4 days in Hanoi | Ninh Bình

Hi again, It’s me and I’ve just come back from Vietnam. So where do I start?

This was the trip we made: Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos - and back to Vietnam.

In these countries we visited:

Vietnam - Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and on our way back, Ha Long Bay.

Cambodia - The wonderful Island of Koh Rong (we also “visited” Sihanoukville to go to the island, but I’ll talk about it later) and Siem Reap

Laos - Luang Prabang

A total of 24 days. So, let’s start with the first round of Vietnam in Hanoi.

After 14h or so, we arrive at Hanoi. Portugal - Dubai - Hanoi. And our first concern is to take care of the visa, we already took care of it back at home, but once you’re there you have to pay to get in, and so we did. The first impression of Hanoi, well, it’s hard to have a neutral opinion, since we were lucky enough (I’m being very ironic, but complain much, since it was just at the beginning) to go on vacation with our little new friend, mister Corona Virus.

So, we arrive, took care of the visa and went to the hotel. We stayed 3 nights at the Rising Dragon Palace Hotel and it had all the essentials, a nice bed, breakfast and it was close to everything. Don’t be scared if at the check out, they don’t let you leave without making a review on the place you booked. I was scared haha. Because they make you do it in front of them, and the first time was really weird, because they don’t know how to explain well why we have to do it in front of them, but we did it anyway. The next time you will be more prepared and by the last hotel you’ll be saying “Yes, yes. The review. Yes, It’s done”.

On the first day we decided to just walk around the neighborhood and try one of the restaurants that were on our list, and boy was it goooood!

The name of the restaurant was Pho Bo Ga (address: 32 Bat Dan), and it was one of the best restaurants we tried. Pedro ate yellow noodles with beef and I ate the pho. We sat on the sidewalk, in these little benches that you feel that are for children, where you’re almost on the floor, and then the lady brings out the menu and not even 10 minutes later, the food is served.

It is in our top 3 restaurants for the whole trip.

This place was a first good experience because as we sat outside in the street and we could see Hanoi as it is, the crazy traffic (the honks are just insane, but after a while, you get used to it and even miss it), the day and night markets that never stop amazing us. The full-on Hanoi life. And we were in love with Hanoi.

The second day in Hanoi and we decided to walk a little further from our neighborhood and get to know all the reference points in Hanoi. So we woke up early in the morning and walked around the Hoan Kiem Lake, the Old Neighbour, The Literature Temple, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the One Pillar Pagoda.

We always walked in Hanoi, everything is in a walking distance (at least from our perspective), but there is a lot of tuk-tuks everywhere and you can use the best app in Asia - Grab - Exactly like Uber, but you can also “grab” :D (see what I did there?) Tuk-tuks, cabs, and motorcycles.

At night we decided to go see the one and only, Water Puppet Show since it’s a big tradition in Vietnamese culture and we were curious to see what the fuss was about. Do not expect to understand the dialogue in the show, because it’s in Vietnamese, but you’ll understand the story anyways. I can’t say it was the best idea to do this while we were still a little bit jet-lagged, but the show is very sweet, very well done, and I would recommend anyone in Hanoi to go and see it. The perfect way to end the day.

The next day we decided it was time to visit Ninh Bình. Ninh Bình Province is located in northern Vietnam and it takes about 2 hours by bus from Hanoi.

The hotel had a tour to Ninh Bình, and the prices were really nice (the prices are nice everywhere in Vietnam), so we decided to take it. Now I have a strong opinion about these tours and why I don’t like them, in Thailand I already had a not so good experience, and for me, these tours do not show you the real places. They only show you what they think you want to see and because you’re always in the shuttle, you don’t really see much of the actual place. I get that for an older generation, it makes sense because it is much more comfortable (is it though?), but I think we still can handle the local bus, or riding a bike all day. So that was the first and last tour we did on this vacation.

I’m not going to talk badly about the tour because they were always very nice to us, but for me, it wasn’t the right way to see Ninh Bình. This was how it went - we went from Hanoi to Ninh Bình on a shuttle, then go for a bicycle ride to see the sights, then have lunch and then go for a boat ride in Tam Coc. It seemed like a pretty good plan, right? Well, it kinda wasn’t.

Driving around in a shuttle seems like a pretty comfortable idea, but in reality, it’s just boring and you can’t stop anywhere to take photos or just stop to see the sights. So, we only stopped where they wanted. First stop - the bicycle ride. I thought we were going to keep the bicycles for the whole day, but boy, was I wrong. The bicycle ride was only for 30 minutes long and we just drove around in this road that led us to nowhere and then we stopped to take selfies and photos (oh god), with a mountain behind and a pile of garbage right next to you on the sidewalk, but oh well, as long as you have that shot for Instagram, right?

I know I seem like a hater, but I just wanted to see the real Ninh Bình and have a real lunch at a local restaurant with some local people. But guess what, you know what we didn’t do after the bicycle ride? This. What I just said. That’s what we didn’t do. We went to a restaurant where all the tourists go (that’s where all the tours stop) and had a buffet for lunch, surrounded by more tourists. Yey!

After lunch, we went for the boat ride and that was nice, but it would be pretty much the same if we’ve just gone by ourselves. A very touristic thing to do, but still those views are spectacular.

After the boat ride, it was time to go back to Hanoi. Really? Reaaaally? Ok then.

Did I enjoy Ninh Bình? Yes, the place is beautiful. Do I recommend for you to go on a tour? No, I don’t. At least not this one. Ninh Bình is just a train ride away from Hanoi and you can rent a bicycle when you arrive and just drive around and getting to know the real Ninh Bình.

So it was back to Hanoi and start thinking about dinner.

Fourth day - seeing more of the local life and packing to catch the night train to Hue. And yes, I do have pretty good stories from the night trains in Vietnam :D

Meanwhile, here’s the list of our favorite restaurants and coffees in Hanoi:

RESTAURANTS:

Pho Bo Ga (32 Bat Dan) - Top 3 restaurants!!

Banh Goi (52 Ly Quoc Su, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) - Fried dumplings, fried everything!

Cha Ca Phan (20 Xóm Hạ Hồi, Hanoi, Hoàn Kiếm) - Ok, we found this place through a blogger that I love and always helps me a lot on planning my trips, the very well known, Bon Traveler. I think I would never find this place if it wasn’t for her, and I would be very sad if that happened.

We were looking through the place and google maps simply didn’t understand what we wanted, because it kept telling us that we had already arrived, but we didn’t see any restaurants. So we looked, and this lady was at the door of her house with a menu in her hands waving at us, and we looked at each other thinking (say whaaat?), but we decided just to go for it. We were entering someone's kitchen and we were the only ones there. Except for the lady who called us, her sister (I guess) and her two small children. And you know what? It was really good and although none of us knew how to speak with each other, she taught us how to prepare and eat the dish and the kids were clearly laughing over our lack of skills. It was great and I recommend it for sure.

Xoi Yen (35B Nguyễn Hữu Huân, Lý Thái Tổ, Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi) - Sticky rice with all the toppings you want!