We enjoyed our time in Laos, but I was ready for a new country, a change in cuisine, and hopefully gentler digestion! We flew with Lao Airlines for a quick trip to Hanoi. Upon arrival, we discovered that many international flights had landed around the same time, packing the Customs Hall. Thankfully, our exceptional new CEO, Puna, guided us to the “right” line—next to the priority line, which wasn’t heavily used, allowing the Customs officer to process people from our line as well, doubling our speed.

After clearing customs, we caught a bus to our hotel. During trip planning, I found out that several countries we were visiting had Michelin-starred restaurants. Tonight, we were visiting our first one. Customs delays meant we only had a quick freshen-up at the hotel before Andrew and I got a Grab (their equivalent of Uber) to ride to Tam Vi for dinner. Tam Vi is one of six Michelin-starred restaurants in Vietnam, with three in Hanoi and three in Ho Chi Minh City. We enjoyed our meal, though a single star in Asia seemed different than in the U.S. Our dinner consisted of four dishes and three non-alcoholic drinks for $33. The crispy tofu with green onion sauce was the best tofu I’ve ever had, and we loved the steamed morning glory served with a delicious soybean paste. The roasted chicken and soup were just okay. But, another Michelin restaurant checked off the list!

After dinner, we took a Grab to the Old Quarter to meet up with the rest of our tour group. While waiting, Andrew and I explored the weekend night market, amazed at how narrow streets transformed into a smorgasbord of restaurants, shops, and beer gardens, with aggressive sales staff trying to lure us in. A few drops of water led us to believe it was AirCon runoff, but we soon found ourselves in a downpour. We dashed to a corner awning, sheltering with about 20 others, just as tree branches crashed down where we had been. Once the rain let up, we headed to a rooftop bar where our friends joined us for drinks to close out the night. We then took a van Grab back to the hotel for some rest before our early start the next day.

Our alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we met our tour guide, Kenny, a local Hanoi resident. We embarked on an “hour-long” walk, which turned into a 3-4 hour exploration, stopping at various sights. Kenny pointed out buildings showcasing French architectural influence. Navigating Hanoi’s traffic was an adventure; with 10 million people (6 million owning motorbikes), crossing the street involved identifying your path, starting to walk, and NOT stopping, as motorbike drivers maneuver around cars and pedestrians like Frogger pros. We had several opportunities to test this skill. We also realized there are no Stop signs in Hanoi. They have some traffic lights that are “generally” followed (not always), but otherwise don’t appear to have many traffic laws (or traffic enforcement). The street traffic can be well described as organized chaos.

Motorbikes in Hanoi transport almost anything, which led us to play a game of spotting the most unusual items, by description, item, or size. I started a photo collection called “motorbikes carrying _______.”

While Kenny continued the tour, sharing details about Hanoi, Joanne, a group member, noticed we were near the famous Train Street. Kenny led us to a shop for a rest and cold drink while waiting for the next train. It was quite a sight!

Continuing the tour, Kenny shared the life and history of Ho Chi Minh, the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and founder of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the influence the Soviet Union had on him. Having visited Russia twice, once in 1993 just after the fall of the Soviet Union, I found it fascinating to see so many communist symbols still prevalent in Hanoi. We then visited Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, though we could only see the outside as it was under maintenance. I got to see Lenin’s body in his mausoleum in Moscow, so was disappointed we weren’t able to see HCM’s body. We also toured the Presidential grounds where he spent much of his time.

Hungry after the tour, we headed to Banh Mi 25, a famous spot recommended by Dee and Orlaith from our group. It did not disappoint—the bread was amazing, and everyone loved it so much some went for seconds. Next, we visited The Note coffee shop, a four-story cafe covered in post-it notes. We enjoyed refreshing lemonade and passion fruit juice while leaving messages for future visitors. Then, we tried egg coffee, which was invented in Hanoi in 1946. Andrew wanted to visit The Giang Cafe, the shop named after egg coffee’s inventor. Both the egg coffee and egg coconut coffee were delicious (check back later when we learn how it’s made!).

We’ve been gone for about 2.5 weeks, so we were ready for a haircut. We found a highly rated men’s barbershop. I got a shampoo, hair cut, fade, cut, beard trim, straight edge razor shave, after shave, straight edge clean-up of the t-zone, nose, lips, hairline, another shampoo, and blow dry, all for $9. Andrew got the same, minus the beard trim and shave. We then returned to the hotel for a group meeting marking the start of the second part of our G Adventures trip. That night, we will bid farewell to Dee and Orlaith who are dropping off the group (Dave also left in Laos); and we welcome a new group member for the second leg through Vietnam. That evening, we attended a water puppet show, a first for everyone, followed by a group dinner at Hanoi Food Culture, which became one of our favorite meals in Vietnam. The duck in kumquat and passion fruit sauce was fantastic.

Puna teaches us some Vietnamese phrases daily. Tonight, she taught us “oi gioi oi,” which means “oh my Buddha,” frequently used instead of “oh my God.” To celebrate Dee and Orlaith’s departure, we visited Moonlight Sky Bar, a beautifully designed rooftop bar with the best craft cocktails we’ve had on the trip. We tried 4 of the 5 drinks on their concept menu, with Andrew planning to recreate them at home. Exhausted after our 16-hour day, we took Grabs back to the hotel, and collected our laundry arranged by Puna. We paid 80,000 Vietnam Dong (~$3) per kilogram, a fraction of the hotel price (each pair of shorts or t-shirt with the hotel laundry was $2). Andrew wanted a shoulder bag, so we headed back to the Old Quarter to search for it. Despite finding two, they were dirt-stained and smaller than expected, so we abandoned the idea and headed to bed by 12:30 a.m., ready for another early start to Ha Long Bay.

With 2-3 very full days, I’m splitting this blog post into 2 parts. Look soon for the 2nd half covering our overnight boat in the stunning Ha Long Bay.

Sharing more soon,

Jeff