I left the beautiful mountain scenery of Sapa, headed for the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital city in the North known for its busy traffic and delicious Street food. I got an “overnight” bus there, however the bus took only 4 hours, and so dropped us off in the middle of downtown Hanoi at 3am. Lovely. Luckily my hostel for the next night let me crash on their couch until the morning.

Wandering the streets of hanoi in the middle of the night

But, I got up in the morning ready to brave the streets to find some delicious food, eaten on plastic chairs set up on the sidewalk (they’re everywhere! I just walked around until I saw one with an open seat and sat down). You get whatever they give you, especially when your Vietnamese is limited to hello, please, thank you, and my favorite; delicious!

Here’s what I got, curry pork soup with cucumbers in it, cucumbers!

Another Vietnamese institution, coffee, served in a similar way, on the street, with complimentary tea

I also had the pleasure of drinking Bia Ha Noi, on tap for 10000dong at a corner (of course, on plastic chairs, set up on the street). No pictures though.

The mean streets of Hanoi. Notice a cameo by my family name:

That’s enough I figured of Hanoi for now, I need some scenery. So I headed to Cat Ba island, the biggest island in the Ha Long Bay archipelago, complete with a fairly large town and plenty of things catering to tourists. It’s developed but the scenery is amazingly! Going to spend a couple of days here, enjoying the ocean, beaches and beautiful limestone karsts.