The mood has shifted into an unreal and darned interesting arrival in Hanoi, Vietnam. You can learn a lot in a short amount of time when you’re some place very different from what you know. We had decided to start our journey here in Hanoi, largely due to the online photography we’d seen of charming French colonial architecture, fused with Vietnamese into a beautiful and historical mix.
Immigration is a breeze, having applied for a 60 day tourist visa prior to arrival. Chaos ensues for a brief time, trying to get a Grab taxi, with no clear indication where to do so. It’s a big modern airport, but the signage is terrible, and the (potentially scammer) taxi drivers are all over us, while we try to ward them off and obtain a Grab safely. After briefly trying to ward off our own driver, we’re finally rolling and with some relief. Our driver says “Xin Chao” and nothing else, which we understand as your basic hello.
Vietnam is a different set of feelings immediately. The most obvious, the driving and traffic situation is absolutely chaos and we’re probably understating it a bit. Lanes mean nothing, everyone uses their horn heavily. Cars, trucks and 2-wheeled vehicles whiz between each other, none of them seemingly aware of the other, until just a split second before disaster. If there are traffic rules, we can’t tell what they are. At least we’re back on the right side for something familiar, unlike Thailand where one drives on the left. We can’t read the signs, as there’s seldom English on them. Red Vietnamese national flags, either with a golden star or the communist hammer and sickle are common along the roadside or on signs. The trees are thick and the place is green, reminding us of pictures we’ve seen of Vietnam in war history.
We track the journey via the Grab app and Google maps to feel sure we’re going where we intend to. We depart the highway and into our neighborhood, where we’ve booked a 13 day stay at the La Passion in the Tay Ho district. It’s near a lake and we’ve heard is chock full of restaurants, cafes and a nice respite from the more densely populated parts of Hanoi (9 million habitants). From there, we plan to ride 15 minutes or so into the Hanoi Old Quarter for explorations, once we’re settled.
Imagine a 1 lane road, but being utilized as a 2 lanes in both directions. There are no sidewalks on either side, and if there are, they’re chock full of walking hazards, bags of trash and parked 2-wheel vehicles. Cars weave in and out to get passed each other, while narrowly missing contact with the pedestrians, all the while, laying on the horn to warn one another. Amongst this madness are old ladies on bicycles, loaded up with trash, fruit, or anything else that supports their work. Children walk and even ride their bicycles alone. Can this really be our neighborhood? Yep.
We find the place and follow the instructions for entry and we’re in. We use the pin code we’ve been provided, walk through a large swinging steel gate and into a rough and unfinished entryway, taking the elevator up to our apartment. In the 13 days of staying in this 8-story building, we never saw a soul, not a single person. It felt strange the entire time we stayed there.
A disclaimer about the 13 days we spent in Hanoi. We didn’t leave this strange and otherwise seemingly empty building for 6 of the 13 days. We were essentially trapped inside with the windows and sliding door shut and AC running. The reason? Hanoi was at or near the worst air quality index on the planet earth during our stay, frequently with AQI measurements well into the mid 200’s.
Some years earlier, we had almost booked Vietnam for our honeymoon. We’ve been dreaming of this place for some time. Bad air, insane traffic and what sometimes feels like chaos. Yes, all true. But we also found so much more.
We’re in Vietnam….
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