Eating our way through Vietnam’s capitol city, plus beaches and bikes on Cat Ba Island

Our adventure started once we arrived at our hostel in Hanoi. After 17 hours of flying from Vancouver (not to mention a 14 hour time change!), we were exhausted and looking forward to a good sleep. A taxi drove us from the airport into Hanoi’s historic old town, and despite my sleepiness, I was on the edge of my seat as the cab aggressively ploughed its way through dozens of motorbikes, darted over the centerline, and generally laid on the horn the entire drive. I feared for the lives of the motorcyclists – I was soon to learn that Vietnam is one of the motorbike capitals of the world, with about 70 million bikes for its 100 million citizens, and that this type of driving was entirely typical. Fortunately, we arrived at our hostel in one piece, and unfortunately, our hostel had somehow overbooked itself, and so we were told that we would be shuttled a few blocks down the street and around the corner to their sister hotel. That’s fine, we thought… until we saw the ‘shuttle’: a classic Vietnamese motorbike, primed and ready to burst into the chaos of streets with us on the back. In other words, certain death. Putting our lives into the hands of our friendly local drivers, we hopped on the back of two waiting bikes, and off we went. The drive truly was only a few blocks – maybe a minute or two total – but every turn had me convinced I was going to fling off the back of the bike and be run over by the hundreds of other motorbikes crashing around me with all the force of waves in the ocean. Of course, nothing of the sort happened, and we made it to our hotel alive and well. If that was the traffic at 10 pm at night, I thought, what will the day be like?

We found out the next day as we emerged onto the street to start our first day of sightseeing. Crossing the street was nearly as chaotic as driving on it! With no breaks anywhere in traffic, and no traffic control such as lights or crosswalks to speak of, you simply just walk, and traffic flows around you. Later in the trip, a local guide gave us some semi-serious advice about traffic in Vietnam: “You just close your eyes and walk!”. We did get desensitized to it after a day or so however, and as we started our time in Vietnam with level 10 traffic, the rest of the towns felt like a breeze.

Our time in Hanoi was really about one thing: food. After watching numerous street-food cooking shows at home to increase our stoke, we were fully prepared to eat our way through the country. We even took a cooking class to get more acquainted with some local classics.

In our class, we learned how to make some Vietnamese classics: pho soup (a clear and richly-spiced soup featuring noodles and lots of fresh herbs), betel-leaf rolls (large betel leaves stuffed with a delicious beef and garlic mixture), a lemongrass stir-fry, and my new favourite coffee drink, egg coffee. Egg coffee, made by blending many egg yolks with vanilla, sugar, and condensed milk, then pouring over coffee, was invented at a coffee shop in Hanoi, but has since spread to become a national favourite, available all across the country. And in a country famous for its coffee, that’s saying a lot! Some common coffees you’ll encounter include Vietnamese coffee (drip coffee with condensed milk), salt coffee (almost like a mocha), coconut coffee (made with tons of coconut milk, sometimes whipped up into ice-cream, with some coffee poured over), and the infamous weasel coffee (an expensive, high-quality, and very strong brew made with the help of actual weasels. I will not elaborate further.).

One of our quests during our time in Hanoi was to discover the best banh mi, a classic Vietnamese/French-style sandwich of international fame. Banh mi features a French-style baguette commonly stuffed with pork, pate, pickled veggies, cucumber, and cilantro. We only got a chance to try 3 different shops, but a clear winner emerged: Banhmi LongHoi, near Sword Lake.

We ended our time in Hanoi with a trip down to ‘beer street’, a colourful street bursting with bars. Hanoi’s old town is actually famous for its ’36 streets’, each of which is dedicated to a certain specialty. Beer street, of course, features beer and lots of it, but there is also chicken street, silver street, bamboo street, etc. On beer street, tables and chairs spill outside of each establishment, and employees vie with each other to pull customers into their businesses. Noisy and definitely chaotic, but definitely a must-do activity. Common Vietnamese beer brands include Saigon (a super light lager), Hanoi (a more flavourful lager than Saigon), and Tiger (you guessed it, another lager).

