Timdar Travel Blog

A few reflections on Hanoi before we leave tomorrow.

• It’s been a great introduction to Vietnam, especially the traffic and the food
• It’s been a pleasant temperature but a bit smoggy
• There are no real sights that could be described as “wowee” (apart from Ho Chi Minh’s body in a mausoleum which we swerved)

Our hotel

But there’s been lots of decent stuff to take in and get used to Vietnamese way of life, so here goes

Trains get pretty close!

Water puppets

Lovely to see Wol and Di – amazing that we’re all in Hanoi at the same time.

Their travels certainly put ours into perspective!

And a quick hi from a (extremely chilly) NYC.

Here’s a bit of “normal ” stuff as we settle into Hanoi.

Here’s the rooftop bar at our hotel, but the important thing is that the road around the lake is closed to traffic on weekends. Because we arrived on Saturday morning it’s been lovely and quiet.

Now it’s Monday and we’re heading a bit further afield to sightsee, we’re beginning to understand Hanoi traffic – it’s crazy. Crossing roads is interesting …

Anyway, the highlight of Sunday was a walking tour of the Old Quarter, which was great. Melody is only 22 and runs her own business.

And being young and tech savvy (her not me) there was lots of stuff from her on WhatsApp. Main point of the tour was learning how to say cheers in Vietnamese and having a real-life practice at the end.

And then took her advice on a restaurant which, uniquely in our experience, only has one thing on the menu – essentially a fish stir-fry with a side of spring rolls. Again, fun.

Didn’t expect that to be title of the second post of our Vietnam trip. Anyway, we’re beginning to acclimatise and find our way around and the most noticeable thing to happen is teenagers (predominantly girls but by no means all) dressing up in their finery and taking pictures like there’s no tomorrow for posting on social media.

We think it’s because it’s Tet (New Year) on 29 January and this is all part of the build up. And the pictures show a couple of individuals, but it’s the scale of it that’s mind blowing – they’re everywhere from temples, by lakes, in markets, and even in less salubrious places.

And they bring all their stuff with them – some with professional photographers and changing tents, but all of them with bags of tackle – including the lighting reflector you can see in the middle picture. I know – I’m beginning to sound like an old dad who doesn’t understand youngsters, and it’s true.

But it’s fun to watch. A bit like actors, they switch instantly into “photos for instagram ” mode and back to themselves in an instant! And because they’re so young when I asked permission to photograph them they immediately became bashful (and I hope a bit pleased).

And I can’t imagine what the lead up to this event has been like! It’s fun here …

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (in my best Robin Williams voice).

One helluva journey which went extremely well. Highlights:

• When you’re in a plane seat for 12 hours, Premium Economy is definitely worth it. Not only the legroom and reclining seat, but just that extra width makes all the difference.
• Time ceases to make any sense as you enter a zombie world. We left Heathrow at 11.00am, and arrived in Hanoi at 11.00 in the evening. But it’s 7 hours ahead so it was 6.00 the next morning.
• When tech works it’s amazing.

• eSIM means the phone works immediately on landing, so we can contact the taxi driver without stress.
• Air tags meant we could see both suitcases were in Hanoi about 20 minutes before they appeared on the carousel.

We had arranged for hotel access straight away, which meant breakfast and bed straight away.

Then some tentative exploratory steps into Hanoi.

And then managed to lose my Monzo card, but could immediately check it hadn’t been used and freeze it online, and use Eileen’s straight away. Here’s to stress-free adventures!