Hanoi

After spending three days in Saigon, we booked a cheap flight to Hanoi and decided we had to skip the middle of the country. Two weeks in Vietnam is not enough time to bus hop from the south to the north. And although bus trips are always interesting, it was nice to change it up with an easy flight. We arrived in the capital city in the afternoon, checked into a decent hotel in the old quarter and with a few hours of day light to spare, we set out on foot. Avoiding all moto taxis and cyclo drivers begging for some work , we meandered around the market lined streets. Each street seemed to have a different theme - hardware, clothes, sheet metal, cooking supplies, and more likely than not almost every store sold the exact same array of goods.

We ate a typical meal in Vietnam for our vegetarian diet, fried noodles and vegetables (we seem to be alternating between that and fried rice with vegetables, which are often the only two vegetarian items on the menu), but we have given into eating salads and fresh spring rolls, and after not eating any fresh produce for so long, salads are heavenly.

And it was in Hanoi that we finally tried the draft beer that we have read and heard so much about, and it is probably the cheapest beer in the world, 5000 Dong a glass (or 25 cents). Bia Hoi (draft beer in Vietnamese) is on every corner and filled with locals at all times of the day, at least until the keg runs out. And these men can go through pitchers of beer in nothing flat - it puts Americans and Brits to shame. You can spot these watering holes by the blue and yellow plastic chairs and tables - all only about a foot off the ground - and a keg in front. I did read that the shorter the chair in Vietnam, the cheaper the beer, and this is about as low as it gets. It is a similar setting as the pho stands, the traditional noodle soup, which is the cheapest food in Vietnam. We only tried pho a few times due to its inherent meat qualities (but if you get an English menu or an English speaking waiter you have a better chance of ending up with a "veg" meal). But on a chilly day, the rice noodle soup will warm you right up! And most people eat it for at least two meals a day.

Hanoi has a very charming feel to it, with lots of remnants of old French architecture, some still filled with grandeur, others showing their age. But, just like Saigon, it is filled with motorbikes, which make crossing the road a little more treacherous (but we have become pros), and which also makes sitting outside at a cafe a little less appealing with a constant buzz of traffic. If time allowed, we could have easily spent more time here, but we booked a bus/boat to Cat Ba island in the famous Halong Bay.