Do you love travelling? If you do, then what makes you excited about a trip? I know that if you want to take a trip that you are satisfied from a luxury hotel, expensive food, monumental commercial centre to the friendly people and healthy atmosphere you want to breathe,… then it is not difficult, especially when you travel to the luxurious cities such as Paris, New York or Tokyo and so on. But are they what we want when travelling to a different country? If you prefer a really exciting trip with different emotions like watching a movie which is both emotionally close and incredibly vivid but not missing a few critical situations, then go to Vietnam to experience them all. I had a wonderful tour Vietnam and now want to share my travelling experiences to you because after coming back from Vietnam, the word “tour Vietnam” forever is a beautiful memory with me.
When arriving in Hanoi, I was overwhelmed with traffic here. It’s too messy and complicated. Driving motorbikes in Hanoi like swimming among a shoal of “fish”. Everything will be fine if you follow the crowds and should not try to go against it. I remember the first time when I crossed the road on a busy street in Hanoi (in fact, it looks like all the streets are quite narrow and crowded), I felt like I was going to play an extremely risky game. It made me somewhat nervous but also very cheerfully. To be successful, I concentrated all the courage and consciousness like being in such a tough battle. The feeling after the road to success but you still “intact” is really stimulating. “Wow, I’m still alive. It’s unbelievable.” A tip for you in this case is to find a child or elderly person to accompany them. I know for sure that the Vietnamese people must have something very subliminal after many years crossing the roads. I tried and succeeded, believe me. You will feel as if you were taking part in an action movie here.
Maybe other travelers will find this annoying, but for me, it’s okay. Why not? To play a dangerous game, you will lose a certain amount of money but when crossing the roads in Vietnam, you will not lose a penny. It saves right? Moreover, as you become accustomed to this, it no longer scares you.
Walking in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, I saw it was like a maze with small streets intertwine. Hanoi’s Old Quarter is an attracted place appealing you to arrive here. Try the feeling of wandering around 36 streets under the green canopy, visiting the small roadside shop and enjoy street food. I found here the narrow tubular houses or houses under French architecture, though not much, but it also made a special architecture of Hanoi. On weekends, going to the night market here is very interesting. The items here are colorful and beautiful if you want to find yourself a souvenir.
However, the streets here have quite the same name (Hang Da, Hang Ga, Hang Bong,…) and you will be very confusing and difficult to escape out. In this regard, always carry a map and if you still cannot do anything, you look for a young man and ask for directions because of the possibility that he or she can speak English instead of asking an older person and the Vietnamese will enthusiastically help you.
Referring to Hanoi, I certainly cannot ignore the sidewalk delicacies of this place. The snacks there are so diversified that they cannot all be listed, for example ‘pho’, ‘bun cha’, ‘xoi’, ‘che’ and so on. Therefore, distinguishing native dishes was a challenge for me, but they really attractive by the flavor which could not be found elsewhere. If you are familiar with the luxurious restaurants and food then you should try once sitting in sidewalk cafes here to see how great they are. I’m fascinated about the feeling of every morning autumn when the weather is chilly; I sat inhaling the fragrant smoke rising from my ‘pho’ and enjoying it deliciously to the last thread. Hot ‘pho’ is really wonderful! Maybe you see the casual dining as a big challenge because of food safety issues, but I’m still fine after trying quite a lot of food here. You see, the Vietnamese people are very healthy, right?
The sidewalk coffee and iced tea are also a characteristic in Hanoi. Sitting on the sidewalk, you can contemplate all four seasons of Hanoi. Wistfully walking and immersing in Hanoi’s space, ordering a cup of coffee to enjoy “slow” time is the fun of the people here. Only a few plastic chairs, a few cups of coffee or a few cups of iced tea … are enough for every conversation of office workers in lunch break or spare moments of someone just taking a sip a cup of coffee. A sufficient space, the plastic chairs are spread out in rows, visitors find themselves a seat. If full, they could hold a cup of coffee while sitting on the saddle of their bikes to enjoy this simple pleasure. Visitors to the sidewalk coffee come from all classes; all of them find their own corner to comfortably chatting, sharing the joys and sorrows of life without fear of affecting everyone. It was the comfort that other cafes with twinkling lights could not have. Say something if you can get this experience in France or USA? Of course not, and it is worth a try once in your life.
Street life in Hanoi is really diversified and colorful with people making a living on the sidewalk, each person has a job, food sellers, watchmaker, bootblack, on-the-road hairdresser,… Lifestyle here is extremely hustle but also contains the very casual intimacy.
Hanoi also has a very special scent that I was strongly impressed. This scent you can only see when coming to Hanoi in the fall, and I bet it’s not like any French perfume you’ve ever used. It is the fragrance of Millwood pine. It can make you a little uncomfortable being around but if you take a deep breath at a reasonable distance, you can see how sexy it is. You might remember that scent when you leave Vietnam because it is really special.
The simple but attractive characteristics above has made Hanoi an interesting destination to not only me but also many other travelers in the world. I believe so. Thanks to Eviva Tour, I had such a wonderful trip like that and somewhat felt the beauty of people and country of Vietnam. Your services were excellent, especially this tour Vietnam. If I have the opportunity to return to Vietnam again, I want to make my experience to be more fully by driving myself a motorcycle hovering on the streets of Hanoi or put on an “ao dai” – the traditional costume of the Vietnamese and many other things that I did not have chance to try. How about you? Complete your trip by travelling to Vietnam by in one day.