Our first stop in Vietnam was Hanoi, the capital city located in the northern part of the country. We had one night here before heading north to Bac Ha for trekking, and then we returned for 3 more nights post-trek. Our friend Jen, who I grew up with, joined us for two weeks beginning with our second stop in Hanoi.

Hanoi is the craziest place we have been, earning this distinction mostly because of it’s insane traffic. Stop lights and traffic lights are purely decorative and the thousands of motorbikes (and a handful of cars) go through without slowing or stopping, regardless of what might be coming from the other direction. It took a whole day to get used to crossing the street, which must be done in a straight line and with great confidence. You have to walk out there without stopping. We learned the vehicles will anticipate your movements and won’t hit you if you’re predictable.

Once we finally figured out how to walk around Hanoi, we really enjoyed it!

On our first day in Hanoi (pre-trek), John and I mostly wandered around and took in the many sights. We strolled through the markets, wandered around the Hoan Kiem Lake, and scoped out the Vietnamese grocery store, buying some blueberry-flavored Oreos along the way.

After our trek, we had one day where we took advantage of our hotel’s super strong wifi to do some travel planning for our upcoming weeks. We took a break mid-day to get some Bahn Mi and were glad to meet Jennifer when she arrived around dinnertime!

On our third full day in Hanoi (our first with Jen!) we set out looking for many of the historical sites. There is a lot of history in Hanoi to memorialize Ho Chi Minh, the former president of Vietnam who led the movement for independence in the 1940s. We ventured into the Ho Chi Minh complex which is home to the mausoleum displaying his body, the site of his former residence, the presidential palace, and some other notable buildings. We learned a lesson that most of the complex is closed mid-day, so we had to adjust our plans to hit up some of the sights again the following day.

On our final day in Hanoi, we linked up with Lily, a tour guide from Hanoi Free Tour Guides. This organization pairs student volunteers with tourists to allow students to practice their English and give tourists the chance to get to learn about Vietnam. This was our favorite day in Hanoi for sure! Lily is 20 and studying Mandarin at the local university. She took us back to the Ho Chi Minh complex to see the mausoleum and former residence, giving us far more information about these sights than we would have had on our own.

Lily also took us to a really tasty restaurant and ordered an assortment of local foods for us to try which was a highlight of our time together.

Our last stop with Lily was the Hanoi Prison, originally built to house Vietnamese political prisoners and later used as a POW camp for American pilots. (We learned that John McCain was housed here when he was a POW). Again, we were so grateful to Lily for the additional knowledge she brought to the tour. If you’re in Hanoi, contact Hanoi Free Tour Guides to set something up!!

We celebrated our last night in Hanoi by getting some cheap 60 cent cans of beer on the tiny plastic stools found on most Hanoi street corners. Cheers to a great time in this fascinating city!