We are not shoppers when we travel. We do buy souvenirs, but we don’t usually seek them out. However, we like to explore the different types of shopping available in various countries. The markets and stores tell us something about the culture. Hanoi was no exception.
After our trip to Halong Bay, it seemed everyone was tired on Friday. It had been a busy week so Friday we didn’t push ourselves to do much. Silvette and I needed to go to the immigration office to take care of an issue with her visa. It was a bit of a walk over there, but the day was cool, even a bit chilly at times with a breeze. We saw a few interesting sights along the way.
It turned out we didn’t need to go to immigration. The agent said the concern could be dealt with when we leave Vietnam. Hopefully that will be true. With that taken care of, we decided to make our way to an indoor market we had passed earlier in the week. On the way we came to the area we had seen last Sunday which had been an explosion of Christmas color and decorations. Amazingly in the last few days it had been transformed into New Year’s street. Christmas was gone, but not the color red. Now it was red and gold everything. This was the place to come for your New Year’s party decor.
Hanoi’s indoor market proved to be an interesting place. The aisles inside the building were quite narrow. Silvette was walking behind me, and twice an older woman basically pushed her out of the way. Apparently she was walking too slowly. It was a bit of a shock to her since generally people have been very kind.
The market seemed to group certain products together. One intriguing section featured dried products and grains in open bags. It was very colorful, but I couldn’t always determine what things were. Were those mushrooms, some other exotic plant, or dried fish? I couldn’t tell.
We also came to the section for shoes where shoes seemed to be randomly placed. Clothes were another section. There were a few areas for souvenir type products which I had hoped to see more of, but they weren’t any different that what we had seen in other places.
We left the market and started walking back toward our hotel when Andrea and Jacob saw us. They were seated at a coffee shop so we joined them. Jacob likes to try new foods so he had ordered cold coffee with lemon juice. Apparently it did not taste good. We are far less adventurous and had some warm drinks. Afterwards we continued back to our hotel while they continued to explore the area.
After a rest we walked over to the lake and around it. We had noted some new signs we wanted to take some pictures of. On the way we also saw that on New Year’s Day Hanoi was hosting a half marathon. As we finished walking around the lake, we came to a plaza area where men were working on a tall structure of scaffolding. It was interesting to see them moving around on it. We weren’t sure if this was for some New Year’s event or for the marathon or both. Unfortunately we would not be around to find out.
In researching Hanoi I discovered that it has a night market every weekend so I suggested we all go to the market. First we went to get some food. Andrea had found a bao bun place she liked so we all went over to get some and found ourselves seated on little stools eating the buns. It felt very Vietnamese.
The information I read said the night market was to start at 6:00. We arrived shortly after, but everyone was just setting their stalls up. We walked the length of the street the market covered. At the end we saw a nice restaurant, but we had eaten. Coming back most of the stalls were up and going, but a few were still putting their items out. The market items weren’t particularly different than what one could buy in stores. Quite a few sold clothing and others sold jewelry. Children’s items were also popular. There were a few street food places set up, but not as many as we saw in the night market in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Overall it was a bit of a disappointment.
As we walked back to our hotel, we stopped to buy a cookie. A man started talking to us. It turns out he was born in Vietnam, but moved to the United States 45 years ago. He was in Vietnam to bring his son there for the first time. The funny thing is we discovered we were the same age. I’m older by four months. It’s always interesting to learn the story of other travelers. After chatting we returned to our hotel to try to get a good night’s sleep before leaving for DaNang the next day.
Saturday turned out to be one of the nicest days in Hanoi. Of course we were leaving that day. After breakfast we packed up and then went for our last walk around the nearby lake. The city had closed the streets around the lake again which made walking there much easier. We noted that some advertisers were already out with their booths giving away food and drinks. Others were advertising supplements to potential marathon runners. Men were also still working on the scaffolding. The structure was looking very tall. And of course there were the photographers, but this time we were seeing more couples as subjects.
We returned to the hotel and brought our things down. We had booked a taxi with Andrea and Jacob as they were flying out with us. Aaron and Michelle were taking a later flight. The taxi driver almost had an accident following too close behind a car which stopped suddenly. I was sure we were going to hit, but he narrowly escaped.
At the Hanoi airport we were able to get through check in and security with no problems. The airport seems newer and was actually quite nice. They even had a Starbucks which allowed us to get some cold drinks. The flight was about 15 minutes late, but everything else went smoothly. Soon we were landing in DaNang.
The DaNang airport is also quite nice. The only problem there was the luggage took a long time to come out. Once we had them, we found our hotel-sent cab driver, and we were off into the rain. Yes, it was raining in DaNang. It had been raining there all week so we knew it was coming. Hopefully it will let up some while we are here.
Our hotel is one block over from the beach. After we checked in, we crossed the boulevard to have dinner at a restaurant on the other side. Although it was dark, we could see the waves on the beach, and that was nice. Inside the people watching proved to be entertaining. The restaurant was not fully enclosed so they gave out blankets to those who appeared cold which was an interesting gesture.
After dinner everyone crashed. Tomorrow we will start discovering a new part of Vietnam. Hanoi was busy and loud. We are hoping for a more peaceful experience here in DaNang.
Anyone else been to Hanoi? Anything we missed seeing? Feel free to add comments or questions in the comment box below. They are always an encouragement.
Credit: Photos taken in the Da Nang restaurant taken by Silvette Lee