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Hanoi

The Hanoi Exclusive Hotel is a boutique hotel in the city’s Old Quarter. Our room was clean, bright, and with two single beds – just as I had requested. Jet lag and serial naps marked the first night.

Breakfast was in the restaurant downstairs. I worked Pho-Bun, a delicious beef noodle soup. Dragon fruit was a first for me and the mangos were wonderful. We found the fruit to be sweeter and more aromatic than fruit in the U.S. – I speculate because the fruit does not travel very far or long before landing on a plate in Vietnam. 

After breakfast, we set off to get cash from a local ATM and Vietnamese sim cards for our phones.

Based on recommendations from world travelers, I set up a U.S. Charles Schwab account to access cash overseas. Reputable local Vietnamese banks will give the best exchange rate for buying Vietnamese Dong and Charles Schwab, whose bank card seem to be accepted in all ATMs we tried, reimburses ATM fees. Easy and convenient. 

We located the nearest Viettel Wireless store to the hotel and set off on a hike there. Viettel is state-owned with bright, modern stores. We had heard buying sim cards from some resellers sometimes leads to rip-offs. And, we were planning to go to some pretty remote locations in the country, making the smart choice to be the network with the widest coverage from a reputable seller.

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Local Phone Service

After a short wait, Lauren and I were called to give our phones and passports to the Viettel representatives. Our passports? Yes, they register your sim card with your passport and presumably visa information. Perhaps this means they could track me? With what I had planned in terms of trekking into very remote portions of the country, I thought that was a good thing. Besides, they offer foreigners a one month plan with unlimited local calls (who you gonna call in Vietnam?) and 4G of data PER DAY. 4G is 2X to 4X the amount of data I use per month in the U.S. All of this for the equivalent of about $14 U.S.

On phones, I brought two. My daily driver is a Google Pixel 6 with a locked TMobile sim. It takes great pictures. TMobile is not competitive nor interested in unlocking that phone, hence I disabled the sim prior to landing in Vietnam. My second phone was a retired Google Pixel 4. It is the phone that received the Viettel sim. My plan was to mount the Pixel 4 to the handlebars of my motorcycle, exposing it to the weather and other backcountry motorcycle hazards. Worked great. If something happened to the Pixel 4, so be it.

Famous Note Cafe

Cash access and communication/navigation tools solved the first morning in Hanoi, we could get on with the adventure.

First hike was to the nearby Ho Hoan Kiem which translates to Sword Lake. Beautiful and peaceful oasis and wonderful respite from the traffic chaos of Hanoi. 

We then made our way to the world famous Note Cafe near the lake. Vietnam is known for coffee and the Note Cafe is place to find some of the best. Each table has a pen and Post-It notepad, and patrons have written and drawn 10,000s of them to decorate the walls. We did our part, including several featuring Pancho the Pug.

After coffee, we walked to the Michelin-rated Bun Cha Dac Kim on Hang Manh street in the Old Quarter, and had Bun Cha (pork meatballs with fresh herbs) for lunch.

Restaurants in Vietnam typically specialize in one dish. If you want Bun Cha, you go to a Bun Cha place. If you want Pho, you go to a Pho place. In Hanoi, the best specialty restaurants will sometimes congregate on the same street, so there will be a Bun Cha street with many competitors side by side. Proprietors are not shy and will aggressively solicit passersby to fill any empty seats. The restaurants have some tables inside, but often set up tables onto the sidewalks and into the streets.

The chairs are lightweight and diminutive by U.S. standards, which makes room for many more chairs and people in a limited space. It also makes for speedy rearrangement in the case of weather, traffic, or visits from the authorities. These arrangements mean you will be sitting close to other patrons.

If you are willing to adjust your U.S. sense of personal space and just go with it, the experience is wonderful. Even if your dining neighbors don’t speak English, everyone is friendly, seems happy, and give the vibe of distant family. Like I said, just go with it.

The Bun Cha was delicious. If memory serves, we paid the equivalent of $12 or $14 for two lunches with two beers at a 2023 Michelin-rated place. This was Hanoi in an area frequented by tourists. Similar meals in the outback were half that cost or less.

My jet lag was raging. I walked back to th hotel for a nap. Lauren sampled a highly recommended spa for a facial and massage. These indulgences are commonplace in Vietnam, especially in the big cities, and they are cheap.

Later in the day, rush hour to be more specific, we decided to walk to a large market, only to find it closed.

Walking in Hanoi, especially at rush hour, is an adventure sport. My senses responded as they do to class 4 whitewater rafting. They are trying not to kill you (tell that to my adrenal glands)… but it could happen. When unaccustomed, it looks and sounds like raging chaos.

Sidewalks are occupied by restaurant tables and patrons, vendors, motorbikes, store inventory, etc. Think slalom when walking the sidewalks. Inevitably one has to step into the street to make progress. As an alien with less than 24 hours experience in Hanoi, this was terrifying. I marveled at the locals, especially the older women, who would step into the street without looking, just trusting that the traffic would dodge and flow around them. And they were right. Crossing the street is a whole different level of terror. Traffic does not stop for pedestrians, it goes around them. At least that is the plan.

Elsewhere I discuss the apparent hierarchy of road rights amongst different vehicles. From high to low it seems to be buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles. Pedestrians seem to fit somewhere below cars and above motorcycles and bicycles. I would NEVER step out in front of a bus, truck, or car. Especially not in front of taxis. Remember Captain Kidd from the airport run?

Motorcycles and bicycles I could work with for crossing the street. No, they will not stop for you. They will go around you. At least that is the plan. For it to work, you have to … wait for it … step off the curb with your body oriented to clearly show the direction you intend to go. Some people will extend an arm as if to point their direction of intended travel.

At the point of stepping off the curb you should have all your earthly affairs in order. Then SMOOTHLY walk in the intended direction of crossing. Motorbike and bicycles will flow around you. You have to find your inner Zen and stay calm as dozens whiz by in front and behind you. If you watch the stoic faces of the motorbike riders, they are doing advanced math computing your trajectory, adjusting their course, and managing the space they share with other vehicles in a usually successful attempt to avoid hitting you, the pedestrian. And they have to repeat that math every few feet, over and over again. No doubt, motorcyclists in Hanoi have areas in their brains highly developed for motor vehicle agility.

As this works, traffic flows around the pedestrian like water flows around rocks in rapids. FOR this work, an implicit trust has to be exchanged between the pedestrians and the motorcyclists. As pedestrian, you have to be predictable, smooth, and deliberate. No sudden moves. No jumping back. No changing your mind quickly. Violate those rules and you might get smacked and cause multiple cyclists to crash. You gotta be cool. 

The risks and the skills required go up exponentially with traffic volume. Rush hour is the Grand Prix of street crossing.

As the trip went on Lauren said, “You go first. They see your white hair and they seem to respect old people.” Then she would draft behind me to get across the street. Thanks Lauren.

For dinner, we ventured back onto the streets and found a Pho place on the corner. Tiny table. Tiny chairs. Delicious Pho. Good beer. I was in my happy place, watching Hanoi be Hanoi.

Day 2 was in the books and jet lag-ridden sleep was improving with the activity of the day.

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