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You can’t really talk about Hanoi without mentioning Halong Bay. And you can’t really walk around Hanoi’s Old Quarter without seeing a tour ad for it.
We weren’t sure we even wanted to go to Halong, a bay of 1,969 limestone karsts that were recently added to the Wonders of the World list. It seemed so packaged and artificial, and we hate going to places because you’re supposed to go to them. On top of that, trying to figure out the right company to go with made our heads spin. Too many options! Too much negotiation!
It may seem completely boring to tell you the details of how we decided to go about seeing the islands, but the process ranks high on my — and many others’ — travel annoyances list, so hopefully it’s helpful to some of you.
Things locals in Hanoi like: Riding motorbikes, street food, drinking Bia Ha Noi (the local draft beer), sunflower seeds and Apple products.
These are the concrete observations I’ve made after about a week in Vietnam’s capital. They’re random and scattered, much like the city itself. Hanoi is a wild place, and it’s much different than I expected. (If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve seen plenty of daily streets snaps.)
People we talked to about Hanoi seemed so charmed by it all — the French influence, the street-lined cafes, the food stalls. But upon arriving, I felt completely overwhelmed.
It wasn’t the quaint cafe city I had expected. It was a tiny metropolis, swirling with constant activity, and it took me a few days of zig-zagging through motorbikes and cyclos (manual rickshaws) to get used to it. I can’t say I’m as won over by the city as some other people have been, but since we had time to take it in, I can say that I appreciate its little urban culture. The food is amazing, it’s one of the more green cities I’ve seen and you can get by on about $15 per day.
Before I delve into stories about our Vietnam adventures — FYI we have had some really rad ones so far — I have to admit something: Adjusting to Asia has been hard.
Asia is much rougher around the edges than South America, and as it turns out, I’m having a little more trouble getting into the swing of things than I anticipated. In fact, I find myself less mentally and physically prepared than when we left back in September of last year. Maybe it has something to do with coming off three months of “normal” life in Hawaii. Maybe it’s that Vietnam isn’t as easy of a place to travel as, say, Thailand. Maybe it’s that some of the novelty of travel has worn off in month nine. But probably, it’s all three.
I find it strange and surprising to admit I’m having trouble in Asia, considering I’m Indian and have witnessed/been a part of life in a Third World country, and I’m not saying I don’t feel really lucky to be here, experiencing things some people never see, but I’d be lying if I said everything was beautiful and romantic and just lovely all the time. And I’d be shocked if other long-term travelers never felt the feelings I’m about to describe.
We’re now in Vietnam, and I’m realizing just how hard it is to do as the locals do without a friend to guide us through the chaotic streets. It reminds me how lucky we were to have Fareesa hand pick all of our restaurants in Hong Kong. We named the cuisine, she found us a hidden gem. And as all good dining experiences should go, we learned a lot about HK culture in the process. (In general for Asia, I try to be vegetarian, but if there’s no other choice, the place looks clean and/or the meal looks that good, I’m happy to deflect.)
Cha Chaan Teng. This literally means tea restaurant, but cha chaan teng is better described as Hong Kong’s version of a diner. It’s affordable, eclectic and full of locals, young and old. We let Fareesa order for us and she did good — condensed milk buns, crispy noodles with tiger prawn, the famous fishball noodle soup and very traditional iced milk tea, called tong lai cha. I’m usually weary of things called fish ball soup, but this is a year of trying new things, and so I just went with it. And you know, it was actually really good, though my favorite was the garlic and chili chicken soup.
I feel a little bad for stereotyping Hong Kong as all party-party, drink-drink. Of course, those things play a big, BIG role in HK life*, but as I mentioned, there’s so much more to this set of islands.**
Our friend, host and acting tour guide, Fareesa, outlined plenty of fun things to do in the city and surronds, and no day was the same.
Happy Valley Races. Held every Wednesday night throughout most of the year, this beer garden-meets-horse race is completely wild. Chinese men take their gambling very seriously, but you’d be hard-pressed to find expats with that much focus on the horses. They’re by the beer stalls, natch.
I lived in New York. This should be easy, I thought.
But as I soon realized, I knew very little about this shiny east-meets-west city — and was probably less equipped than ever to take Hong Kong in after three months of extreme chillaxing in Honolulu.
We landed in Hong Kong last Tuesday night, and after 16 hours of travel, it was amazing to see a friendly face. We were staying with our wonderful friend from college, Fareesa, who has made quite a nice life for herself after moving to Hong Kong three years ago.
But we weren’t just crashing at her place. Girl has taken care of us. She gave us her bed, stocked the fridge with food even though she herself never eats in, welcomed us with this amazing sign…
…and prepared edited guides and lists of things to do, complete with highlighted maps and a Blackberry to use during our stay. It was incredible. I know friends help friends out, but this was above and beyond.
As I’ve said before, visiting friends abroad is never a bad decision. Fareesa has been one of the most thoughtful and generous hosts we’ve ever had. She’s such a happy, social and fun person that it was fantastic to have quality time to catch up. We felt so lucky to finally spend time with her on her new home turf and have her as a source for exploration.
And as we realized, Hong Kong — without knowing the hidden gems — comes off as just a crazy busy city with nightlife and restaurants. Little did we know just how much there was to do besides drink and dine. (I’ll detail specifics — food, activities, etc. — in upcoming posts.)
This segment of our trip has been completely different than the others. To be honest, we never had trouble leaving a place (except maybe El Bolson, Argentina). Of course we met great people in South America, but here in Hawaii, there is a rooted bond, foremost to our friends — friends who took us under their wings as soon as we arrived in February and helped navigate us to the best and brightest of this island. There aren’t really words to thank my cousin Pratt and her husband, Craig (my new cousin), for all they’ve done for us, but hopefully they know how much we’ve appreciated everything. As for the rest of our new ohana (Hawaiian for “family”), there was always an invite to the beach, an offering of a car, a vacant bed to sleep on, a proposal for dinner and more. They’ve taught us a huge lesson in generosity, positivity and that aloha spirit that we will always carry with us.
