We have arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam!

In December we applied for visas online to enter Vietnam and we were approved a few days before our flight! Cutting it a bit close… and at the airport we discovered one of Alex’s many names had been cut off, thankfully the gate agent was able to correct it as the visas in Vietnam are quiet important and specific.

Hanoi was named in 1831 by the Minh Mang King - Ha means river and Noi means inside - so this city is known as the land between the rivers. As you can imagine, there are rivers (the Red and Black rivers) as well as some lakes to wander around, pathways and streets closed to traffic on weekend evenings where people are out strolling, children are playing on push carts and groups are dancing.

The first thing we noticed on our ride from the airport was the traffic, it was intense! Now we didi arrive at rush hour… but it seems like it may always be rush hour! It took us over an hour to reach our hotel, our driver was great and he used every tool possible to keep us moving amid the cars, scooters, pedal bikes, people and parked cars! After the girls napped, we passed our time playing eye spy with the fascinating sights around us.

We also noticed that the streets are narrow with busy shops and cafes spilling onto the city walks. There are mopeds and scooters everywhere. Many buildings are gorgeous, with old narrow buildings side by side with new ones… later we found out that many of the old houses were narrow to avoid property tax, which is based on the width of the building according to French law in the 19th century (not sure this applies). Our first night here we wandered in search of dinner and arrived on train street, very near our hotel. This is a narrow street filled with cafes and lights where an active train whizzes by throughout the day! It is free to visit and you can wander and wait to grab an egg coffee!

Coffee is a huge thing here, there is a real cafe culture as part of a social pastime. Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world and therefore very inexpensive here (as is the tea, which is often locally brewed with ginger and lemongrass). Some of the cafes are entirely on the street with a series of stools and others are inside/outside - there are lots of open-air seating everywhere. It is a shame our family does not drink coffee cause they have some exceptional blends here - egg coffee and coconut coffee. Both of these types of coffee were solutions to a lack of milk during war time when eggs and coconuts were still accessible.

You might notice in our photos we are bundled up, it is cooler here than Thailand - ranging from 16-20 during the day and getting as low as 12 at night. It feels cool for us coming from a warm country but we anticipated this and brought our layers and mitts!