While visiting Vietnam. A travelogue …

[chronological, in reversed order]

January 20 & 21:

Last full day in Sai Gon and departure. We made it a lazy day. Brekkie as usual, then a couple of hours answering emails, then yet another visit to the coffeeshop across the street, then yet another couple of hours in the hotel of work and relaxation (and a couple of reviews for TripAdvisor about the hotel and the Tonkin cafe), before we had dinner. Reports are that the beef pho was good, the other soup was nothing to write about. Can’t win them all.

When back from dinner we watched the news on cnn. A couple of times the transmission got interrupted with a message indicating that some advertising was in violation of Vietnam’s advertising regulations. Which reminded us that this is a social paradise after all, which knows what is good for its citizens.

The next morning got up early, finished packing, checked out (and got a brekkie care package from the hotel!), noticed the new Luna year decorations in our hotel and the one next door, got a lift to the airport in time (interesting to see how much action there was on the streets around 6 am already!), moved slowly through pass control and customs (all two hours of it) before we got to the gate. Were entertained by some Russian dude who was seriously drunk and had trouble staying in line and not folding. Surprised that he was allowed to pass through the controls. Bought some more dried mango. Can never buy enough of it.

The flight to Manila was fine. Even though we departed somewhat delayed, we arrived early, made our way through yet another control (more to come later), and decided to buy our way into a lounge since we have about 8 hours layover. In hindsight, it is not clear whether going with Philippines Airlines (and saving about 1,000 dollars) was worth the long lay-overs although the copious amounts of wine and good food stuff in the lounge bias the perception. ;-)

And so concludes this travelogue. Lots of other work to catch up on.

January 19:

After the rather long and busy Saturday, we took it easy today. Well mostly. Brekkie at the hotel, then off to the Independence Palace. History lessons just don’t get much better. We walked from bottom to top and then to the basement. I had seen all this before and nothing has changed. But revisiting is worth it. We chanced on a room in the basement where they showed a docu about the palace. It was in French (and unfortunately mine has gotten pretty rusty, merci), alas the pictures did much of the talking

Afterwards another trip to the Tonkin cafe for another double portion of egg coffee with extra shot (for me) and coconut coffee (for her). Then, around noon, back to the hotel room to update of travelogue and down- and uploading of pix and answering of email. En route stocked up on the red wine which the mini market had again in stock. We bought the full stock of four bottles of red and started emptying one.

Later in the arvo met with a former student and her aunt and cousin … We went to the banh place we had been before hoping for the large prawns banh. Turns out that’s not quite what we got (can you tell the difference?) but it was tasty all the same.

Tomorrow our last day here in Sai Gon; it will be a lazy day with lots of work thrown in for good measure. The day after, we will get up quite early to catch our flight to Manila at 9 something. The nice receptionist at the hotel offered a brekkie care package. How nice is that?!

January 18:

Another decent brekkie at the Akoya hotel, then — rather than waiting for our new room to be ready — we revisited the Ben Thanh Market (where early in the morning fish and meat offerings are really impressive), then exchanged some money before we made our way to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, after a stop at one of the Highland Coffee branches (you can forget about those).

Some of the things that were on display at the HCM City Museum15 years ago (like the military aircraft outside and the old black limo, as well as the revolutionary scene inside) were still on display but much new stuff was there, too. One of the interesting things is that all the commanders and apparatchiks in the 1960s and 1970s had a life expectancy of about 40 years. Apparently this morning was another opp for photos … the museum practically swarmed with (mostly) young women, all dressed up and looking their prettiest. A few guys, too.

Back to the hotel, via the mini market across the street where we apparently exhausted their Vietnamese red-wine supplies. Damn. More beer today, I guess.

In the early arvo, we ventured across the street to explore the fab Tonkin cafe. What a find. Easily the best cafe we have come across here in Sai Gon up to this point.

Then back to our hotel for some more work and a reservation for a motor bike & street food tour in the evening, with 7 tastings and female drivers, no less. ;-)

That was great fun indeed. The opening salvo was a long historical digression at a monument remembering Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who set himself on fire in Saigon on June 11, 1963 to protest the persecution of Buddhists. He was 67 years old; the image of his self-immolation has become iconic. The tour guide who gave us the historical digression explained to us that the Vietnam war was the result of the imperial and geo-political ambitions of the USA and that the war was really a misnomer as it was a war between the Vietnamese people and the USA. Clearly he had taken in too much party propaganda. This contrasted curiously with the guide on our Mekong Delta trip who suggested that the Vietnamese people love the USA, always did, always will.

