Hello, Hanoi!

After spending a couple of days touring temples and UNESCO world heritage sites in Siem Reap, Brian and I made it to beautiful Hanoi, Vietnam!

It was a rough landing when we first arrived.

Our AirBNB property miscommunicated the pickup time to our taxi driver (9:45 pm, instead of 19:45 pm) so there was no driver to be found at the airport arrival section.

We took a taxi from the airport taxi stand instead. This driver was lazy, and dropped us off in the middle of Hanoi's "Beer Corner" instead of our hotel and pointed in the direction of our hotel.

Hanoi Old Town's "Beer Corner"

Brian and I pushed our heavy suitcases amidst the crowd of tourists and locals on Beer Corner, and sweated in 80 degree heat and 100% humidity.

We couldn't find the hotel anywhere. Only drunk tourists and local restaurant vendors.

So Brian said, "wait here! I will go find the hotel" using his Google maps app. After what seemed like 15 minutes standing alone on Beer Corner with our 2 suitcases, Brian came back. He found the hotel about 5 blocks down the street.

When we finally got to our hotel, the young man who checked us in didn't seem to sense that we were hot, sweaty, and tired. We wanted to check in but instead he kept chatting us up for a long time about where we were from, how long we're staying, what our plans are in Hanoi... until Brian politely said, "OK, can we check in now?"

The rest of our trip and stay at Hanoi Royal Guest House went smoothly.

Hanoi is a beautiful city with lots of French style buildings and architecture combined with Vietnamese tradition. (Vietnam was a French colony until Vietnam's Independence in 1954.)

Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoak Kiem Lake and this Vietnamese photo bomber

Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake

Vendors pushing their carts in Hanoi's Old Town

A delicious fresh juice bar

Brian's banana coffee juice

Tulip vendor

Traffic in Hanoi's Old Town

Hanoi traffic: bikes, vendors, cars

The most delicious bowl of noodles! Buncha paired with Ha Noi Bia

Brian eating Buncha noodles, a Hanoi specialty

Buncha, a Hanoi specialty. President Obama ate Buncha when he visited Hanoi.

Hanoi nights

Hanoi nights and lights

Thankfully the rest of our Hanoi trip redeemed itself. Hanoi was a beautiful city and the food was delicious and fresh. I'm bummed we only have a few days in Hanoi, but thankful that we had a chance to explore Hanoi's Old Town.