Picking up where I left off: when we finished our cave trek in Phong Nha we were driven back to the tour headquarters where we were able to take a quick (cold) shower, change and get ready for our overnight bus to Hanoi. Exhausted from two days of trekking, we slept surprisingly well on the bus ride, waking up to shouts of ‘Hanoi! Hanoi!’ from our driver. When we stepped off the bus at 5:30 AM it was still dark outside and about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. It had been cold on the cave trek too so, unfortunately, all of our cold weather clothes were in our bags, wet and covered in mud.

We made our way to our hotel where we were informed that check in was at 2 PM so we dropped our stuff and headed back into the streets, shivering, to look for breakfast.

We weren’t sure how we were possibly going to entertain ourselves for the approximately 8 hours until our room was ready but food seemed like a good place to start. We managed to find a delicious banh cuon restaurant for breakfast and then a cafe selling egg coffees, a Hanoi specialty (more on that later). From there we decided that warmer clothes were the next priority so we spent the next few hours wandering through Hanoi’s massive Dong Xuan Market where we successfully negotiated down the price of some beanies and, eventually, found a couple of puffy jackets big enough to fit us.

The strange thing about arriving in Hanoi so early in the morning is that our first impression of the city was at its quietest. In reality Hanoi is a dense, bustling metropolis.

However, compared to Saigon with it’s huge, multi-lane boulevards, Hanoi felt surprisingly quaint and intimate, at least in the Old Quarter.

In the middle of the city center is lake Hoan Kiem and the streets around the lake are closed to vehicles on the weekends, creating a festive gathering place for travelers and locals alike.

After getting a day to settle in and buy a more appropriate wardrobe we were joined in Hanoi by our friends Megan and Varshan! Even though we’d only been gone a few weeks it was great to see some familiar faces from home. Together we explored the city, visiting the Temple of Literature, site of Vietnam’s first university.

We also got to share a hilarious night out with the locals while experiencing another Hanoi specialty, bia hoi. Bia hoi is ‘fresh beer’ brewed and kegged for immediate sale by the bar itself and usually costing between 25 and 50 cents a cup. While sampling some at a recommended bia hoi bar we encountered a rowdy weeknight birthday party.

For whatever reason this hard drinking and loud singing group of Vietnamese men and women between the ages of 25 and 50 found the presence of travelers in their local bar very amusing.

They started buying us rounds of bia and insisting we chug whole glasses with them.

Lots of selfies ensued, as well as an attempt to get my phone number, and it ended up being one of the highlights of our trip thus far.