Anyways, here is some pix from our nightly excursion …

In completely unrelated news, here’s a story about a new big bad super bug off the coast of Vietnam. ;-)

In recent years, other Bathynomus species, such as B. jamesi, have become a delicacy in Vietnam, with their flesh often compared to that of lobster, according to the study.

As Bathynomus grew in popularity, in 2017 some specimens were sold for up to 2 million Vietnamese dong ($80), researchers wrote. However, as fishermen caught and sold more Bathynomus, prices dropped because the sea bugs became more widely available.

By early 2024, 1-to-2-kilogram (2.2-to-4.4-pound) specimens were being sold for around 1 million Vietnamese dong ($40), the study noted.

With the discovery of B. vaderi, scientists such as Sidabalok and Cheng have raised concerns about its potential integration into global seafood markets.

Bathynomus are known for their slow reproduction. These supergiant crustaceans produce a small number of eggs — only in the hundreds — which hatch as miniature versions of the adults, Sidabalok said. She added that this slow reproduction rate makes them especially vulnerable to overfishing.

January 17:

After a decent brekkie at our Sai Gon hotel (they fixed the coffee machine, now how about the ridiculously temperamental wifi?), we stayed in the room and worked away. Around noon moved our stuff from our room with balcony for a night to one without a window, fortunately on the same floor. (I had initially booked for three nights and wanted to extend after the first night but it took a little detour that since the room we stayed in the first three nights had been booked before we arrived. We be back after yet another move on the same floor in our room with balcony tomorrow.)

After we moved our stuff to the new room and settled in, we first tried to find a much-lauded coffee place in dire need of an egg coffee (me!). We finally found it and it is really a cool place, unfortunately — contrary to the hotel’s recommendation — it did not have egg coffee but the alternatives were interesting. Stayed there for a while catching up on email and down-loading/uploading more pix because the wifi in the hotel had made a mess of the earlier download.

Afterwards walked to the Opera House (a major venue for wedding shots!) and from there to the Cathedral (parts currently under construction) and the post office before we made our way to some Pho place in our broader neighborhood, via the Independence Palace which is on our agenda for the next few days, as is the HCM City museum.

Roaming the city, I was reminded of yesterday’s entry in the Vietnam Weekly substack. I mentioned the chaotic traffic situation in both Ha Noi and Sai Gon earlier in this travelogue a couple of times. The basic problem seems to be this: Lacking an effective public transportation system, scooters are the preferred mode of transportation for many Vietnamese. That, unfortunately, does not just make for very bad traffic but also clogs up whatever available parking space for these suckers there is. So these days most of the times you can’t walk on what was clearly at some point intended to be sidewalks for pedestrians who are now forced to compete with cars and scooters on the street. As mentioned before, I have seen a few misses, but somewhat surprisingly have yet to see a serious accident resulting from this chaos.

Decree 168 in mid-December, effective 1 January, seems to attempt to address this situation, or at least part of it. It has increased massive new fines for traffic violations. Maybe not surprisingly, this has become apparently the dominant topic of discussion across traditional media, social media, and daily conversations. Says the author of the Vietnam Weekly blog:

It’s unusual for something to take over the zeitgeist so comprehensively. (If you missed last week’s explainer, catch up here.)

The general tenor is that the massive new fines for traffic violations have created some positive outcomes, while also exacerbating existing problems.

According to Lao Động, the Ministry of Public Security found that cases of people driving on the sidewalk and the wrong way on one-way streets significantly decreased since January 1, especially in major cities.

Several photo-based articles have noted more orderly streets, with crowds of vehicles obediently stopped at red lights and clear sidewalks next to backed-up traffic.

Way to go in particular in downtown Ha Noi and Sai Gon because the key problem of pedestrians being the collateral damage of what seems wild parking all over the place has clearly not been addressed and, I submit, is really is in need of addressing.

January 16:

After a decent brekkie at our Sai Gon hotel (that would have been better had the coffee machine worked), we were off to our Mekong Delta trip. Essentially a couple of hours bus drive both ways, with a visit at some (impressive) pagoda, and some more opportunities to buy stuff (I did buy a couple of chocolate bars!), seemingly neverending requests for tips, and a lunch that did not stand out (and that was before the question whether the beer was included in the price of the trip; it was but required documentation.)

