Hanoi

The main reason for our visit to Vietnam's capital - Hanoi - was to embark on the Ha Long Bay tour. Subsequently, we didn't have much time for the city itself; it was effectively a day combined.





What is a visit to Hanoi without trying the famous egg coffee? It is made from egg yolk, coffee (of course) and condensed milk. The coffee was incredibly bitter and the egg part tasted like custard! We also tried the egg beer.





On our last night in Vietnam before we headed to the water puppet show, we splurged on burgers. The burgers were both cheap and expensive; cheap-ish for Sydney standards and ridiculously expensive for Vietnamese standards. But we had a lot of Vietnamese dong left and thought it would be fitting to have a non-street food meal for our last night.




The burgers were a tad salty but the star of the show was, surprisingly, the mashed potatoes and gravy!

And that concludes my Vietnam posts. My trip to Vietnam had been a long time coming. In fact, it was one of the very first countries that I dreamt of visiting. When I was 17, my then-boss discussed going to Vietnam together (she was Vietnamese). It never eventuated and she took another coworker instead. A few years later it became another pipe dream with my then-best friend. It also didn't happen and a trip to Vietnam was placed on the backburner. I am glad that I didn't have the chance to visit earlier; I just don't think I would have been ready for the country. I would have been too young, too ignorant and too inexperienced.

Back when I started writing my first travel reccounts, I would conclude with the simple question of "would I revisit?" I stopped that practice as it was a little juvenile and I also wasn't quite comfortable with stating an opinion that, whilst may have been valid at the time of writing, might not be relevant X years later. Notwithstanding, it is a question that I get often about places I have been to.

I didn't manage to slot in a trip to Sapa or the Mekong Delta. But the 10 days I had in Vietnam definitely gave me a taster of the country. Would I revisit? It is unlikely; as I have always said, too many places, not enough time (or money). But who knows, I might change my mind and eat my words (which has happened a few times now).

Up next, Thailand!