We have a tradition of spending the holiday outside of the US, so this year we decided to go see more of Vietnam. This time, we focused on the north.
It only took 30 hours of travel to get here: a quick 3 to Atlanta, 17 to South Korea, and then another 5 to Hanoi. I slept okay on the long flights, and got to watch both halves of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. I also saw some incredible aurora borealis over Manitoba, which was probably a better show.
After landing and clearing customs in the modern Hanoi airport, we got an airport pickup and about an hour drive into the old part of the city. We’ll use the local taxi app more as we go, but for the first ride it was nice to meet a guy holding a sign with our name on it.
We got an immediate lunch nearby at a coffee shop overlooking the street. Some caffeine and food helped put us on the right track, and then a strong massage followed by a shower and a short nap got us through the first day.
At night, we took a local food tour led by women on motorbikes. We went to Bun Cha Obama, got a beer at Train Street, had some soft noodle rolls called banh cuon, then a whole bowl of steamed clams in lemongrass, and finally a matcha flan for dessert.
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