Up north to Hanoi, Crazy city!

Up north to Hanoi, Crazy city!

Hanoi, Vietnam, Asia

We got up this morning, packed up our gear and checked out of the hotel at 6:30am. We had a breakfast-to-go bag waiting for us at reception and a taxi was outside, ready to bring us to the airport. We had another smooth check-in at the airport, got through security and walked straight onto the plane. Vietnam Airlines has been wonderful both times I’ve flown with them now, I would highly recommend them. The plane was only about half full so Dad and I got a row to ourselves where we could stretch out a bit.

We had an easy one hour flight and we landed in Hanoi to the beautiful sight of blue skies and sunshine. We found a tourist information booth to find out the best way to get into the city, and we ended up booking a boat trip in Halong Bay for tomorrow. We were planning on doing this when we got to the hotel in the city, but it seemed like such a good deal, we didn’t want to miss out. We got our taxi from the same tourist center and within one hour we were in Hanoi.

The city is very big, and very busy, but it looks pretty nice. We are in a good area in the Astoria Hotel, but the hotel is not quite up to the standards of places we’ve been staying in. It’s just not as clean, no wifi, and a little more expensive than the last couple of places, but that’s to be expected in a big city. At least the location is good though, that’s a big thing. It was also nice that they let us check in at 10am, some places are sticklers for their 2pm check-in time.

We went out for a walk to Hoan Kiem Lake and had some lunch right by the lake. It was a really nice place for lunch, a little pricey, but worth it for the food and the view. We went for a walk to the temple on Tha Huc Island, and it was nice to be able to finally enjoy a nice day of weather for sightseeing. Dad was in his element taking millions of pictures of everything and everyone around the lake. There were a lot of wedding parties having their pictures taken by the lake, so Dad became the backup photographer for a lot of them too.

We went up to City View Cafe for a drink, and another photo shoot for Dad, and then took a walk over to the Opera. I could see the resemblance to the one in Paris, but the Hanoi version just doesn’t measure up. We went back to the hotel to relax a bit, and Dad went out to take more pictures on his own. When he came back we went out to find a place for dinner, and ended up at a place that was owned by the same people we had lunch with. This restaurant was right on a sidewalk in the center of the city next to a huge roundabout. It was next to the night market, and City View Cafe, and you could see that this place just comes alive at night.

After dinner we went for a walk through the night market, and it was very different from most other markets I’ve seen. It seemed to be a higher class market where they weren’t selling as many souvenirs or crappy things. It was mostly nice clothes, and average prices. There weren’t any amazing deals to be found there, but there were millions of people. We only last about 20 minutes in the market before making a break for freedom. We had passed a massage parlor earlier in the day that looked like a good deal, so we went back and I was happy to take in my first massage since Chiang Mai.

It was a much different massage than a Thai one, and it was much more relaxing. About 45 of the 70 minutes was just on my back, and that’s exactly what I needed. The only strange thing was that it was a big room with three beds in it, and no dividers. There were two of us in there getting a massage, and the other one was my Dad. The girls were nice enough and tried to practice their English a little bit, but most of the time they just spent talking to each other. It was one of the best massages I’ve had for a long time, and I think I’m going to go back when I return to Hanoi. For $8, you really can’t beat it! Off to bed now as we have an early rise for our trip to Halong Bay tomorrow!

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