16th March: Hanoi, Vietnam

Breakfast was on the top floor of the hotel and was nothing special, but the views from the terrace out over the city most definitely were. It was gloomy and slightly chilly, with a dampness in the air. The sound of church bells on this Sunday morning gave a distinctly European feel.

Down on the street, the beeping motorbikes soon erased any doubt that this was in fact Vietnam. Directly opposite the hotel was a place that served all sorts of local specialities but only using oat milk. I was delighted with the chance to have another salt coffee and a lovely mango yoghurt.

Also nearby the hotel happened to be one of Hanoi’s famous train streets, which we walked along, intending on coming back to when a train was due. Walking the old streets back towards the old quarter, beautiful little details could be seen everywhere. Old (presumably touched up?) French adverts sat on the yellow walls. Every utility box on the streets had a mural. Small temples popped up between houses, each with dragon motifs and incense. This is a city which rewards the flaneur.

Lunch was two stewed tofu dishes – one with mushrooms and the other lemongrass – alongside rice, a mango smoothie, and a carrot and pineapple juice.

After wandering through more of the old streets and checking out the gift shops, we headed back to the train street in time to watch the only scheduled daytime train of our time in Hanoi. It had been very chilled earlier, but now people were blocking entrances and refusing access unless you paid to go to their bars or cafes. I was convinced that it was a scam, so I called their bluff and walked around them when a local did, but then various people with whistles came running and shouting at me. I’m fairly sure they were all in on a low-key hustle but, either way, it wasn’t a game we felt like playing. We tried another entrance, but the same thing happened, albeit with a much more polite person. We didn’t want to sit down anywhere, so moved on to find a quiet spot we could stand at instead.

Eventually, we entered through the level crossing and walked down the line to a perfect place behind the painted ‘safety line’ where we were out of harm’s way and didn’t think we’d be disturbed. How wrong we were! Just as we heard the train in the distance, more people came to tell us to move. Again, they didn’t seem official, so I just politely said no and pointed to the safety line and said we were fine where we were. At that point, somebody in a uniform came whistling and shouting and threatening to hit me with a baton if we didn’t move! I still think it was a scam, but it wasn’t really the place to argue the case any further. What I did take umbrage to, however, was the constant blowing of his whistle next to my ear whilst we were already calmly filing out behind other people. I made it very clear that it was unnecessary and unacceptable and that he should stop doing that, but the baton made another appearance. We watched from behind the barriers at the level crossing as the train passed through at quite a lick. It was a vastly different experience from the one we’d had at a similar place in Bangkok and, frankly, not one that I would recommend to anyone.

We spent a few hours in the room trying to recover from the chaos we’d be subjected to. Despite the overwhelmingly friendly people here, knowing there were a few arseholes acting arbitrarily with (likely unofficial) power was quite panic inducing for me. Eventually, I managed to calm down enough to venture back out. The constant stimulus of cities with so-many chaotic elements at play and the inevitable friction between them is a little much for me to handle right now. We picked up banh mis and walked back into the old town for the night market. Mercifully, it was chilled compared to others we’ve explored, namely Chiang Mai. Local men sat smoking giant bamboo pipes on the corners of the endless market street. There was a lovely large pedestrianised area around the lake with various performances of music and theatre happening on the streets. It was just the relaxing vibe we needed to feel calm in Hanoi again.