Hello Hanoi!

Hanoi, Vietnam - was officially became the first "backpacking" as well as my first travel destination to a foreign country  of year 2013. Why I chose Hanoi, Vietnam as my first station? Probably it was because the cheap air flight promotions offered by Air Asia. Yes, now everyone can fly. At first, it wasn't my first intention to visit Vietnam but a sudden and random decision made by me and my mother.

"Eh, mummy, wanna go Vietnam or not?"

"Erm.. Ok la."

"OK. then I book already ah."

We booked the air flights just 2.5 weeks before the deparure date, 29th April. Crazy heh? So yay for us to a new destination and explore places which neither of us had been for a short adventure yet a "relaxing" holiday. Hanoi itself was definitely not so relaxing but my trips to Sapa and Halong Bay were definitely amazing.

29th April 2013.

We took the earliest (as well as the only) flight to Hanoi by Air Asia, at 6.30am. Our flight was supposed to depart at 6.15am as all the passengers were already on board but.. I forgot to bring along one of my hand carry baggage into the plane... Damn. Something bad happened on the first day of travelling or to be more precise, I was still in Malaysia, trip belum start lagi pun... (It was considered as -  "suey" (translate: bad luck) if shit happens before you depart). So I quickly told one of the air crew that I left my bag on the waiting room (or what is it call? boarding room?) and ran. Sipeh fast. Sipeh far. I never ran so fast after I graduate from high school (no more Pendidikan Jasmani lessons). My legs were sore like hell. And everyone looked at me like I'm a crazy person. I was so so so paiseh (translate: embarrassed) when I got up to that flight for the second time as all of the passengers were actually "waited" for me ONLY - I was the last passenger in order to depart. So.. after the drama, we departed at 6.25am. (Eh who says Air Asia always delay their flights? Who says so?!)

Anyway. We arrived at Hanoi Airport safely at around 9am. I couldn't recall the exact time but I know it was still early as the sun shine wasn't that strong yet. I looked around and I saw some sort of mist, surrounding. I really thought those were fog and I told my mom, "See, I told cha, the weather here is cooler than Malaysia's."  As soon as I realized, those were actually very thick haze hanging on the city. That's why I never felt any strong sunlight in Hanoi. BECAUSE I'M REALLY TANNED NOW. I was too naive. No sunlight = no UV rays?! Women's logic. In order to comfort myself, I told myself : I look better in tanned skin. But at least I'm fitter and healthier now. Teehee.

After clamming our luggage  we walk to the arrival halls and I saw two men were holding a paper with my name on it. One coming from the tour company (Halongsapatour.com), and one from the hotel (Little Hanoi Hostel) which I booked to stay when I was in Hanoi. #Feelinglikeacelebrity. I chose to go with the tour company as the person in charge promised to provide airport pick up for both ways for free. Then, we changed the local money Dong (VDN) at one of the banks inside the airport. The exchange rate was 1USD = 20880 Dong (VND) and we bought a prepaid card (Vietnam number), 35000 Dong for 35 mins calling out. During the time in Vietman, I felt like a millionaire because their smallest money is 1000 Dong and biggest is 200.000 Dong. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The journey to Hanoi Old Quarter took about 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the speed of the driver. Since it was still too early for us to check in, the lady in charging Little Hanoi Hostel, Miss Cham, who speaks very good English, served us breakfast (she knew we were very hungry). Simple English breakfast served with eggs and bread. And we terpaksa (translate: being forced to) to have this type of breakfast for 7 days T^T).

However, after the breakfast, Miss Cham informed us that the place was full, and she had arranged an alternative for us - moving us to Luckly Hotel Diamond (their sister hotel) which is located within 2 mins walking distance. Needless to say, we were paying “hostel price” for a hotel’s stay. Paid 22USD for twin / double room in Little Hanoi Hostel but ended up staying at Lucky Diamond Hotel that cost for 28USD.

Ok, so this is where our little adventure in Hanoi really began. We explored Hanoi with a map and our own feet.

My map! I realized that I have a talent on reading maps after exploring Malacca and Hanoi with own feet because I NEVER get lost!! * proud* 

Hanoi is described as a city ruled by motorcycles. Hanoi is full of motorcycles all the time! You can even see women in formal attire and pretty girls in tight skirts and high heels riding motor bikes.Majority of the streets do not have traffic lights and the motor bikes would somehow manage to move through street junctions without encountering any accidents. I was amused! Show you a video here.

