I was asked to share my impressions ofVietnam, so I will try to do it. Of course, a day in Hanoi is too little to draw any conclusions, especially northern Vietnam, they say, is quite different from southern and you need to go to both. However, Hanoi is in any way the capital, that is, a demonstration city, and you can understand something for yourself anyway, especially if you have already been to Southeast Asia more than once.
Immediately I say, travel to me this time nowhereI didn’t want, there was too much work to do, plus we just moved to Hua Hin and didn’t have time to settle down properly, but I had to go because the visa was over and I needed a new stamp.
The content of the article
Walking through Hanoi
Since I was not very determined to travel,then I decided to stay in Vietnam all day, look at the city and return to Thailand as soon as possible. Looking ahead, I want to say that someday it will be necessary to come, at least for a couple of weeks, in order to slowly travel around the country. Liked.
But not like in terms of life, that isto live / pose a desire did not arise, but to try to test yes. I immediately recalled my first trip to Asia and my sensations of unusualness of what I saw. No, Vietnam is not strikingly different from Thailand (SEA after all), but it differs greatly. The bustle of bikes on the road, quite a few people, the architecture of the low 3-5 storey houses, but very narrow, the absence of skyscrapers and generally low buildings in general. For some reason, Hanoi reminded me more of China, not Thailand. By China, I mean Hainan Islandbecause this is the only place where I was inChina, they say, mainland China is very different. It seems to be described in part for Bangkok, but you need to come to Hanoi and see that this is not so.
Bikes and traffic in the city
Probably the first thing that catches your eye isthe number of bikes on the road, they are many times more cars. It seems like there is some kind of tax on motor vehicles, so not everyone can afford it. And the bikes ride there with the slightest observance of the rules of the road, that is, on an opposite, on the red, and most importantly - do not let pedestrians. At all! They do not even slow down, but drive around instead. The question is, why did they draw a zebra on the road? You need to go the road slowly and confidently, go straight through this endless stream of bikes and cars. This task may be difficult, but I got used to it pretty quickly. And in the same way on a bike they carry everything they can, and even walk their dogs.
Splashy stream of bikes on the streets of Hanoi
If there is no traffic light at the intersection, then chaos is going on.
Repeatedly met these electric mopeds
Dog walking on a bike
Street Cafe
The second thing that surprises is the small street cafes. Surprised by how they look. They are several toy chairs and stools on the sidewalk, and often without tables. It is small ones, I would say for children, maybe because such furniture is the cheapest? And the seller of food in general sits almost on the floor near a stone pot with coals, where it warms up the food and cooks “on the knee”. Moreover, there may be a garbage bin, a bike workshop, but this does not bother anyone. Dubious pleasure, so I did not eat in these, chose more civilized cafes. In my case, it’s still difficult that I won’t have everything, and there are no such cafes, no menu, no choice. In general, I noticed that all the food is mostly meat, and I need seafood.
Street cafe in Vietnam, Haina
More trashy cafe, Hajny
Portable kitchen, almost a macashin
A civilian cafe near the Lake of the Returned Sword
But lovers of coffee and sandwiches (baguettes) inVietnam should like it, you can buy them on every corner, which I did. True, I don’t understand coffee at all, I don’t know how it (it?) Should be, some kind of bitter and bitter, if you take without concentrated milk, I mean condensed milk. By the way, while walking, I did not see a single supermarket.
Baguette sandwiches in Hanoi from 20,000 dong
Coffee and ice cream in a pleasant coffee shop
Architecture
As I said, Hanoi is a low city. While we were driving through it on the shuttle bus to the airport, I counted just a few high rises. The rest is 3-5-storey buildings butt to each other, with various piers, cells, poke where you can, and where you can not. In the center of Hanoi, there are quite unusual and interesting houses, however, often in a depressing state, shabby, covered with gray mold and with an old roof, went all day and looked at them. Also in the center there is a French quarter with neat buildings, and, by the way, there is also a Catholic cathedral in the center, an analogue of Notre-Dame de Paris. Closer to the outskirts of the building is more new, but at the same time more impersonal or something, the usual such business houses (townhouses) are all the same.
Hainoya Streets
The wires go to the ground in such housings.
How it all stumbled in Hanoi!
