We had heard very mixed things from many travelers about their experience in Hanoi, so we came into this town with some pre-conceived notions. However, we immediately were able to judge for ourselves upon driving into the city and getting a flare for the gorgeous French Colonial architecture and frenetic energy of the town, that we’d like it here.

The first thing we noted, was similar to Saigon the motor-scooter traffic was insane. I think probably because we have become somewhat desensitized to just how intense the crazy flow of traffic is, we took to crossing the street through the constant sea of motor-scooters as a challenge rather than a chore. Jason actually seemed to be trying to find reasons to traverse to the other side, just to have that feeling of accomplishment that he did it – I wasn’t quite on board with his enthusiasm there.

One thing that drove us crazy about this town was in the old quarter it was near impossible to walk around -- the sidewalks were absolutely covered with either parked motor scooters, goods that were for sale, or little restaurant plastic tables and chairs. So, basically you had to pretty much walk in the street in this area, praying and hoping that you wouldn’t get hit. I was definitely not a fan of this, and even Jason wanted out on this little challenge.

Hanoi has some great restaurants, which we definitely took advantage of. Emperor is a well known institution in the city when it comes to good Vietnamese food, and was a great place to spend an evening drinking some wine, playing some darts with the bar tender (before it got crowded), and then eating a really nice, bona fide Vietnamese meal. Everything about the place seemed pretty authentic, minus the $100 price tag – a family of 8 could probably feed themselves for a month on that kind of money in this country.

One thing we found and are now hooked on, which we can’t believe it took us to the last couple days we were in Vietnam to discover, was the Vietnamese coffee. The small cups of concentrated coffee, topped off with condensed milk are really to die for. The flavor is so intense, and the sweetness of the condensed milk complements it perfectly.

Lunch at Bobby Chinn one afternoon was probably one of the best meals on our entire trip. It was so good we actually made a reservation to come back that same evening for dinner after the Water Puppet Show. We ended up deciding on another joint, but still the food in this town is A+.

Now you’re probably asking yourselves, did she say water puppet show – what’s that? This is definitely one of the most popular things to do in Hanoi, and no doubt the epitome of touristy, but well worth checking out this cultural performance. The traditional Water puppets are world famous puppets, made of wood, and which dance on the water conducted by puppeteers who are wading in the waist high water from behind a curtain. This is definitely something unique to this country.

Although not more than a couple of days is needed to check out Hanoi, it’s definitely worth a visit to experience the diversity of food, culture and attempts at crossing the street it has to offer.