Hanoi – Vietnam

By Carolina –

I have a word for trying to describe Hanoi from my point of view. That word is «chaos» – I don’t necessarily mean this in a negative way, but I’m certainly trying to describe something very different and distant from that place I currently call home – Copenhagen.

It is not that I haven’t seen this kind of life before. Trust me, I have! I come from Caracas, Venezuela – and my city of birth can be pretty chaotic and colorful, to say the least. Yet, it is the first time I’ve experienced chaos in this way. Asiatic chaos has slightly different shades of colors, all displayed at once. The same goes for the smells on the streets and the taste of the food.

Dinning in the so called Hanoi’s Old Quarter can gift your paladar with a new range of flavors and food combinations – as well as it could arrange a totally free paranoia experience for you, with wild eyes scanning the surfaces to make sure nothing living is moving too close to you 👀 😅.

As in Caracas, I’ve seen a big contrast between the Old Quarter and some other «less colorful» and more «developed» parts of the city. A panoramic view from the roof 🔝 bar at Lotte Hotel will confirm just this. While you’ll find yourself drinking a highly overpriced (and rather average tasting) cocktail 🍹- and end up paying a similar amount for 3 cocktails, to the one you paid the night before at a local restaurant in the Old Quarter, for the meals and drinks of 4 people.

I guess it is this contrast is one of those things, that make this town so interesting. Along with the insane traffic – please, watch out for the moppets and scooters 🏍👀… No, seriously. Watch out 😅 – and let’s not forget the people of this corner of the world. They are in a sense less lonely than many others in let’s say, Europe. People here gather in groups; mainly around food and coffee, on the streets, by the parks, restaurants and small cafes. The grand majority, very friendly and service-minded. Most of them young-adults. And the heat 😳… oh the heat!!! If a stemmed bath is what you have in mind, then increase the temperature at least 5 more degrees – now, that is more likely! 😅

I don’t think I could ever forget my first impression of this country, and this particular city – and I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow, when we get on with our journey 🔜. Next stop: Halong Bay, followed by the rise fields of Sapa 😎.

So long,

Love and light,
Carolina.