AspiringNomad

The highly anticipated ‘trip of a lifetime’ blog is finally off to a start!

I waved a tearful goodbye to Mum and Dad at Heathrow Airport on Monday afternoon. I left UK soil at about 7:20pm and I must admit, not knowing exactly when I would be back on it again left me feeling all the emotions!
Luckily, the seat next to me was empty and I managed to sleep almost the whole way to my first stop, Hanoi, Vietnam.

I landed safe and sound and disembarked from the plane. As expected, the air was warm and muggy. I withdrew some cash from the ATM at the airport and used the Grab app to book a taxi to my Hostel.
The skyline of the city was clouded in a hazey smog. Public transport doesn’t seem to be a thing here so everyone owns either a car or more commonly, a moped, meaning the streets are packed with vehicles. I quickly learned that pedestrians seem to have the same right of way as any other motorist and so at every crossing the free for all to get across makes you feel like you’re risking your life!

On arrival I was met by Tom in the lobby! After a quick shower and freshen up we met to go and explore a little bit of Hanoi.
We wandered the streets, trying our best to avoid being hit by a vehicle and I took in the sights. Hanoi is surprisingly well kept. Aside from the heavy air pollution, for the most part, the streets are quite clean. The pavements are used for anything else but walking on; little chairs for street food restaurants lace the walkways, men cleaning shoes, giving haircuts, woman washing fish and fruit and veg, market stalls sprawled almost onto the road and people just sat in groups having a chat and watching the world pass by.  Anything you can think of but walking on! So we battled against the mopeds, weaving in and out of them as they zoom past!

We went for something to eat in a Vietnamese restaurant and I devoured the spring rolls, fried rice and fried mushrooms and green beans. It was delicious.
That evening we headed out to a sky bar, one of many in the area and enjoyed a couple of cocktails before calling it a night and heading back to our dorms.

Molly from Exeter and Scott from London were 2 of 5 others in my dorm. I spent the morning chatting with them about their travels and their ongoing plans. Scott was leaving that day to Brisbane to meet a friend but Molly joined Tom and I for breakfast in the hostel.

Amongst other sight seeing stops today, we had planned to go to the infamous train street.
A big, loud train runs through Hanoi to and from Ho Chi Minh. It’s a night train that seems to have a timetable that no one knows. The authorities have been trying to discourage tourists from lining the side of the railway track to get a very instagramable picture and back in 2019 actually banned tourist altogether from heading down this particular street. But following covid the ban didn’t stick, and the locals who own the restaurants argue that their livelihood depends on us silly tourists wanting to get a good photo, and so getting onto train street is an experience in itself. If you’re not being shouted at by a guard to step back, you have a local asking you to follow them to their cafe to get a ‘good seat’ and if your not dealing with that you usually have another tourist asking you how the hell you get onto the street without being harassed or told off. It was chaos, but we eventually went with one man who took us around the back and we finally managed to get a seat along the track. Thoroughly entertained by the chaos at the entrance to ‘the street’, we had a couple of cokes and decided to head back in the evening to see the train go by at night.

After a day of walking around, sweating profusely, and taking it all in, we retreated to the hostel to plan the next few days.

We headed off out that evening and went to a street food restaurant that Molly had recommended to us earlier on and wandered back to ‘train street’. This time we knew the score, so managed to get a good seat in the middle of the street, surrounded by lanterns and various other decorations. After about and hour the cafe owners started moving everyone back from the train line and we heard the the noise of the train horn approaching us. It was such an experiencing being in a location like that with a huge train run past you, a little too close for comfort!

Back in my dorm, Molly and I were chatting as the others in our room had headed out for the night. After dealing with a very unwanted cockroach in our bathroom, we were just about to head to sleep when the others returned. Clearly having had one too many to drink, they mistook the light on in the room as an invitation to chat to Molly and I. Fortunately, the two guys were nice and friendly and were being quite funny, so it was rather entertaining!
An Aussie arrived a little later with a box of pho he had picked up on his travels back from the nightlife to the hostel. It didn’t take long before he was in the bathroom feeling a lot worst for wear. Over the noise of the Aussie being sick in the toilet, we all laughed about how rough he is going to be feeling in the morning and voted whether to take the rest of the pho from him before he ends up spilling it in his bed. Unanimously, we agreed to disgard the pho! We eventually coaxed him off the bathroom floor and back into his bed and at about 3am we finally turned the lights off. All in the day (or night) of hostel life!

Tom and I boarded the bus for our Ha Long Bay tour this morning and 8am. The tour guide is droaning on about ‘Bamboo Pie’ or something over the speaker (which is a bit unnecessary for this time in the morning) as I reflect on my first few days in Vietnam.

Just as I thought, it hasn’t taken long to accustom to travel life again. Although my hair is frizzy and dry as a bone, I haven’t stopped sweating since I arrived, and I have already been bitten twice, I wouldn’t change it for a thing and I can’t wait for the next 6 weeks!