A Solo Travellers Mind

The plane journey to Hanoi seemed to begin badly when a hungry Emma couldn’t purchase any food due to no one taking card at the airport, followed by entering the smallest plane ever with genuine concern it would fall out of the sky… things took a turn for the better when I ONCE AGAIN had the full row to myself (space for my long legs hehe) AND free snacks, and a cuppa came my way. A delight, especially while watching the sunset from above the clouds!

A swift journey through immigration and I’m out of the airport within 30 minutes of landing. After nearly 10 weeks without a local SIM card, and thus no internet, I have decided that for my time in Vietnam a SIM card is probably best. With the majority of my travelling being overnight buses, some safety during these times would be sensible. 

Learning from my previous airport taxi scam, I order a grab, cheap, cheerful, and no hidden charges! 

With one full day in Hanoi before I take the sleeper bus to the North I jam pack it with as much as possible. Hanoi as a city is absolutely mental, you have to play dodgems with the motor vehicles, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the path, road, zebra crossing or near a police station… however it does have some beauty within. I head to the old quarters for breaky, dining at probably the fanciest establishment I could find, but with a balcony and a poached egg it was worth it. Next was Train Street, where you get to watch the train go past as you have your drink. On arrival I found out that two weeks ago train street was actually closed due to the number of people being hit by the train going over the amount the government allow (interesting I know). Me, along with a British family got smuggled into a bar along train street, where we had a drink and awaited the train to come past. After it drove past, due to police checking the area we then got locked in to stop police fining the bar owner. It’s interesting that all the bars have now had there livelihood stripped as the street is now almost empty! Together we headed to the Prison Relic, a museum where we learnt about how the Vietnamese prisoners were treated and why they were arrested, along with how they studied and escaped. It was also interesting to see the difference of how these people were treated in comparison to American soldiers also kept at the same prison. Next I went to the women’s museum, learning about the family traditions in Vietnam, along with how women have stood and fought in Vietnam, having a massive impact politically across the years. My next stop was the Hanoi Street Art wall, this wall used to contain 70 murals however just 20 remain. The art is incredible and tells stories both new and old.

After hearing horror stories of overnight buses being freezing I was on a hunt for some long pants, which proved difficult with my lengthy legs. After being refused at 3 shops with the shop assistants literally saying not for your size, I was rescued by a young man and his knock off store, managing to bag myself a pair of “north face” cargos for a tenner! (I later found out that these cargos have zip off bottoms and turn into shorts, I’m beyond thrilled with my purchase holy moly!)

The final activity of the day was the water puppet show, which was incredibly entertaining and also rather clever how they put on the show! A must see for anyone visiting, even when you don’t speak Vietnamese. 

After the show I head for some food, this is where I have 3 wildly weird and rather concerning encounters. Firstly, while walking a man stops on his bike trying to talk to me, I say no thank you and continue, he then follows me, gets off the bike and tries again, once again walking away. The final strike is when he follows me again, this time in a less polite manner I tell him to leave me alone, which thankfully he does. The second weird encounter comes as I go to pay for my meal, with a random man stopping in the street telling me to give him all my money, which I didn’t obviously, I wasn’t sure what was going on, and still am unsure, but either way the waitress comes over and the man leaves. I then try to pay for my food again, and the third weird moment occurs, with a chap in front of me, who I’d briefly spoken to as we ate, then pays for my meal and walks off… all in all it was a rather unnerving experience, however they do say bad luck comes in threes lol.

With my overnight bus to Cao Bang at 9pm I head back to the hostel to prepare for my departure and get some chill time.