Chiang Mai to Hanoi

Breakfast was a bun with black bean paste. Cheap and delicious! 

Chiang Mai to Bangkok via Bangkok Airways

Nice little lounge with complimentary food, drinks, and wifi

Got a full meal on the plane even though the flight was only 1 hr! 

Next went from Bangkok to Hanoi via Qatar Airlines 

Still got a hot pocket snack on the 2 hr flight

Had a bit of a wait at the Hanoi airport because I was not prepared with Vietnamese dong (name of their currency) for my Visa upon arrival. Got escorted (with another who didn't have cash) to the ATM and all was well. 

My hostel arranged to have someone pick me up to bring me to the  hostel for cheaper than if I had taken a cab. I found a man holding a sign saying "Sarah Wu" and thought it was for me. After quickly realizing that we had no common language, I showed him the confirmation email from the hostel and he nodded and motioned for me to follow him. We went outside the airport to an unmarked sedan and we had a quiet but pleasant 45 minute ride into the city. I tried to ask him a few things and we exchanged some smiles. I was still a little unsure of whether he was actually taking me to the hostel or I had stolen Sarah Wu's ride, but we arrived at the hostel and everything was fine! The ride to the city was fascinating. The architecture was interesting and confusing hah. Lots of tall skinny buildings that weren't always connected to other buildings, so they looked peculiar all alone. All the buildings had large silver tanks on the roofs, which are the water supplies. 

My hostel was $5/night, included breakfast, and even free beer from 6pm-7pm every day! Sweet sweet deal! 

Traffic here is unlike anything I've ever witnessed. Cars and motorbikes going every which way, crazier than Thailand, India, or China, and a lot more horn honking than Thailand. Crossing the street is like Frogger, but instead of hesitating, it's best to just keep moving forward and letting the motorbikes navigate around you in their own. 

I ate dinner with 2 American girls who were also in my room. We went to a recommended place and my meal consisted of sticky rice, shaved mung bean, and cinnamon pork. Quite good! 

Afterwards we walked around Hoan Kiem lake, and there were so many activities going on! Aerobic dancing, break dancing, salsa dancing, rollerblading, hackysacking, canoodling, etc. It was so great seeing so many people hanging out outside!

We then went up to Beer Street where we sat with other foreigners and locals on tiny plastic chairs and people watched. 

Ended the evening with trying Che, a sweet dessert of shaved ice and various toppings like mung beans, red beans, black jelly, tapioca, etc.

Great first night in Vietnam!