Vietnam: Rice Paper Rolls & Noodles
The stifling heat and humidity slaps us hard in the face when we arrive in Hanoi and it’s only 6am in the morning. The taxi drops us at the Hanoi Chic Hotel, located in Hanoi’s old quarter.
We have a large room with a balcony overlooking the street below, best of all its air-conditioned. We run that air-conditioner non-stop for our entire stay!
Immediately we note a difference in the atmosphere between China and Vietnam. There is a more upbeat vibe to the place and the Vietnamese are just a bit more warm and welcoming.
To avoid the heat, it’s best to venture out for short trips during the day, coming back to cool down with a shower and change your dripping clothes. Late afternoon and evenings are cooler and much more pleasant times to go exploring.
The street scape is chaotic, people, bicycles, motorbikes, and cars navigate through meandering lanes and alleyways. Shops overflowing with their stock spilling onto the street.
You can find just about anything you can think of; bamboo scaffolding, lanterns, shoes, and handbags next door to plumbing supplies
Many of the streets are named after the product or merchandise it sells; Hang Bac for silver, Hang Be for bamboo, Hang Dao for silk and so on.
Hanoi is layered in centuries of history and has been under Chinese, French and Japanese rule. We spend our time discovering the various districts the city is divided into. The Old Quarter with its cobbled streets has been the trade hub for over a 1000-years.
We love Vietnamese food, and you can eat your way through the day here. The colonial French influence is evident in the architecture as well as the croissants and mouth-watering array of pastries.
One of the highlights was the Hanoi Street Food Tour. Perched on the back of Scooters we weave our way through the traffic, our guides providing local insights and a history lesson along the way.
We stop a number of times to sample a variety of delicious dishes. The street stalls are bustling places, and we join the locals, perching on plastic stools often sprawling onto the street.
Coffee production was brought to Vietnam by the French, and they are now the world’s second-largest coffee producer after Brazil.
During the Indochina War (1946), there was a milk shortage, a local bartender created Egg Coffee and it is still popular today. It’s decidedly sweet and creamy, made on eggs and sweetened condensed milk and butter.
A focal point for the city is the Hoan Kiem Lake, at its centre is the Turtle Tower, built over 150 years ago as a resting place when the King went fishing. During the French occupation it became a symbol of patriotism when the Vietnam flag was hung on it by revolutionaries.
At the west end of the lake is St Joseph’s Cathedral, Hanoi’s Notre Dame. Built in 1886 it is one of the largest churches in Hanoi.
We organise the next leg of our trip with local travel agents, we are off on a 3 day/2 night boat trip to Ha Long Bay, followed by a trip south to Mai Chai and Ninh Binh, we were hoping to visit the rice terraces of Sapa in the north but it’s the wrong time of year.
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