At one of the buying opps, the most interesting thing was the demonstration of what a multi-purpose weapon the ordinary coconut is. Wish I would have taken more pictures of that. Also, handmade coconut candy is fab (and apparently not all that unhealthy).

Anyways, we skipped the bike tour and went back. Here is some pix of our trip to the Mekong Delta.

Arrived in Sai Gon well before the scheduled time but tired all the same. A couple of hours later went back to the banh place we had been to the night before. Had their original banh and a couple of beers; they ran out of the banh with prawn and truffle sauce that we had hoped for, so we took that as good excuse to explore a couple of other places. Ended up at in some well-hidden hotspot on the 3rd floor and had some more beer and a couple of appetizers.

Tomorrow gotta change rooms for a night and will do some walking around (Independence Palace, Cathedral, Opera, … some cafes that have egg coffee. ;-)

January 15:

Had a good night in our Sai Gon hotel and a decent brekkie, too, and solved the wifi problem. Decided to extend our stay there for the whole time while in Sai Gon. Done and dusted. Pretty hot day in Sai Gon so spent much of the morning in the room which has an effective AC. At around 11 we went for a walk, first checking on the hotel where I stayed 15 years ago. Not much has changed although frankly I did not recognize much in the neighborhood. Also, what was once a street with heavy scooter traffic (and few cars), now still had some scooters but mostly cars.

We then walked to the Ben Thanh Market and explored it some more. It’s a amazing place. Some quick impressions here:

Then went to check out the place recommended by Michelin and it did not disappoint.

After that off to our hotel for some email, catching up on news, paying some bills, and having a nap, too. Did I mention it was a pretty hot day in Sai Gon today? Damn. Too damn hot to walk around.

Later in the afternoon I could not access properly one of my browsers, so we stopped by a place recommended by the front-desk (and indeed the problem got solved within a couple of minutes; phew!), exchanged some money, and then went to have a light dinner at the banh place that seems to be an off-spring of the place where we had lunch.

And that was that. Back home had some more beer and wine while I retrieved some of the open windows that I lost while trying to fix the laptop problem.

For tomorrow we have planned a whole-day trip the Mekong Delta.

January 14:

Got up, had our last brekkie at our Ha Noi hotel, packed, eventually checked out, and then had a driver drop us off at the airport. Arrived there well in time, so got time for a (piss-weak) latte with extra shot. Flight was somewhat delayed but uneventful and we arrived more or less on time in Sai Gon aka HCM City where we were picked up and made our way downtown. Turns out our Sai Gon hotel is in the neighborhood of the hotel I stayed in 15 years ago, so I recognized some buildings. We checked into the hotel, settled in, answered some emails, and I wrote a couple of TripAdvisor/booking.com reviews about our Ha Noi hotel and the bun cha place we frequented there.

Then, later in the afternoon, after it had rained hard for a couple of hours, we went out to explore the neighborhood. I had identified two targets from the hotel’s dinner recommendations (after I checked their TripAdvisor ratings.) Could not find one of them, so ended up in the other which was a hole in the wall but the food was solid (albeit not outstanding). Afterwards solved the puzzle of the one that we could not find and then roamed the Ben Thanh Market (or at least those stalls that were still open). Wanted to buy some more Vietnamese red wine there, alas the lady wanted to have 300k for a bottle that I knew should not be more than about 100k. So that was that. (We later got the wine at the mini-market across the street from the hotel. I remembered its existence from a TripAdvisor review.)

Some random pix:

Tomorrow will explore the Ben Thanh Market some more, have lunch at another Michelin recommended place (the one we could not find earlier today), and then explore Independence Palace, Cathedral, Opera, etc.

January 13:

Last day in Ha Noi. Had brekkie at hotel, then answered/wrote emails, before we retraced some tracks. Exchanged some money, bought some cough medicine (not feeling too well for the last couple of days), bought some more of that Vietnamese red wine, before we went back to the Michelin recommended place. Where we had the same we had the day before (substituting only the beer with the apricot and plum drinks) but this time downstairs and outside rather than on the 4th floor. Today’s food portion was even more generous than the day before. Afterwards we tried the Hanoi cafe across the street and had an egg coffee and a coconut coffee. Not the best we had in Ha Noi. While there, tried to check this page but could not reach it. Which has happened before. The waiter volunteered that the government is blocking medium. Which reminded me that Vietnam is, after all, a socialist paradise, somewhere along the lines of Xi-land. (Interestingly enough, I have no problem accessing this page in the hotel. Which means the blocking is selective, and/or our hotel uses an effective vpn.) Then back to our hotel for some massage (for her) and some more work and a nap (for me). I also arranged for pick-up in Sai Gon. Looks like we are all set in this respect. Dinner one last time at the Lan Ong restaurant. It was our 4th visit there if I recall correctly. Some pix to document a lazy day.

