This story was taken from Ed’s book, “A Casual Traveler“

Hanoi, Viet Nam was not kind to me during my stay, but it served me well as a base while I visited other places in the area that I wanted to see. I was told there are 50 million scooters in the country of Viet Nam and 6 million people in Hanoi. I believe the majority of the scooters were in Hanoi.

 Considering the crowds and vehicular noise, I decided to get out of town. There are always plenty of options when you travel on your own with no set agenda. I decided on a no brainer mini-trip, where I set my own itinerary. I booked a four day tour that combined two days on a boat in Ha Long Bay with two days of trekking in the mountains near Sa Pa, near the Chinese border.

After booking the trip and wasting the day wandering around Hanoi, I chose to have dinner at a restaurant right across the street from my hotel. Nothing else had caught my eye. A place full of locals is usually the sign of a good restaurant. Continue reading ““Floating Junk” Ha Long Bay, Gulf of Tonkin, Viet Nam” →