With wires the same trouble as in Thailand
Beautiful tree, part of the street wall
Peninsula with the Temple of the Turtle
Inside the Temple of the Turtle
To keep the walls from falling
The most beautiful and civilized tracks near the lake
Some streets in Vietnam are very narrow.
Here is another one, the center of Hanoi
Russian vodka and got here
The playground in Hanoi is just a playground.
In the French Quarter, the buildings are new and pretty.
St. Joseph's Cathedral, local Notre-Dame de Paris
Building on the outskirts and in the area, photo from Haynoa airport
Just a street in Hanoi
House numbers are sometimes duplicated in trees.
Street in the center of Hanoi, where several times a train passes by
Where are the Communists without Lenin
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in Hanoi
Turtle Tower on the Lake of the Returned Sword
Sidewalks
Sidewalks in Hanoi are only on major streets,but the problem is the same as in other countries of Southeast Asia - they are all made up of bikes and cafes. Only at night the sidewalks are empty (all inside the houses are cleaned) and the streets look surprisingly spacious. Also in the evening in Hainoye it becomes very dirty, especially where brisk trade was conducted: bags, bottles, paper and slop. Sometimes there was a mountain of garbage and even got into dog shit. To be honest, in the evening I wanted to change my sandals to sneakers, so that I couldn’t get anywhere with my bare legs.
Street in Hanoi in the afternoon
Same street in the evening
On most streets you have to walk in traffic
Late evening, the epicenter of the mud
Weather
When I had the choice to fly to Hanoi orHo Chi Minh, I decided to fly all the same to Hanoi. In addition to lower prices for air tickets, the reason was the weather. After a few months in Tae, I was already tired from the heat, and in the capital of Vietnam only 20-23 degrees were expected (at night 15). Despite the cloudy weather and drizzling rain, it was great to walk in pants and in a hoodie for a change, not hiding from the scorching sun under the streams of air conditioners. Probably, if I chose the climate, I would choose the same as in the north of Vietnam, when there are cool months. In my time, it was with this that I liked Hainan, everything seems to be there.
the Internet
I stayed at the Urban Alley Hotel (my hotel review) not far from the Lake of the Returned Sword and fromtourist area, somewhere 10 minutes walk was up to them. But it may well be that for the first time it was worth living right in the tour block. So it was striking that the Internet in a cheap hotel was better than in all apartments / houses where we lived in Thailand. Yes, what to say about the hotel, in cafes, coffee shops, the Internet was faster. Like the neighboring country, just as the wires are all tangled on the pillars, and the Internet is faster and more symmetrical. Why?
Tour quarter and trade
The tourist quarter is aseveral streets filled with merchants of various stripes. They sell scarves and pants with patterns, silver and gold, various souvenirs made of wood, pads, cups, hiking clothes and backpacks, sim cards and telephones, and a bunch of other things. The rickshaws plied the streets and called for a ride, the bread marketers constantly offered me to try one for free for free, the annoying shoemakers stubbornly wanted to clean my sandals. If you do not like the crowd, then you should not be here. But I was pleased to plunge into the atmosphere of a tourist mecca for a while.
Tour quarter of Hanoi, the streets are filled with merchants
Balls of flour, I do not know how they are called
Pedicabs in Hanoi
Vietnamese dongs are plastic and contain many zeros
People
People seemed about the samefriendly, as in Thailand, but much less smiling, that the Russian people may be more familiar. I can’t say more, because I stayed too little. In general, I felt safe, if we talk about walking in the dark at night along the back streets with a camera, nobody paid attention to me.
Did not like the need to bargain. Well, I don’t like this business, but here you have to do it, even if you want to go to the public toilet, prices are cheated on everything, you have to be on the alert and know the prices. For example, a toilet in the center costs 2,000-3,000 dongs, and they wanted me to have 5,000 dongs in one place. Let a trifle, but it is unpleasant, considering that this toilet was so seedy that it was most likely worth 1000 Dong at all. It is good that in many cafes there is a menu and prices are fixed.
Manicure in Hanoi
Loved the frame
I do not know local or not, but the clothes are unusual
A lot of photo shoots are held near the Lake of the Returned Sword.
A pretty typical picture, uncomfortable to sit like that
There are enough foreigners, including those who live here permanently
Such a sad look ...
P.S. I do not pretend to know Viet Nam at all, and I can be mistaken about something, so I will be happy for your additions and comments. I know many have been there for a long time, wintered.
