I quite did not like taste of local coffee. I have usually not been fan of coffee from around the world except that of my home state ( south)back in India. But then I know lot of people who went gaga over Vietnamese coffee there and loved every sip of it.
There are several retail coffee shops that sell several kinds of coffee. Something that caught my attention was the Weasel coffee. Weasel coffee – is coffee produced using the partially digested coffee cherries that are eaten by weasels and harvested from their poop.💩. Yes you heard it right- poop! The shopkeeper did say the taste was smooth and had caramel chocolate flavour, but I had no heart to taste it.
Stroll around the Hoan Kiem lake in the misty weather was ethereal . Crossed over the bridge to visit the famous Ngoc Son temple which is a big touristy attraction .
The next two days went in exploring old quarter in a cyclo ( Each Cyclo takes one passenger and is operated by a cycle driver behind the carriage), visiting the night market and shopping around for some cute souvenirs and clothes and other city land marks like Temple of literature and city museums. Needless to say,I also get a flavour of the foot massages in the city to get break from long walks.
There is lot to this postcard perfect city. Did I just forget the famous train street ?
People can sit, eat and drink right next to railway on the doorstep and that is real attraction . But the weather in night got very chilly and the train quite didn’t arrive at estimated hour . So, in the end I missed seeing train but loved the area and its charm. This train street is little hyped though, but thanks to social media – there is lot of hype out there these days.
I instead chose to retire to my hotel room and enjoy a hot bath and 💤.
Hanoi is an absolute must visit and is a perfect meeting point of past, present and future!