The pavements are used as parking space for motorcycles. So we had to walk on the road. I know most of the people do not "appreciate" this but for me, it quite fun to pass through the tightly-packed, stationary motorcycles.



And then, there were the road crossings. At first, it was simply too excruciatingly terrifying for me to cross a road when seeing a barrage of motorcycles and cars coming right at me... But, after some time, we actually got used to the horrible traffic and started to enjoy crossing road. On our last day in Hanoi city, we could even just walked past the rood steadily without watching the traffic at all as we knew the motorcyclist would weave around us as we walked. I can't show you a video of me crossing the road but I can show you a video of me sitting on a tricycle. But the video is a bit shaky as I was sitting on a tricycle and some of the roads were not even.

Besides, Hanoi is always dirty. Rubbish, rubbish everywhere. The shopkeepers constantly sweep into their neighbours' territories. And it has wires hanging everywhere.

Can you see the messy wires? Beside the building and some on the tree? 

Or even placing them across the streets!

This proves that Hanoi is city without planning. Other than wires, cables and traffic light...

Here comes the railway in a small alley. Imagine trains pass right behind your house EVERYDAY O_O  

Most buildings in Hanoi do not have lifts (elevators) even though they are six storeys high. Buildings here have a narrow frontage but are extremely long in depth. From what I know (actually I just google-ed it 2 mins ago), the government taxs building owners solely on the amount of frontage space they occupy but do not bother about the depth of the building.

Although I spent only 2 days and 1 night in Hanoi but I would say Hanoi is a place full of surprises. Most of Vietnamese are pretty random people. They just do what they want. I saw a few guys urinating on the pavement. I also saw parents helped their children urinating in public (can see the urine shooting out from their little... lol). I've seen these with my eyes. No joke. Some women could just sat on a chair (to be exact, on a bangku) with their legs widely open (in an ugly pose) and talked VERY loudly or even scolding each other fiercely. Show you some only-in-Vietnam photos.

Switch terbalik one? 

Initially I thought only the switches in my room are like that but when I went to other places, I realized that most of the switches in Vietnam are like that.

Wanna walk your dog huh? 

One of Vietnam's culture. They sell anything and everything on the pavement. 

"We sell every types of pipes. Just tell me what you want."

A mini "market" suddenly appeared in the middle of no where. 

Pig's brain(s) and heart(s).

My very first time seeing pig brains D:

Who needs salon in Vietnam?

And oohh. They provide shaving service as well!

Another interesting fact about Vietnam. They have no rubbish or garbage truck. They use trolley!!

Selling paper made products in a [no idea what is it]. You can actually stop him and buy the products from him. I've seen!

PS: They have paper made houses and stuffs in Vietnam too!

Indian restaurants selling Taiwanese food?

Vietnamese like to sit on tiny chairs and they use the normal chair as their tables. 

Red coloured tiny chairs and small blue tables. They reminded me for my kindergarten classroom. 

Big big shot for this friendly and cute aunty.

An woman carrying pole to sell pineapples. You can see a lot of women selling fruits. flowers or vegetables with should pole and it made me wondered.. where were the men gone? From what I observed, I saw men mostly sitting on their bikes, chatting or smoking or drinking beer (beer is dirt cheap in Hanoi) or doing nothing. My aunty had an Vietnamese maid and she told us most Vietnamese guys do not like or lazy to work so the women have to take the responsibilities to take care of the family physically and financially. 

Another one. You can see a tough life she has.

Overload bicycles everywhere...

Bus stand which is very different from Malaysia. 

This uncle is amazing.. Those paintings look like photos!!!!

See!! It really looks like a photograph!

Look so so so alike. 99% resemblance!!!

Okay la. I think these are enough for today. Hope someone will actually read what I wrote... And if you're kind enough, please also tell me any language mistakes I've made in this article as I'm improving my English proficiency. For the next post, I will share more about the street foods and tourism spots in Hanoi. 

My last photo of Hanoi at 11pm.

Tip: Don't be cheated / fooled by the hotel saying: we give you a deluxe room with a balcony view. NO. It was really noisy with endless honking lasts until 11pm then, in the early morning, about 5.30am, the honking will starts again. However, we still slept well on the first night despite the fact that our room faced the traffic because we did not have enough sleep on the night before (woke up at 2am for the flight T^T).