Tomorrow off to Sai Gon aka HCM City. Pondering also a trip to the Mekong Delta and maybe the Cu Chi Tunnels.

January 12:

Got up late, had another of those simple yet satisfying brekkies at our Ha Noi hotel. I wrote and finalized the travelogue for January 10&11 and answered some emails. Around noon, we retraced some streets in search for that Vietnamese dress that I had asked my Facey beehive for advice about. We finally succeeded in finding the place — it took quite some walking. The outfit was supposed to be 1,200,000 VNd, hmmmh. The lady seemed not much interested in selling, so we left it there. We also checked the leather jacket shop that we had passed by on our way to the HCM mausoleum a few days back and I tried on a couple of items. Turns out 3XL and 4XL is not X enough. The jackets were all calibrated for Asian folks.

We then moved on, after an eggs coffee and coconut coffee at a nondescript cafe-restaurant, with a new place in mind a branch of which we had passed by while searching for the Vietnamese dress. En route we walked through a throughway/alley called Pho Yen Thai (connecting Duong Thanh street with Hang Manh street) which has a number of fruit and veggie food stalls and also a couple of cool cafes. Which reminds me: Everyone is selling the same stuff but it is really easy to separate the wheat from the chaff, even when it comes to stands selling fruit and veggies. It may be all very competitive but there are many monopolistic competitors out there who understand the name of the game.

On Hang Manh street we turned left and chanced upon a place that — according to their own advertising — has been one-star Michelin dive since 1966. We decided to try it. Even though it was past 2 pm the place was still hopping and we had to climb a narrow stairwell up to the 4th floor to find a place. There were not many options on offer (only 5 to be precise, of which one — kebab rice noodles and 2 spring rolls with crab meat — was the aggregate of two others) so we chose the aggregate dish and a couple of Hanoi beers and it made for a quite satisfying late lunch for slightly more than 10 AU dollars. Dah. Actually, it was less than a glass of white wine on the Halong cruise.

We then walked back to our hotel, buying some wine en route and watching yet another set of picture-taking sessions which seems the major activity of Vietnamese girls. Turns out it most likely is attempts at creating “content” for instagram, not — as we thought at first — pictures to be shared with family for the upcoming Luna year celebrations. Silly us.

One of the bottles of wine we bought was the same Vietnamese red that we bought previously coming back from Halong Bay. Only this was not labelled “Export” but “Classic”, otherwise it seemed completely the same, at one quarter of the price we paid previously. Turns out, it was also better tasting — so much for shipping out the better wines.

The day ended with a draft of the travelogue for the day, the down- and upload of some pix, and making a reservation for a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tomorrow last day in Ha Noi — might go back to the Michelin place. That pickled dragon plum drink looked pretty inviting.

January 10&11:

After another simple yet satisfying brekkie at our Ha Noi hotel, we checked out and were picked up for our 2d/1n excursion to Halong Bay.

After a three-hour ride (including a half-hour stop at some place where we supposedly could take a leak but whose major not-so-hidden purpose was to make us buy lots of — hugely overpriced - stuff) we arrived at the Halong Bay port.

En route we passed by stretches that looked unkept and desolate, but also lots of public infrastructure and private investment (housing) projects, impressive patches of lush vegetation, astonishing cemeteries, rice fields (and workers working there), lots of rivers and other waterways, etc. All of this manifesting Vietnam’s considerable inequality, its current Gini coefficient of 63.2 (based on measurement in 2020) placing it between Brunei and United Arab Emirates (and below Australia and Germany but ahead of the USA and all of the Americas). Given that Vietnam is supposed to be a classless society that’s nothing to write home about.

Vietnam is very much a work in progress and it will be interesting to see how its political (one-party) Ueberbau will stymy the economic basis which seems defined by unfettered capitalism. There’s clearly a lot of cronyism and outright corruption going on. Cue the case of the Vietnamese tycoon who got sentenced to death recently.

