First Impressions of Hanoi, Vietnam

My daughter-in-Law is Vietnamese. She immigrated to the United States when she was five years old. However, her family has property in South Vietnam so they often return there to visit and check on their property. Even before she married my son, she talked about taking us to visit Vietnam. When the time came to go, we decided that Christmas would be the best time. This was so our daughter could also go with us during her two week Christmas break.

Planning for this trip proved extra challenging with six people going. Trying to coordinate times with everyone became complicated. Furthermore, Silvette and I decided that after visiting Vietnam for two weeks we would spend a few days in Malaysia and then a few more in Singapore. In total we had to plan for five flights and five hotels. That was a lot to work out. Some mistakes were made along the way which proved to be a bit costly, but we finally put everything together and were ready to travel.

Our flight to Vietnam was very long. We flew from Seattle to South Korea. It was about a twelve hour flight. Our layover was just enough time to get us through security, and then we were on a four and a half hour flight to Hanoi. Immigration lines in Hanoi were busy, but we finally made it through and ended our trip with a nearly 45 minute taxi ride to our hotel. As you can imagine, we were quite exhausted when we finally arrived. However, since it was late at night, we went right to bed.

My son Aaron and his wife Michelle arrived just ahead of us so on our first day we spent some time with them. We walked around to see a few of the sights. It was during those walks that we had our initial impressions of Hanoi so here are some thoughts.

Hanoi is a dangerous city. When I say that, I don’t mean that in the way most people think of a dangerous city. A t-shirt we saw summed it up nicely. It said, “I survived Hanoi Traffic.” It is the crazy traffic that makes Hanoi a dangerous city. There is a lot of traffic. As I have seen in other countries, motorcycles are everywhere. There are also quite a few cars. Throw in a bus or two, and you have a traffic mess. Crossing a street, even at a crosswalk is a challenging situation. You look for a break in the traffic and just go for it. A few intersections have lights to help control traffic but most corners don’t.

We watch as three older elementary students walked across an intersection. They didn’t even stop and look both ways. They came to the intersection and without pausing, just kept going across the busy street. We watched in shock and amazement. It could take us a long time before we felt there was a break for us to cross. We seldom felt safe when we crossed.

This video Silvette took gives a better impression of the challenge. At the end we are crossing the street.

This shorter video Silvette took shows how people just go for it when they are crossing the street.

The problem isn’t just crossing a street. Often times you are walking on the edge of the street or even out in the traffic. Yes, there are sidewalks, but they are pretty useless. The sidewalks have become parking lots for all those motorcycles. I even saw people who seemed to help monitor parking them on the sidewalk as there were so many of them. Occasionally a motorcycle would actually be driving on the sidewalk leaving or going to their parking spot.

As if the sidewalks weren’t crowded enough, there would be places where people sat outside to eat. They would often be eating surrounded by motorcycles. Sitting on short chairs and eating at short tables. they would be hunched over their food. As a result people walking on the sidewalk would have to step out into the street to continue to move along.

And then there were the vehicles which would just stop on the edge of the road blocking traffic to some extent as they delivered something to a customer or disembarked passengers from their vehicles. These would be the times we would have to put ourselves out into the street more than we would like. All in all walking around the city can be a real heart-stopping adventure at times.

On the calmer side of life, spas are very popular in Hanoi, especially foot treatments. The sign below is a very popular type of sign, and one can see two or three on many of the busy streets. The spas will often have young ladies on the curb outside inviting people to come in to use their services. Most hotels have their own spas. Ours is one of them that does, and Aaron and Michelle both took advantage of that. (In case you think the prices look high, they aren’t. 100K is only about $4.00)

While spas are pretty common throughout the city, something that’s more common are coffee shops. Coffee is a big deal in Vietnam. Walk down any street, and you are likely to find both a small place selling cups of coffee and other shops selling bagged coffees and tea. Vietnamese coffee is its own type of coffee. While there are Starbucks shops around, those are probably more to satisfy the tourists. The Vietnamese make such drinks as egg coffee, salt coffee, and coffee sweetened with condensed milk. A few coffee shops have made names for themselves. One shop named itself The Note Coffee. All over the outside wall of the shop people have put post-it type notes. It’s a unique way to brand your shop.

Streets around town will often attract businesses of the same products. For example we saw one area where there were a number of sunglasses shops all in a row. On another street were stores with brass products. We also encountered a street selling bamboo products while another street offered artificial flowers.

However, the largest area we saw was Christmas shops. We stumbled onto the street which went for about three blocks. The stores were packed with Christmas and some New Year items. It was like an explosion of red, white, and gold. While Christmas is not an official holiday like in most European countries and the US, nevertheless it has become popular in Vietnam. Many of the hotels have decorated Christmas trees along with other decor. People are always looking for something to celebrate.

My final impression is that people here are generally quite friendly and helpful. They go out of their way to help you in any way they can. Even though they may not speak English, they will still smile and nod and try to help you with gestures. It was good to see that. Since I grew up as a teenager and young adult during the Vietnam War, it seems a little odd to visit a country that was once considered an enemy. However, as an American I felt no hostility in any way directed at me. The past is the past, and the country is moving ahead.

First impressions are always important. However, in time one begins to see beyond those. Over the next few weeks we would experience Vietnam and come to an even greater understanding of its people and culture. I hope you will join me as I share about our experiences in Vietnam in the weeks ahead.

Credit: Silvette Lee took the photo of me walking beside the motorcycles.