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Hanoi
We arrived early in the morning but for us it felt like the middle of the night. We were picked up from the airport by a driver from the hostel and we had a surreal journey absorbing the new environment. Not to mention the rave Vietnamese music the driver was playing. Many motorbikes sped past, cheaply made buildings and metallic signs lined the sides of the road. Our hostel was in the heart of Hanoi and just walking from the car to the hostel we thought we were going to get run over several times. Mopeds carrying families of people and large quantities of produce were squeezing through crowds and no attention was paid to crossings.
We dumped our bags and went straight off exploring despite the jetlag. We headed toward a lake thinking this would mean more space and less chaos. The route to the lake was mayhem. Locals would take up the breadth of the pavements with their plastic chairs, tables and cooking. The buildings that the Vietnamese sat outside of were both shops they owned and the houses they lived in. We zigzagged our way through the payments/roads. It was definitely a culture shock.
The next day we decided to join the hostel walking tour. A German woman was running it and she was very enthusiastic and friendly despite having had no sleep the night before. She led 30 of us through the manic streets. The first couple of places we stopped at were beautiful temples set side by side with local shops/restaurants. The group we were with were mainly English. We quickly split up and got chatting to people. One was an unintentionally solo traveller who had managed to book a flight to a different airport in Vietnam to the one his mate was arriving at. We also got to know a group of 4 guys from near where we live. They were hilarious and we chatted away as we dipped in and out of a busy market place. The building was filled with stalls that displayed masses of material, clothes and accessories. The stall owners were sat around on the floor eating noodles or were asleep on the materials/clothes they sold. All very bizarre. The boys we chatted to brought a lively energy to the tour group and it was refreshing to be around such a laid back bunch. From the sounds of it they tended to just float their way through their travels. The whole tour group then went to a cafe to try the Hanoi speciality of egg coffee which was surprisingly nice. The 30 of us were cramped into a tiny room and we all sat on plastic chairs. At the end of the tour we got free iced tea. At which point the group of boys were told that they were meant to check out hours earlier. Typically they looked to one another without any of them knowing timings/ taking charge. Later on we went for dinner with them and chose a quite basic restaurant that the boys recommended. During which time they showed us some pics and funny videos from their travels. The boys started an Instagram account to record the rest of their trip and it really does reflect their way of travelling and the adventures they encounter. It was a great meal and the perfect ending to an interesting day. We went for drinks that night but peaked too early which was probably a blessing in disguise given we were up at 6 the next day to go on our Ha Long Bay tour.
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