snack around
by richiecdisc
The best thing about Hanoi is snacking around. The food is great, there's lots to try and it's cheap. Have fun! All good travelers know there is something of an order effect with regard to how one perceives a particular country. I had been wary of visiting Vietnam after Laos, as everyone I had spoken with that had knowledge of the two places seemed to love the latter and had merely learned to tolerate the former. But there were too many factors pointing me in this unenviable direction and I could not ignore them. And so I found myself leaving the friendly and relaxed confines of Laos and heading to Hanoi.
The fifty-five minute flight stretched to nearly three hours as a dense fog surrounded the city. So, I was irritable on landing. I decided perhaps foolishly to go with a tout to a hotel rather than deal with a taxi driver, who might prove to be just as much a hindrance to getting to my hotel of choice. Actually, the tout’s hotel itself turned out to be better than expected and was fairly priced. But what was not so pleasant was every time we left, on passing through the lobby, we were besieged with requests to purchase one tour or another. It was explained to us that the room prices were so low that they needed to sell tours to make any money. It seemed odd after two weeks in Laos where no one tried to sell us much of anything despite rooms being half the price of the one we were currently inhabiting. But we good-naturedly decided it was easier to buy a tour from them rather than save a couple of alienating dollars at an agency.
After a couple of enjoyable enough days in Halong Bay, we returned and on our way back to our original hotel, a tout from another place offered us an even better deal and perhaps against better judgment, we took it as it was better located and equally as nice. (continued below in Fondest Memory)
You're wired!!
by muddybok
It's really not easy if you're sharing train compartment with strangers who don't speak your language, also to entrust your excessive baggage to hotel when you're away for Ha Long trip.
My Solution is my Pacsafe 85L that cost me almost 1/3 of my new Karrimor backpack. But ultimately it eases my mind while I’m traveling across Vietnam.
Tagline extracted from pacsafe.com:
Land, sea or air, you're wired for travel. No more sleepless train or bus rides, Pacsafe guards your gear for times when you just have to . . . go. The Backpacker series has been specially designed for easy harness access when you are on the move, or complete protection for safe air travel.
VAN PHUC - HA DONG SILK VILLAGE
by balhannah
The Ha Dong Silk village (a trade village), is in the centre of Ha Dong town, Ha Tay Province, and is the ...............
BIGGEST SILK PRODUCING AREA IN VIETNAM
For 1000's of years, Silk has been weaved here. You can visit a home where weavers operate power looms. Silk patterns have now been computerized which cuts down the time from 20 days per pattern to 3 days per pattern.
The Museum shows the history of Ha Dong throughout the ages.
In Van Phuc, there are 730 households, with 1600 people earning a living here by weaving Silk.
After having a look at the making of Silk, go for a wander around the Village and have a look at the shops,
there isn't any hard sell here.
Plenty of choice of silk products and material.
Tours come here or you can come on your own as I did.
LOCATION........ 10km from Hanoi, via the south western motorway is Van Phuc.
Very cheap beer
by pmarshuk about Bia Hoi
At the cross roads on Ta Hien and Ma May just next to the Classic Hotel are three small holes in the wall places selling Bia Hoi at 1500 Dong per glass (thats 10 glasses for USD1). You sit on tiny stools on the streets outside a doorway on the corner of the road and get you beer and watch the world go by. You can even get snack food served at your stool by one of the passing street vendors.
Beer Hoi is brewed all over Hanoi and is basically from micro/mocro breweries - or almost moonshine - and is delivered to the shops by moterbike.
Bus or tourist-travel VIP Bus
by SumTingWong
The cheapest way of getting around Hanoi and all of Vietnam is by bus. The bus systems are well developed in Vietnam, but i'm only referring to the system, not the buses themselves (poor condition and there can be stop dead traffic, or like that when you stuck behind people on bikes al the way to HCMC). The publis bus system is so cheap and you can basicly buy a ticket from Hanoi to HCMC for about 10-20 USD. There are also tourist buses for travelers to see all of Vietnam. These buses are in good condition and are meant for tourists (and are owned by travel companies). They are a bit, but not by much, more expencive. They stop throughout all of Vietnam, you can spend a week traveling by bus spending a day in each major city. Prices vary but from HCMC to Hanoi is around 20-30 USD.
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Hoan Kiem Lake against modern buildings
Hanoi skyline from our hotel
buying fruit in a local market
A socialist statue by Ho Kiem Lake
