Our last city during our South East Asia swing of our trip was Hanoi, Vietnam. We stayed in and (mostly) explored the Old Quarter, which is a small neighborhood with narrow streets that are bustling and lively, much different from the rest of the areas around it. The streets are full of motorbikes, locals and tourists, and street vendors carrying fruits and other foods on shoulder poles. In fact, the compactness of everything - the bikes, the cars, the sellers, the honks, on such small streets was a bit much for us at first, we had to get used to it.

At this point in our 3 month travel, we were starting to get tired. Not sleepy tired, but the we-are-not-in-our-20s-anymore tired. We knew that we weren't going to be able to do as many long excursions, so we leaned more into nearby locations and leaned heavily into one of our favorite and lazier activities: eating delicious local food!

As opposed to Thailand and Bali, we only saw a tiny bit of Vietnam and Hanoi, we didn't do a trip anywhere else and stayed within walking distance of our hotel in the Old Quarter. However, even through that small lens of ours, I found Hanoi and Vietnam as a whole to be the most intriguing of all the countries we went to due to the variety and the personality of the city and people.

The Old Quarter reminded me of the busy, compact, lively streets of some of the non-modern parts of Bangkok and felt far more real than the tourist-Disneyland areas that have overrun Bali. Sure, there are restaurants that offer Western food and souvenir shops that cater to the guests of the pricey hotels that dot the area, but they get lost in the denseness and liveliness of the street sellers, motorbikes, and the people who live and work there. People like us, Westerners, stick out like a sore thumb, and even if we tried to blend in our fear walking on the streets and crossing would give us away instantly.

For the record, according to Linh, our Hanoi-based street food guide from later in our trip, the area is seldom gone to by locals since it's considered very touristy, so I can already see her laughing at my opinions about the "realness" of the area. Maybe I'm still scarred by the sheer level of tourist development that I saw in Bali. Regardless, I found the Old Quarter fantastic.

We arrived on a Friday, meaning that some of the area immediately surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake was converted into a pedestrian zone. Walking through the Old Quarter and around the lake was amazing - the bustling of the Old Quarter turned into the beautiful night view of the lake and skyline.

Around the lake there was so much music and  life! We walked aroung women doing synchronized dance steps led by a workout instructor, we passed couples sitting on lake side sharing ice cream, tourists taking photos of the lake and its attractions, evaded dozens of children riding RV cars and trucks, watched street performers dancing and singing.... The people were 

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of these main lively areas (busy soaking it in rather than taking photos) when everything changed. We were walking among the crowds when all of a sudden I felt a few raindrops. Nothing much really - so little that I didn't really react. However, every single person around us did.

All at once, all the Hanoians started darting (or hobbling quickly if they were older) to find cover under trees or roofs. Children sprinted for cover around us in different directions, all while screaming and laughing. Clearly they knew something we did not. 

It must have been funny seeing this scene: all the Hanoi locals running for cover while two tourists standing still looking around confused.

Luckily, we did follow the tried and true ideology of "when in 

 Vietnamese do",  so after a delay, we followed suit and found cover under the overhanging roof of a guard house on the side of the road. This turned out to be a great idea, as within seconds, the sprinkling of rain that I was so unconcerned about became an immense downpour.

We ended up staying like this for a while, as the rain never really let up. We were saved by the best example of demand-driven sales I have ever seen: our attention was drawn to these women who were selling full-body rain jackets to those who needed them, which at that point was obviously 

We bought two (I have no memory what we paid) put them on, and made our way back to our hotel.

I'm sure the profit margins those women made on those rain jackets would put Wall Street to shame.

Walking through Hanoi's Old Quarter in the Rain

Though we were wet, the walk back was a beautiful rainy view of Hanoi. While the rain hadn't fully stopped it was no longer a downpour, and it was still early so the nighttime events in the city were still going strong. For someone like me that lived in Santa Barbara for so long (a city that cannot handle rain 

) this atmosphere felt new and exciting. It was very beautiful seeing the city in the rain, and I was quite impressed by how most people were prepared. I even saw several two-person motorcycle rain jackets that looked very effective.

I would say that we regrouped, went out and partied the night away but that would be a lie. Tired and happy from our adventure, we went back to hour hotel (stopping by 7-11 on the way, of course), and fell asleep. 

Reflection on first night in Hanoi, Vietnam