Funny thing how we passed by this place everyday in Hanoi, saw the massive amounts of people there, and continued by without a second glance. Well, fortunately, Vicky happened to notice. And on a separate occasion, read about it online. Amazing that all these places were close to our hotel. This one was two blocks...

The best way we were going to experience Sapa was to hike it. Well, after a thirty minute ride out of town to the starting point. It was still damp outside so we knew our shoes may not be coming home with us. We planned for this. And yeah, by the end of the day...

One thing to be aware of is that the train takes you into Lao Cai. It’s another hour ride up to Sapa through some windy roads. Not to bad to endure if I weren’t so grumpy from a night on the train. By the time we got to the hotel, businesses were waking up. Our...

Here’s the typical itinerary for a Sapa getaway, a three-night two-day stay. This means you take an overnight train to Sapa, do a hike during the day, stay in a hotel at night, do a hike the next day, and come back on an overnight train. Basically, you have two full days with really one...

We were making our way through the Old Quarter and decided to eat locally. That was, try out the recommendations from the locals and online reviews that weren’t TripAdvisor or Yelp (yeah, they had a small presence). Two things came to mind, bun cha and more bun rieu oc. I had to compare it to...

I had tried this place out in Ho Chi Minh City and loved it. With it’s mission to bring all the diverse flavors of Vietnam together under one roof was awesome. When I heard they had branched out to Hanoi, I had to check it out. And wouldn’t you know it, it was close to...

Vicky was pretty set on trying out this place. She found it on a food blog from a Taiwanese person that relocated to the area. The author gave it a thumbs up, so why not. Can’t go wrong trying all the chicken rice dishes of the world. I was curious to see how this compared...

Our travel agent booked us on a cruise for Halong Bay. Something I’ve been meaning to do my entire life. All those small island mountains protruding looked magical. Something I wanted to witness with my own eyes and feel what it’s like to be surrounded by them. It may not have been the best weather...

This place must be good to have three restaurants named after it, right? Well, I couldn’t disprove that theory. It was pretty darn good. Exactly what I was looking on a desolate cold night. Everything looked closed, that was, if it were open, it had nobody in it. This was the case for Hong Hanh...

When booking a place in Halong Bay, you may get offered a resort stay on Tuan Chau island. We got a fantastic hotel, Paradise Hotels, who have their own ferries. Problem was, it’s far away from town. And the other resorts on the island were still being built. So yeah, we felt really isolated. But...

I met up with my friends in the evening. They had spent most of their day with a local tour guide from Hanoi Kids, a clever culture exchange group. They send students along with tourists free of charge to show them the culture and sights of Hanoi. In exchange, the students get to practice their...

Vietnam is one of the world’s top producer of coffee and you can see it in the culture. There’s basically a coffee shop on every corner. You thought it was bad seeing two coffee shops at a corner, albeit the same chain, but here in Hanoi, expect up to all four being a coffee shop....

Believe it or not, pho is meant to be eaten for breakfast.  Even though you probably heard that the broth gets richer as the day goes on, most Vietnamese people have pho in the morning. Not a problem for a glutton like me. And if morning meant 3am morning, even better. However, since I didn’t...

A $15USD cab ride took me from the airport to my hotel. The driver was enthused to get money in U.S. dollars rather than Vietnam Dong. It’s a thing you’ll notice in the major cities. Tricky part was to get change which would be in Vietnamese Dong. But that’s pretty trivial. anyways, my hotel was...