Although Vietnam greeted us with cloudy grey skies and light drizzle, we found it quit refreshing after months of high UV rays and sweaty days. The rainy big city made us feel welcome and we grew more attached than we expected, more than any previous visited city thus far. The unfortunate itinerary change, due to Chris’s unexpected trip home, caused us to extent our stay in Hanoi, the capital city. As Hanoi turned out to be our favorite big city, we have thoroughly enjoyed the turn of events. On arrival at our reasonably priced gorgeous hotel, we were greeted with exceptional service and immediately felt attached to the city. With delicious hot tea and rose peddles strewn throughout our room, we quickly debunked the rumors of Vietnamese people being unfriendly. Comparing Hanoi to previous cities of similar size, such as; Barcelona, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, we were in love with the local atmosphere and lack of tourist overload. The streets are filled with character and charm, as local Vietnamese women roam around with baskets full of donuts, fruit, and flowers, while the men take part in street side shoe repairs. While walking along shoe street, where our hotel is located, Chris was alarmed when a man removed his flip-flop mid step and immediately inserted a thread and needle, fixing a problem that did not exist.

Our first day was spent roaming the streets and admiring the segregation of the shopping streets. Turning off of shoe street, we found ourselves roaming; clothing street, party supply street, bamboo street, metal working street, styrofoam street, jewelry street, lingerie street, and our favorite, mannequin street. These tiny local shops were filled with so much character, we were left walking around for hours with big smiles and positive vibes. While Natalie is ecstatic at any excuse to shop, Chris is a rare shopper, only satisfied at REI garage sales. Hanoi had the shopping even Chris dreamed of, hundreds of The North Face outlets with inexpensive athletic and travel ware. Although these street shops had seemingly everything, our hotel recommended a visit to the local mega mall. With a boat cruise only a couple days away, Natalie figured a new bikini and a trip to the mall was in store. In love with the city, we decided to walk the 6km less traveled by tourists and take in the local atmosphere. Four hours and a couple wrong turns later, we were finally at the mega mall. With a water park, bowling alley, skating rink, and hundreds of shops, it truly was mega. With shopping for Natalie, came with compromise for Chris of course, a bowling competition with pizza and beer. While in the midst of competing, we came to the realization that it was one of our favorite celebrated holidays, St. Patricks Day. So, we looked into some local Irish puts to honor this cherished tradition of drinking beer.

With only two Irish pubs in the area, we should not have been surprised by the overflow of Westerners. As the local Vietnamese employees were overwhelmed by the strange holiday and excessive drinking of their customers, they raced from table to table nearly out of breath. We found it interesting that we were doing exactly the same thing we would be doing at home in LA, drinking beer in a bar full of Westerners. Something very different however, was that the party came to an abrupt stop at 12:05am, when the local police showed up and immediately kicked everyone out of the bar. We read in Lonely Planet that every bar, restaurant, club, etc. is shut down nightly at midnight. However, we were still extremely surprised by the promptness of the local police. As we walked home, arriving to our hotel around 12:15am, we were again surprised by the darkness, locked doors, and the hotel front barrier down. This reminded us a little of our travels in India, as we often had to wake up the front desk from the mattress in the corner, anytime we arrived after 10pm or before 9am. A couple nights later, after a delicious lantern lit meal, we stumbled upon the packed alleyways and closed off streets of the Hanoi Old Town corner. This area had street bands playing at major intersections, kegs lined up on the curb offering beer for 22 cents, and ten foot wide bars expanding countless plastic miniature tables and chairs into the streets. Amazed by the local atmosphere, we enjoyed some Bia Ha Noi and experienced the locals unwinding, as well as one of our favorite nights out. As we walked around, we saw locals and tourists alike, enjoying Vietnamese table side BBQs in the tiny plastic chairs, and we were reminded of the experience we watched and hoped for in Anthony Bourdain travel show. We decided we had to come back and try the local BBQ after our Halong Bay cruise, and enjoyed a enormous vegetable hot pot when we did.

Halong Bay is one of the most famous images of Vietnam, with boats cruising around the beautiful islands drenched in sunlight. With these images and those of the cruise brochure that we were given, we expected something like our Virgin Islands or Mexico cruise and brought swimming suits and summer wear. As the cloud cover continued, we came to find our Halong Bay cruise was an erie experience more than a sunny getaway. We were pleasantly surprised however, as the thick fog engulfing the thousand of islands made for some pictures that were no less beautiful than the sunny ones of tourist websites and brochures. Similar to our prior cruises, food was thrust on you until you ate past the point of comfort. As newly complete vegetarians, we were given meals that looked dismal next to the meat frenzy next to us. Although the cruise line was very good about providing an alternative vegetarian meal for every meat meal given to those beside us, sometimes our meals lacked substance and presentation in comparison. For example, our first meal on board, a large plate of fresh shrimp and crab was presented with floral garnished vegetables, while our substitute was a plate of steamed carrots. Second came a chicken and vegetable stir-fry, while we were given this time steamed string beans. Meals continued this way with beef and fish, brining the meat count to five types per meal. This overload of meat really brought to the forefront the sharp decrease in value for money. As vegetarians, we considered leaving a comment in the feedback form to offer a special discounted price for vegetarians, as not only did we only eat steamed vegetables, while the rest of the boat indulged in five types of meat for both lunch and dinner, but we were also unable to participate in activities such as; squid fishing and beef spring roll rolling.

As we sit in a local cafe overlooking the mid-city lake on our last day in Hanoi, as well as our last day together before we part ways, we are enjoying some rainy day coffee and reflecting upon our favorite city so far. As Chris prepares to head home, Natalie is excited for the last minute decision to take on Singapore. Although traveling to a new country without Chris is not ideal, Singapore offers an intriguing and comfortable path to take for the next few days.