Back to our excursion. Tourism in Vietnam is mass tourism. And it shows in the port (surrounded by a run-down and desolate village) where we embarked on our 2d/1n Halong Bay trip. We didn’t have much choice — in fact, the cruise company that we ended up going with was the only one left, maybe not the best of signal but the deal turned out fine, pick-up and drop-off at our Ha Noi hotel and all. It seems though that the company has several boats — the cabin pictures on TripAdvisor do not show what we were given. Not as spacious for sure but sufficient all the same (own bathroom, shower, small balcony). Lesson here: More advance planning might be worth it.

There was plenty of good food available (from the lunch on arrival, to the set menu dinner, to the light brekkie and brunch the next morning.) Several other activities were also available — from kayaking around the Halong pearl farm, hiking the Sung Sot cave, exploring Ti-Top island for hiking to the top or swimming, to making Vietnam spring rolls (cooking demonstration), squid fishing, early-morning tai chi lessons. We did not do the cave which might have been a mistake. Wifi worked halfway well only in the wee hours.

The boat we travelled on had 20 cabins and overall there were about 40 fellow travellers from all other world (including Italian couples/families, a group of 11 Malaysian women, a couple of Indian families, one of them with a young child and from Sydney, and a couple of Austrians.) The customer-facing cruise crew was about 8–9 young folks, all speaking English reasonably well, and unfailingly attentive.

All the food stuff was included in the bill except for drinks. Not surprisingly, given the captive audience, prices for drinks were … on the high side — comparable to a decent Sydney restaurant that does not allow byo. (Anticipating this, we brought a bottle of wine which turned out to be a good idea.) I doubt the wisdom of having customers pay for drinks such as coffee and tea during brunch. Can’t add to these customers’ willingness to leave a tip. (Envelopes for tips were prominently, albeit discreetly, placed on the brunch tables, together with a satisfaction survey.) The tip box on the driver’s bus mantle was also consistently ignored. Presumably he got his cut from the venues he selected to stop.

On the way back we reversed the bus trip from Ha Noi to the Halong Bay port, another stop and all. We ended up buying a bottle of Vietnamese red wine for the evening. It was … ok (and turns out we paid at that stop more than 3 times the price we would have paid elsewhere. Always gotta be on the guard. ;-))

In the evening, had another delightful dinner at our Ha Noi restaurant of choice — this time on the balcony on the second floor. From where we could watch the hustle and bustle on Lan Ong street below.

Afterwards we stopped by a new cafe nearby which had some fancy offerings. Plus it gave us a chance to watch two weird non-Asian guys across the street, in army camouflage no less, sell their wares (ladders etc.)

Tomorrow we take it easy and might retrace some of the tracks we covered previously.

January 9:

After another simple but satisfying brekkie (only parts of it shown below), …

… we were off to part of the old city near the Hoan Kiem lake that we had not yet explored. En route came by an outfit that caught my attention.

To buy or not to buy. And, if I did, would that be an act of (inappropriate) cultural appropriation? I decided to put these questions up for discussion to my Facey beehive and it did not disappoint. The “yes” on the first question outnumbered the “no” by a wide margin, the answer to the second question, however, was decidedly undecided and prompted some snarky remarks. Not that that surprised me.

One interesting econ observation: In the old city most streets are dedicated to one particular theme — say, fashion, textiles, kitchen utensils, fruit & veggies, meats, sweets, … very good for comparison shopping and bargaining. Presumably not so good for vendors’ profits.

We then made our way to the St Joseph’s Cathedral, took a break for a(nother) egg coffee and a coconut coffee, and then continued —passing en route the impressive Ha Noi Archbishop’s residence — to the Opera House which, unfortunately, is under construction. Walked back along Ly Thai To street which has some hotels that look decidedly upscale as well as plenty of government buildings. You recognize the latter by their brutalist design, the red flags everywhere, the occasional floral arrangements in front of them, uniformed guards outside the massive walls, and no-photography signs. While we were tempted, we stayed out of trouble.

After three days of lots of walking, we decided to go back to our hotel room in the early arvo, rest, and answer some emails. Also had the Vietnamese version of Leberkaes that we bought en route and some beer. Nice snack.

In the early evening we went back to the lovely place that we chanced upon while walking around the old city on January 7. After studying the menu carefully, we had another delightful dinner. In fact we made already a reservation for Saturday evening, after we are back from our Halong Bay excursion that starts tomorrow morning.

Bill for the first four days paid — life in Ha Noi is really quite affordable. For four nights of accommodation for two, a couple of massages for the partner, the 2d/1n Halong Bay trip for two, and the airport pick-up and drop-off next week, paid about 900 AU dollars. Of which the Halong Bay trip accounted for more than 500 AU dollars.

