Our First stop: The Capital of Vietnam, Hanoi!

Hanoi is the second largest city in Vietnam.

Hanoi is vibrant and fast paced. With tons of daily markets, a hustle and bustle lifestyle and great Nightlife!

Trail & Tribulation Tip: When we first arrived, we were greeted by many taxi drivers offering to take us to our location. We made the mistake of letting our guard down to a very overly friendly taxi driver who played us. He convinced us that we were staying in a bad area and took us to his “recommended hotel.” I was in this “recommended hotel” for 5 minutes before I walked out. So gross, so small, and there was blood on the sheets… immediately took another cab to where we had a reservation. Only to find that the ATM the previous taxi driver had taken us to, ate Jordan’s debit card… it was rough start to being in Vietnam.

RECOMMEND: Always have cash on you. Get some out at the airport!

What made everything better: Pho and Massages

Pho is a type of Vietnamese soup made from beef stock with rice noodles and thinly sliced meats. Many eat Pho for breakfast.  I think i ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Hanoi has a great night life! We headed to Ta Hien Street which is known has Hanoi’s “beer street”. This street has a great atmosphere if your looking to have a fun time. The first night we hung out at Prague Pub. Lite up in bright red colors, you cant miss it! With open sitting, we ended up making friends with a couple from Colombia and partied together the rest of the night. We also really liked Toms Bar.

We had all day to explore Hanoi before we were to catch a train to Sapa, Vietnam!

RECOMMEND: be prepared to spend that money. The Vietnamese dong equals .000043 unites states dollars.  Vietnam offers a lot of knock off products, especially North Face. I still have my North Face rain jacket for $20 that would have cost me $100 in the US.

RECOMMEND: getting tickets to see The Water Puppet Show . This was the highlight for me in Hanoi. One of the most interesting  theatrical performances I have seen. With a live Vietnamese orchestra playing traditional music, and short story telling, even as an adult I felt like a giggly little kid who wanted to play with water puppets. You really get a sense of Vietnamese culture.

RECOMMEND: Use Hanoi has a transportation hub to get to our other locations. We really only stayed here while passing through to other places in Vietnam.

On To Sapa, Vietnam!

We barley had 2 days in Sapa. Getting in at 6 a.m and leaving at 10 p.m by train the next day.

Sapa is world famous for their terraced rice fields and the stunning scenery being in the Hoang Lien Son Mountains.

We stayed at Stunning Views Hotel. Unfortunately, it was foggy, cold and rainy in November, so you couldn’t even see the building across the street.

I personally feel that you can find a better hotel then this one.

RECOMMEND: Go to Sapa in the summer time when you can actually see the stunning views.

We rented a moped and rode to Cat Cat village. Cat Cat Village gives you a glimpse into the daily life of local  people. Women wearing bright vibrant clothes, selling you traditional souvenirs.

The craziest thing I saw was the elaborate water wheels made from bamboo used for power among other things to pound rice, so that they did not have to. It really is a must see. It shows how amazing humans are even with little resources.

Check out this lil video of us exploring cat cat village!

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RECOMMEND: Order a HOT POT. This would be my second favorite food of the trip after Pho! It is a simmering pot of soup stock, while you personally cook thinly sliced meat, seafood and vegetables at your table in your personal pot.

 

The hotel had a number of activities to choose from. We decided to do a 5 hour trek through the rice fields. Truly a highlight of the trip!

Check out a few clips from our hike below!

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RECOMMEND: Do a trek. You see so much. We were able to get below the fog and finally see the rice fields. I get why all the hotels had Stunning in the name, it is stunning. Our tour guide was informative and entertaining while the tribal women from the villages walked with us, helping along the way. We ended with an amazing organized lunch along the river in the village with 15 other trekkers.

When I think about going back to Vietnam. Sapa is the first place id like to go back to. I want to spend more than 2 days. You can do 2-3 day treks through the rice fields. Staying in a different “homesteads” each night, mingling with the village people and eating homemade meals.

Trial & Tribulation Tip: To rent a moped they ask to keep your passport. All moped rentals do this. We had the timing all planned out perfectly to catch the bus to the train station right after our trek to head back to Hanoi. When we tried to return our moped, the store was closed because someone had run a bike off a cliff… just our luck, right??? We made it, passport in hand, barely. I would recommend returning the bike the day before, rather than waiting till the last second.

We caught the 10 p.m train to get back to Hanoi by 6 a.m, where we were catching a bus to Ha Long bay for a 3-day 2 night cruise! And pushing our luck, we decided to not book a hotel for the 4 hours we were in Hanoi. We figured we could just crash at the booking office where our bus was picking us up.

This did not go as planned..

RECOMMEND: have all addresses printed in Vietnamese and English.  The cab driver from the train station could not figure out our destination because I had only printed an English version of Vietnamese. We finally all agreed on a location. It was 6 a.m so we figured we would just wait on curb till they opened. Turns out it wasn’t the booking office….

I can say that we slept/ tried to sleep on the streets in Vietnam.

We did eventually find the booking office where the bus was to pick us up.

On to Ha Long Bay!

 

Stay Kind,