Our first stop in South East Asia after Dubai is Vietnam and we are starting from the North in Vietnams Capital of Hanoi.
We stayed in Hanoi for three days and began our explorations of Vietnam by experiencing the night life. Hanoi is famous for their streets that are dedicated to one type of product range for example shoe street, fruit street and so much more. So for our first night we explored beer street. Beer street as you could imagine is a whole street dedicated to alcoholic beverages and bars. What is so popular about this street is that everyone sits and drinks outside on the pavement which here in Vietnam is actually illegal even if it isn’t alcohol. So when the police come down the tiny narrow beer street, all the bars quickly rush and put all their chairs and customers inside their businesses. We stopped off at a little bar/restaurant called Little Hanoi where a small man going by the name G served us up some of the strongest drinks I’ve ever had. A few drinks later we ended up in many different bars and clubs around Hanoi listening to Vietnamese DJs playing music from all around the world. It was a fabulous night until I woke the next morning with the worse hangover I have had in a while.
After recovering from our hangovers we decided to explore the city during the day and visit the infamous Train street. Train street is where a train on tracks runs by the shops within a really close proximity. You are not allowed to freely walk down the tracks to a cafe, restaurant or bar as the police at each entrance will prevent you to. To get into where the train tracks run you have to follow an employee and buy something at their business. The cafe we went to had very small birds in cages hanging above us, these birds are thought to bring good luck and wealth to the business. The small birds learn songs off one another and eventually sing in harmony. The more birds you have singing the same song the more wealth good luck you will have.
Our last day in Hanoi was a walking tour around the Capital. This is when we really got to explore all the different streets and get to try some of the local foods. Starting off by tasting and learning about fruits I’ve never even seen before. Green Oranges, A Thousand Eyes and Praying Hands were all new fruits to me with Green Oranges being my favourite to taste along with their mangoes, apples and pears. We walked through fish street which was the most peculiar thing I had seen so far on our trip. The biggest living crabs, fish, frogs and turtles of some variety locked in cages and tanks all ready to be sold to the locals as food. Everything looks so fresh and abundant on the streets of Hanoi except the fish in my opinion. We stopped by some more local businesses to try home brew street beer, egg coffee and iced tea. A pint of street beer costs approximately 25p, no wonder we had such a hangover. Egg coffee or also egg chocolate is a very famous drink in Vietnam. Instead of using milk, egg yolk is frothed and warmed up and used instead, this was due to a shortage of milk post the Vietnam War around 1975. To end the day we took a rickshaw ride on the busy roads through Hanoi. A small older man pedalled through the streets whilst we took in the sights and became apart of the busy lifestyle.
Hanoi is very different to anything I have experienced before, the constant buzz around the Capital, the amount of mopeds driving around without any form of road rules, the amazing food and seeing the businesses are all so fascinating to have experienced. Very different to the western world but I loved every minute of it!
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