Tomorrow morning another brekkie in the hotel, then off to Halong Bay and surroundings.

January 8:

After another simple but satisfying brekkie, …

and after exchanging more AU dollars for VN dong (VNd), we explored other parts of the old town. Made a stop at one of the zillions of coffee shops because we got intrigued by the notion of egg coffee. Turns out, it is highly recommended. As is the coffee yoghurt.

We then decided to explore the Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum and the lakes area to the north of it, and the Temple of Literature which was Vietnam’s first university after it. Since that would be a lot of walking on top of the walking we had done already, we gave in to the adamant solicitations by cyclo drivers. I sketched out to one of the potential drivers the route we wanted to take and asked him how much it would cost. 500k VNd? No way. After some serious bargaining we agreed on 200k VNd. (I ended up giving the fellow 300k VNd — he seemed happy.)

It was quite the experience. A front-seat literally to the craziness that is Ha Noi traffic. We have now witnessed several near-misses but no serious accident. Which really is astonishing. Below are some pix from our excursion. Note the many young women splendidly dressed up and being photo-shot. Probably in preparation for the Luna Year celebrations.

In the early evening, we made a trip to a place that we had chanced upon the night before while roaming the night markets. Can’t really complain about a dinner that good which cost only about 35 AU dollars (with tip).

Tomorrow some more roaming of the city … we have set our eyes on St Joseph’s Cathedral, Opera House, and some of the museums in the neighborhood and south of it.

The day after we are off to a 2d/1n tour of Halong Bay.

January 7:

Went to Vietnam January 6, with Phillipine Airlines (PAL). Which was one of the two options that the travel agent offered. Still, the bill for two was 5k, the alternative would have been another 1k. O.K., only Aussie dollars, still. That difference meant a 6-hour layover in Manila. It also meant that we arrived at 1:30 am at Hanoi International Airport and, having to go through customs etc., were at the hotel at 3 am. Fortunately, the pick-up organized by the hotel worked like a charm. A TripAdvisor recommendation that was (again) good. Crashed out soon after we checked in.

There was some confusion about what it takes to transit through Manila. I was told by a — typically reliable — travel agent that the Phillipine government, in its attempts to digitalize, insists on us having to fill out a so-called eTravel form. Which I tried to do, spending a couple of hours on it but ultimately not succeeding because the website is just ridiculously dysfunctional. Repeatedly I was told to fill out the “required fields” which I did … alas no indication was given what the alleged problem was. I ended up messaging with a PAL customer service rep on Sunday. He recommended I use the app rather than the official online website and promised that the folks at the airport counter would be able to help me Monday. Indeed they did because the lady there knew that if you transit through the Phillipines there is no need to fill this stupid form out. Take note. A couple of hours wasted for no good reason.

Got up for breakfast a few hours after we crashed. Internet was stable throughout the hotel, so we got a chance to catch up with email and news also during brekkie, over some decent Vietnamese coffee. During brekkie we watched a couple of abseilers descending from the top of a neighboring building. Amazing.

I had been to Vietnam before — 2010. Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City, to be precise. The game plan or this trip is one week here in Hanoi, then a flight to HCM City for another week, with some side-trips in both locations for good measure.

We walked around the old city and the Hoan Kiem Lake for a few hours, coffee stop included.

Not being able yet to account for the 15 years I was there last, Hanoi seems a noisier and somewhat more chaotic version of HCM City. But it has, maybe not all that surprising, many of the same features that struck me 15 years ago: Chaotic traffic — no lights, no obvious traffic rules other than that if you cross the street move steadily so that the oncoming traffic can make reasonable estimates about your trajectories. Zillions of people trying to sell something and obviously tourists are a major target. It can get a bit annoying at times. (Yes, I understand that people try to make a living, alas.) No, I really do not want, or for that matter need, a shoe-shine or shoe-fix, or yet another massage, I am not interested in sweetie samples, and I do not need a taxi or cyclo every few seconds. Sigh. Did I mention it can get annoying at times?

Went to dinner in a lovely place that we chanced upon while walking earlier in the day around the old city. It was just a few hundred meters from our hotel.

Afterwards walked around the night markets (which happen not to be on the street called Night Markets), got a bottle of decent (French) wine at a decent price, and made our way back to the hotel.

Between all that walking even managed to answer some emails and make yet another editorial decision. It really helps though if good referees issue the same recommendation.

Tomorrow more walking around in the old city …