Beauty in Chaos: Day 1 & 2
3:28 PM
I was thinking how should I title or sum up this trip, and so coincidentally I chanced upon this dayre-ian's post on her recent trip to Hanoi as well. She summed up her trip in three words:
"Beauty in Chaos"
It's really the three best words that could possibly sum up Hanoi/Vietnam. Despite the usual traffic congestion, polluted air and the living conditions of the people, there is so much beauty in this country to be explored.
- DAY ONE -
Discovering Chaos
The four of us really came totally unprepared and weren't sure what would lie ahead in this trip. This was taken right outside the airport when we landed - don't be fooled by our smiles, a second before this shot we were wrecking our heads and worrying if we'll be scammed by the cabbies. Lugging along our luggage while looking at a list of trusted cab companies as recommended by Clarissa's dad, we attempted to communicate with the cabbies that were in the list through sign language.
Quite funny how this uncle gave us a thumbs up, which we all assumed was in agreement to picking us up, but when we approached him he asked us to go to the cab that was first in line. So we picked up our baggage with fear and approached the unknown taxi brand, and got onto the most "fast and furious" ride of our lives.
The trip started out rocky, with us being stranded in the streets due to the wrong information provided by our AirBnb host. We pressed the bell of the house, only to be greeted by locals who gave us confused looks. There we were, checking the address again to see if we were at the right address, which we confirmed we were according to the information provided. With no wifi or internet connection, we wondered what's the next course of action. It was then where we spotted this mobile shop nearby. They were selling mobile phones, but we decided to give it a shot and ask if they had wifi for us to connect to. Thankfully, they had and they gave us the password to connect to it. That was when we contacted our AirBnb host, only to be left hanging for approximately an hour. During that time, some of us decided to wander down the streets, with the image of the building in our minds in hopes to come across it. Clarissa and I later went into this 'Vietnam Airlines' shop, where we attempted to get help on where the building could possibly be. Thankfully again, they were so willing to help and helped us to get the right address. By the time we were back, the host got back to us and it matched with the address that the Vietnam Airlines staff provided us. We were thankful that we were finally on our way to find the apartment to settle down, especially after the long morning of travelling and flight delay.
Finally and thankfully, we found the place and rested for a bit in the apartment before proceeding out to venture.
Decided to head to this cafe that we chanced upon while wandering to find our apartment. Settled down after looking at the menu to only realize that they weren't serving mains at that timing. We were hungry, but too embarrassed to leave so we decided to get some drinks, and that was how I had my first Vietnamese coffee!
Proceeded to this convenience store nearby! And here's the three of us waiting for Clarissa who took ages to shop that hahaha.
Before we knew it, the sky was turning dark! It's the winter season thus the shorter 'days'.
Next stop was the shopping district, where the four of us refer to as the 'Shoe Street' (because the whole stretch just sold shoes!). It was really blinding to see so many shoes in that short period of time, especially with Nike, Adidas, Vans, Toms being thrown around as though they're worthless. Think we spent a few hours here before proceeding for dinner.
Beautiful Hoan Kiam Lake!! (that turned out to be a "taboo word" for us later in the trip LOL)
Felt really happy at the end of the day despite the not-so-smooth-sailing day! Tired but I was really so glad to be there with them with the perfect weather! I guess all in all, day 1 was a day of 'culture shock' for us - from the jaywalking to accepting the level of hygiene there. More of a 'chaotic' day I would categorize it hahaha.
- DAY TWO -
Finding Beauty in Chaos
Good morning!!! Had such a good rest the previous night and felt totally pumped up for the new day ahead.
We started out our day at this cafe (can't remember the name now) to try the highly raved egg coffee!
Pretty view (aka Hoan Kiam Lake) over breakfast! It was pretty sunny on day two though.
Hello egg coffee. To be honest, it was a disappointment. I really had zero expectations of it even before trying.. like egg.. and coffee??? How does that even work out. I love eggs. I love coffee. But egg coffee..? No.
And wew!!!! This place needs no introduction anymore I guess hahahaha.
To be fair.. we went on the bridge this time round!!
Chanced upon this random cafe as we were wandering around and decided to get a cup! Egg coffee in the morning couldn't count as my daily coffee intake.
So glad I got it because it was amazingggggggg.
Went back to our apartment after a few hours because we needed to check out! We had this few hours in between before checking into our next apartment and Cat and Germ decided to go for a massage, while I went to did my nails, and TH went to chill and this cafe nearby.
Which totally became his 'home' hahaha. Look at how comfortable the dog was with him?!
I ended before Cat and Germ did so I went over to find TH first and ate this!! It was surprisingly good and super cheap (less than 1SGD!!).
Went off to the weekend night market! The staff of our host told us that the roads would be closed for pedestrians so we decided to check it out. We were too early and they were still setting up (it was about 6pm in this pic) and we decided to had for dinner first.
And yay. SG pride supporting local brands hahaha. We had Thai Express for dinner lol. It was actually pretty good!
Yay to 'Pedestrians Day and Night' - that's what we call it hahaha.
It's really so different with all the vehicles lol. We were just glad to be able to walk freely without looking out for vehicles hahaha.
Next up was the endless rows and shops at the weekend market! There were really a lot of things to look at but it was so tiring to finish them. (which we did lol!!)
And that was it for day 2! Decided to head back to rest for the early day to Halong Bay on Day 3!
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