While visiting Vietnam. A travelogue …

[chronological, in reversed order]

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 …