Day 43! Happy Valentin(e)s day! We’ve been saying that to him all day. But another great day ahead in the city of Hanoi!

I was a littleeee hungover this morning. But nothing a shower and lots of carbs, at my hostels free breakfast, can’t handle.

I had a nice surprise on my way to breakfast too! I ran (almost literally) into my friend Sam who I met in Hoi An. We had a nice catch up during breakfast and then she had to go get on a flight to Thailand!

Since I had a late night out, I was behind on my daily blog post. So I went out to the balcony in my dorm room and was met with a great view of the cathedral next door!

There was also a church service going on and the singing was ringing through the building and echoing down the streets! It made for some ethereal ambience while I was writing.

Along with that, a cleaning lady started sweeping the balcony while I was sitting there and tried to chat with me… it felt a little flirtatious but not the most uncommon thing being a westerner in South East Asia.

After that situation, I met up with Valentin, who slept through breakfast. So I joined him at the pho place around the corner!

It was now time to wander (one of my favorite activities)! Nearby there’s a lake with a couple popular tourist destinations. One of them being the Note Café, which is a cafe covered ceiling to floor in notes people have written!

We also met up with our friend Lea and hung out with her for a bit too!

The streets were absolutely packed today! I think everyone is finally coming back to the city now that Tet is coming to an end.

I’m really enjoying Hanoi, but it’s very strange being in a city that looks European but in Asia! The architecture here is definitely influenced by French colonialism and it stands out against the Asian city buildings. As strange as it is, it makes for some cool contrast and it’s fun to walk around and see!

The area we ended up walking around in seemed a bit more upscale. So we kept walking and followed our grumbling stomachs to an alleyway that had some cheap street food!

Usually the best restaurants are in the weirdest spots and this held up to that statement!

After eating, it was time for a nap. The late nights were definitely catching up to me!

After a classic Elie 30 minute Power Nap, I felt like a new person and finally met up with my friends Grace and Harry who just arrived in Hanoi this morning!

We wandered around the same spot as Valentin and I did earlier and caught up about our trips since we last saw each other! I was super happy to be hanging with them again.

While we were walking around we randomly ran into Lea so she joined us as well! Eventually Grace and Harry wanted to go nap, so Lea and I continued walking around. At this point we had walked past a kebab stand a number of times, so I finally caved and got one.

While we were standing there, we met two guys we had met the night before while singing Gimme Gimme by ABBA. They turned out to be very friendly and we chatted with them for a bit about their travels! One was from Germany and the other was from Canada!

Lea and I went and joined our other friend Leigh at the rooftop of their hostel and eventually Valentin joined too!

We sat and watched as the sky got darker (no sunset with the clouds) and then eventually headed back into the city for dinner!

After a delicious bowl of pho, we had to get a sweet treat. So we found a crepe stand and I went pretty plain with just sugar on it! But scrumptious nonetheless!

After that we did a lot of people watching until Harry and Grace came and joined us!

They’ve had a tendency to sneak up and startle me when we link up and this time they somehow got Valentin to distract me as they snuck up behind me!

Our night then turned into a great game night of Uno while we enjoyed one cheap pitcher of Bia Hoi!

The night was just about over when Valentin and I decided to go walk by the lake at night.

While we were sitting in one spot, an older man with a fishing pole came and sat with us. He was trying to talk with us but could only speak Vietnamese, which made for a strange and awkward situation…

But it only got stranger as he noticed a fishing lure in the tree by us and the stranger decided to climb the tree to retrieve it!

He then accidentally knocked it into the lake and hurriedly thrusted the fishing pole to Valentin and insisted we help him bring the lure back to shore.

After successfully helping this man on his strange mission… there was more!

I guess this tree was full of lures and he wanted us to help with them all. After one more we got a bit tired of this man’s antics so we walked back to our hostel and got a Banh Mi on the way!

It was another wonderful day full of good people, great wandering, and interesting experiences!

I think I’ll spend one more day in Hanoi, but we’ll see if that holds true tomorrow!

– Elie