Day 42! Today was an amazing day all around! I’m really enjoying my time in Hanoi so far!

I woke up this morning with a laundry list of things to do. The first of which was switching hostels!

The hostel I accidentally booked for the wrong day was way cheaper than the one I was in and it seemed way more social. So I packed up my things and walked to my bike which was around the corner (parking in this city is very difficult).

While I was walking to my bike, I passed by the same mechanic who told me the day before I probably needed a new tire. So I took him up on the offer and 300,000 Dong and 10 minutes later Kilby had a new front tire!

I got to my new hostel well before check in time (usually checkin is around 2pm) and dropped off my laundry at the front desk. I then found a nearby pho place for breakfast! I was the only foreigner sitting on this street restaurant, so you know it was a good spot!

I really enjoy pho, but I was really enjoying it in the cold! Now that it’s already warming back up, it’s kind of a double edge sword. I want it to be warm, but also want to enjoy these delicious soups without sweating!

My next big task for the day, was getting a new tattoo (sorry mom 😉)!

I’ve been chatting with this tattoo artist for a number of days now so it was very exciting to finally meet him and go to the studio.

The tattoo artists name is Min and he freaking killed my idea!

As you all know (if you’re just starting the adventure here, welcome!), over the past month I’ve been cruising across Vietnam on my motorbike, Kilby. It’s been an absolute blast so far and it’s going to continue to be as her and I travel across more of the country and potentially other countries too!

But to commemorate this adventure and my time in Vietnam, I got a fun, cartoony, version of Kilby tattooed!

Here’s the final product! I’m super happy with it!!

This adventure has been incredibly special so far and we’re only a fraction of the way in!

After I was done, I met up with my new friend Lea, who I met the night before! She was at a cafe with a few other travelers near by so I sat and chatted with them until it was time to check in at my hostel!

After checking in I finally saw Valentin for the first time of the day! We’ve been together for a number of days now and feel like best buddies, so it was odd not seeing him for a bit.

But we met back up and walked to Hanoi’s infamous train street and met back up with Lea and our new friend Leigh, who’s from Australia.

As you can see… there’s a train track going down the middle of this restaurant and shopping area! And YES it’s a working train track! So we put some coins down on the track and waited for the train to zoom by.

I’ve seen videos of this place and the trains come flying in (seems very unsafe)… but this train rolled past very very slowly, but fast and heavy enough to still flatten our coins!

Apparently this street was supposed to be shut down by the government due to safety concerns (uh, yeah??) but tourists like me still come!

When we left train street an old man came up to us and offered us his drink from a bottle cap, so of course we obliged because who wouldn’t want to drink out of a strange man’s plastic bottle!

It was some strange alcohol but we’re all here for weird and unique experiences and this was one of the random ones.

We then, as a squad of 4, just wandered the city for a while! It was super fun just getting lost, seeing the random shops and markets on the road and spending time with each other.

This is when the night took a turn and became a night full of laughter and drinking.

We stumbled onto, what we believe, is the Bia Hoi we were looking for the day before!! Valentin and I were very excited to finally experience the legendary 50 cent beer. And sure enough, for 70,000 Dong, we got a large pitcher that when divided out cost 12,250 Dong per cup!

The beer is poured out of a keg and once it runs out they’re closed!

We ended up sitting here for a very long time! Originally, it was chatting with Paul from France!

And then once all of our friends left, a local came over and joined Valentin and I!

Originally we were planning on leaving. But this local wanted to drink one more pitcher with us so we obliged and had an amazing conversation with him till the sun went down.

He tired to purchase the pitcher for us, but I was quicker and got to it first. It’s a part of Vietnamese culture to protest a bit about who pays or gifts but eventually he was okay with me paying.

This local (I’ll keep his name out just in case for safety reasons) dove into stories about his distrust in his government, how he spent time in prison for speaking out against them, and about his life living in Hanoi!

He told us about how the Vietnamese people actually love Americans and according to him, most do not support their current government! It was a very interesting conversation and pretty amazing be was willing to share this all with us even though it could land him in jail!

He also spoke about his kids and family, his daughter lives in Washington DC and his son still lives in Vietnam.

He was a very nice and welcoming man and I’m glad we hung around to chat with him.

After parting ways with the local, it was time to eat!

We found a restaurant that was absolutely buzzing with locals, so we had to eat there! We got noodles with beef and bok choy, it was very good and fun that it was so jammed packed.

The rest of the night included wandering around a VERY busy beer street, drinking, eating, and singing our hearts out to early 2000 punk songs with a live band!

We also ran into Meg and Kara, who we met a few days earlier in Cat Ba!

It was all around an amazing day! From getting a tattoo I’ve been thinking about this entire trip to drinking local beers with locals, Hanoi is turning out to be a city I really am enjoying.

I’m not sure how many days I’ll be here but tomorrow my friends Grace and Harry arrive and I can’t wait to hang out with them more!

See you then!

– Elie