After about 3 days in Hanoi, our second stop of the trip was to Cat Ba Island, located near the internationally renowned Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site featuring thousands of limestone pillars rising out of an emerald sea. Cat Ba Island itself is technically located in Lan Ha Bay (adjacent to Ha Long), but as most bay cruises take you through both, and as both bays basically look the same, we took the advice of many travelers before us and chose to stay on the quieter, and less commercial, Cat Ba Island. Cat Ba ended up being one of our favourite places in Vietnam: a cute beach town with some really good restaurants, beautiful jungle parks, quiet roads, and a plethora of water-based activities, we found enough island adventures to occupy 5 days here. Out activities included a boat cruise through Lan Ha and Ha Long Bay, kayaking through caves, swimming in the ocean to a hidden beach, feeding monkeys on Monkey Island, riding motorbikes for the first time, trekking through the jungle in the National Park, exploring numerous caves, a long ride to a ‘secret’ ladder and viewpoint, and deep water soloing.

One of our favourite adventures was undertaken on the advice of a local guide we met while on the boat cruise. He covertly gave Chris instructions on finding a secret ‘green ladder’ that leads up around 100 meters to an amazing viewpoint. We took the bikes out the next day to find it, and were successful. The ladder crawls through jungle foliage and is awesomely vertical in spots, so it makes for a pretty thrilling climb, especially on the way down.

Closer to town, we also climbed up to the top of the Cannon Fort lookout. One side features a view of the famous floating fishing village and edge of Lan Ha Bay, and one side looks out onto Cat Ba town.

Lan Ha Bay, the Bay next to Cat Ba town and adjacent to Ha Long Bay, was recently itself awarded UNESCO World Heritage site status. Because of this, the government has been adhering to very strict rules on land and water use, including booting out a number of hotels and resorts on the island, as well as restricting who can live in the traditional floating fishing village. In order to live in the village, you must be able to prove that your family has lived there for generations. The village itself, while it may seem quaint and old-fashioned, was fascinatingly modern. Massive belts of electrical cables are strung from island to island, including through the water, to supply power, and many homes sport their own satellite dish! Fresh water is delivered to homes via a massive water-tanker boat that makes scheduled deliveries. Many homes even have a dog.

Our final activity on Cat Ba Island was deep water soloing (DWS). DWS is basically free-solo rock climbing (no ropes) in which you simply drop off the rock into the water at the end of the route, or if you fall. It’s exhilarating and terrifying! We booked a tour with Langur’s Adventures, who arranged all transportation (including several taxis and multiple boats!) as well as lunch, and provided so much stoke, climbing beta, and several leg-ups due to the low tide, that we had an amazing time. Chris and I were the only ones doing DWS that morning, but one of our guides was new to the company and had never tried it, so all three of us got to enjoy our first experience together under the guidance of one veteran badass guide. The day was hot and sunny – perfect for a dip in the bay – and the water stunningly turquoise. We took a ferry out to Ha Long Bay, then hopped on a tiny wooden boat to visit two different crags. Basically, we got a rundown of the route from the boat, then the boat would briefly pull up next to the rock and hold. The two guides would grab the rock and steady the boat while the climber got their feet on the rock. Then, the boat would pull away, and the climber would be free to ascend (or fall!). The tides were quite low that morning (but high enough to be safe of course), so we had some very tricky high-starts to get off the boat!

Deep Water Soloing was SCARY, but ended up being one of the highlights of our time in Vietnam, and just a really fun and challenging experience. We climbed to a maximum height of about 17 meters above the water. Our guide told us that, of every 100 people who does a DWS trip, about 85 are very scared, and only 1 will be able to make it to the top of the tallest climb in the area (we did not!). The tallest climb, a ledge something like 20 meters above the bay, even contains a bottle of rum – a shot is supposed to help you make the leap!

Our final climb of the day came with one unexpected hazard though. Chris and I both hopped on a relaxed traverse route. Chris went first, then I followed a few meters after. However, soon after I started climbing, a lime green snake slithered right past my face, and came to rest in a nook of rock only a few feet away! How can snakes climb like that!? “Oh my god!” I yelled out, as I heard the boat backing away from the rock after my drop-off. “There’s a snake!” The guides were as surprised as I was, but we all had a pretty good laugh. The snake seemed shy enough, but Chris and I were more than happy to call it a day and drop into the water after that.

Our time in Vietnam started with wonderful food in Hanoi, and many amazing outdoor adventures in Cat Ba. The next leg of our trip was a 5-hour bus ride to Tam Coc (Ninh Binh), also known as Ha Long Bay on Land. More to come!