Hanoi Travel

Travel

• The people of Hanoi are extremely friendly.  Get out and enjoy being with them.  Don’t stay holed up in your hotel room.  If you do, you’ll miss some of the culture of the people that gave you your new child.
• Bring 2 credit cards.  Use the credit cards for official business only.  That means the U.S. Embassy, S.O.S. Clinic, if necessary, hotel if you’re going to bill your room that way and airline for any change penalties you might encounter.
• Bring 1 ATM card.  Use the ATM card only at a bank.  Avoid the small ATM kiosks.
• Bring crisp $100 bills.  Surprisingly, your hotel may be able to exchange a few of them at a time.  If they’re able to do this, you’ll usually find an exchange rate chart on the counter at the front desk.
• When not using your credit cards, ATM card or cash, lock it in the electronic safe in your room.  This keeps it from disappearing while you’re gone.
• Don’t flash your cash.  This is pretty obvious.  You just don’t want to attract the wrong attention.
• If you have an IP (Internet Protocol) phone (i.e. Vonage) and a hard-wired Internet connection in your hotel room, bring it.  You can plug in and make calls back to the States just as if you were sitting at home.  Your phone still thinks it’s in the U.S.  That means free calls back home.
• If you don’t have an IP phone but are bringing a notebook PC, download and install Skype and create an account before you leave home.  It permits free computer-to-computer calls.  It’s the next best thing to an IP phone.
• Avoid drinking anything with ice in it.  It’s usually made from tap water and the public water system isn’t as good as those in the States.  If you drink it, you might end up with a good case of Montezuma’s Revenge.  Not a fun experience.
• Always wash your hands.  Bring hand sanitizer as well.  Tropical areas have diseases that are in the soil or on things you touch and they can be pretty nasty.
• Drink the beer.  Don’t get ice.  Don’t drink from a glass.  Just drink the beer from the bottle.  Ask the waiter, “Bia Ha Noi lanh”.  That means, Hanoi Beer in a cold bottle.  It’s assumed that you don’t want a glass or ice.
• Get your immunization shots before leaving home.

Restaurants

• Quan An Ngon, 138 Phan Boi Chau, Hanoi - Excellent all-round Vietnamese restaurant. You could literally eat here once a day for 3 months and not have the same dish twice. The food is very good, the prices are incredibly reasonable and the atmosphere is nothing like I’ve found in the States. This is the place to be adventurous and try new things. We actually fed 6 people with about 9 dishes and a number of beers for something like $19 USD. The staff here is top-notch.

• Golden Land, 15 Cha Ca, Hanoi - This is a small restaurant near the Old Quarter. It specializes in a few local dishes (i.e. Cha Ca…the street is named after the type of restaurants on it). The prices are fairly reasonable, it’s quiet and the food is good. The staff here is very good. We were able to feed 6 people with a couple of beers for about $25 USD.

• Sen, 177 Bui Thi Xuan, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi - If you want a variety of food choices and don’t mind paying a little extra, this place is AWESOME! Sen is a reasonably large restaurant by Vietnamese standards. It is a buffet. The staff is incredibly helpful. One of the girls actually mixed my soy sauce and wasabi for my sushi and tracked me down to make sure I got it in time. The food is top-notch and there’s a large variety. They even have a number of “stations” where they cook your food for you as you wait. The grilled shrimp is almost mind-blowing. The shrimp are actually kept in a tank next to the grills. That’s fresh seafood. Dinner costs about $13-$15 USD and it’s classy.

• Lan Vien, 37 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi - This is a classic Vietnamese restaurant. What it lacks in “style” is more than compensated for by the food. The deep-fried soft shell crab and the roasted chicken (ga quay) will knock your socks off. The food here is full of flavor and the staff is friendly. Three of us ate enough for five and the bill tallied to $40 USD. It’s a good value and the food is excellent.

• Diva Art Cafe, 57 Ly Thai To, Hanoi - This is a quaint little restaurant nestled inside of another. The decor is simple but the food is excellent. Start off with a cold coconut drink (nuoc dua) and some fried Vietnamese egg rolls (cha gio) then follow that up with the bamboo beef. Dinner is usually topped off with a soup (canh) that you ladel over some rice in your bowl. We didn’t have the desserts but the list had more than just a few.

• Pho Vuong - It appears that they have 3 locations in Hanoi.  If you love pho, Vietnamese beef noodle soup and national dish, you must visit this place.  I can’t remember ever having pho this good and we’ve had some good pho.  In Vietnamese, vuong means “square” and they mean it.  Their logo is square.  The bowls are square.  But, the pho will knock your socks off!  This place has a bright, clean environment and friendly staff.  Don’t miss this place.  The best part is that one of them is near the U.S. Embassy.  Can you say, “Stop by Pho Vuong after our Embassy appointment?”

Eating/Ordering Tips

• One word of advice when ordering fish dishes. The fish are usually kept live in a tank. Not many restaurants have freezers. Once you order, the fish is removed from the tank, knocked in the head and brought out on a scale. At this point, it’s too late to tell them if you think the fish is too big or too small. The fish has already passed on. Tell the waiter/waitress how big you want the fish when ordering. Better yet, if you can see the tank, show them the fish you want.  The scale shows you how much the fish weighs and is displayed for the accuracy of your bill.

• Remember, if it doesn’t come from a bottle with an unbroken seal, don’t drink it!  Beer, wine and bottled water are your best choices here.  Don’t take any chances.

• It’s hot in Vietnam most of the year (although you’ll see people wearing turtle-neck sweaters when it’s 80 degrees outside).  Remember this: ice is your enemy.  Do not drink anything with ice in it unless you’ve made the ice yourself from bottled water in your own freezer.  The water supply in Hanoi is old and was bombed heavily during The American War.  If you drink or eat anything containing ice, you’re taking a big chance with diarrhea and I’m not talking the “once and you’re done” type.  This type of diarrhea will last for days!  Just don’t take chances.