Hanoi and Overall Thoughts on Vietnam

Hanoi 

7/1: took a bus from Sapa to Lao Cai and waited for our overnight train back to Hanoi. We had a room with bunk beds all to ourselves but I didn’t sleep that much due to the frequent stopping of the train (still a comfortable way to travel tho!)

7/2: found a pho place open in Hanoi at 5:45 am so stopped there for a bit, then went to Cafe Dinh (supposedly where egg coffee) originated in the Old Quarter. Spent a few hours there, then switched to another cafe and got lychee tea, sat in the park for awhile, stopped at a nice place in the Old Quarter for lunch, then checked into our hotel


7/3: said goodbye to Tyler (he went back to the states for a wedding/family stuff) and left for Ninh Binh


7/5: killed more time in Hanoi before my flight to Laos, mostly just running errands and getting some food to use up my cash


*overall I wasn’t super impressed with Hanoi (overtouristy, not that much to do in my opinion) but I was also exhausted every time I was there and didn’t do some of the staples like train street, etc. so I can’t really speak to it


Overall Thoughts on Vietnam


Posts about Vietnam are very prevalent on social media, so I guess in some ways it was exactly what I was expecting and also nothing like what I was expecting at the same time. I enjoyed my time in Vietnam much more than I thought I would, but for me it didn’t quite live up to the social media hype. Like very pleasant/enjoyable, but not the life-altering experience that some people describe it as. 


What I liked: 

The access to beautiful scenery (rice terraces, Lan Ha bay, mountains, rivers, viewpoints, etc.)

The hostels were generally very high quality and very affordable on a US salary. The hostel breakfasts (when offered) were usually very good/expansive and hostels tended to be in good condition and have lots of amenities.

It was relatively easy to get around.


What I didn’t like as much:

I chose not to eat any fresh/cold food to avoid getting sick, which I don’t regret (since I didn’t get sick), but I do feel like I missed out on some/a lot of the cuisine and I have never really liked pho so I got super tired of eating it. Pho and pumpkin soup felt like some of the only budget food options that fit my self-imposed dietary restrictions, which was kind of unfortunate but definitely not the end of the world.

Buses changing departure times without notifying us - thus, having to text each bus company the day before to confirm the departure time.

Vietnam was the first country I visited where I was directly exposed to lots of obnoxious and inconsiderate travelers, and the problem usually wasn’t with Americans (that’s a first lol). I witnessed a lot of ppl from Europe + Australia being quite entitled and rude to workers in the service industry, etc.

I also just have conflicting feelings about my own decision to visit there. I’m glad I went off the beaten path in Mu Cang Chai, but wish I had gone a bit more off the beaten path (although I enjoyed what I did) because I felt guilty contributing to problems in overtouristed areas. I also feel like I couldn’t (and still can’t) fully grasp the nuances of how tourism affects locals in different areas there (seems both positive and negative, both in kind of an extreme way).




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