A Long Stay in Hanoi (Vietnam) in 2022: Between Gastronomy, Shopping, and Frustrations

Every time I’m in Hanoi, my hometown, I struggle to post on the blog because I don’t have a moment to myself. There’s too much to do, too many people to see, too many dishes to try, too many weekends to plan in the North…

We spent several months in Hanoi, and here’s a summary of what we did.

We flew from Paris to Hanoi in March 2022 on a nearly empty plane. We each had three seats to ourselves. I slept straight through. Because of the war, we had to take a longer route to avoid flying over Ukraine. The usual 10 hours turned into 11 hours and 20 minutes. Luckily, I had planned to buy Airpods Pro to block out the plane’s noise, and it was probably the most pleasant flight of my life. The plane was brand new, with a button to adjust the window’s light intensity. Classy!

Upon arriving in Hanoi, we got a big surprise: the online form to fill out (before the trip) was long, but we just had to show the QR code, and within 10 minutes, we had our passports stamped and were in a taxi. Because of the few tourists (Vietnam wouldn’t reopen truly to tourists until a few days later), the drivers were fighting over customers, and I had to explain to the other drivers why I chose this one and not them.

Anyway, it felt great to be back in my home country and to see that Covid had made the air less polluted. At that time, we had to self-isolate at home for three days, which we respected. We stayed at my parents’ place. My poor dad had to go get us food in the morning and cook for us at noon and in the evening. Plus, I had pre-ordered some things, so he had to receive the package in front of the house—since I wasn’t allowed to go out. Anyway, those three days were long, but it was worth it.

In March 2022, the kids still had to study remotely, and the streets of Hanoi were completely empty. It felt like the atmosphere of the ’90s, just before the US embargo was lifted.

Right after our forced isolation, we took a whole week to rest (without working):

to take a road trip to Ha Giang with my parents (with a private driver)
spend 2 nights at the Avanahotel, where a friend works. It was voted the best “retreat” in Asia, and to explore Mai Chau a bit.

These two incredible trips did us a lot of good, and they also helped us get over the jet lag (always tough in that direction).

Next, we stayed at an Airbnb in downtown Hanoi, and that’s where the little problems started piling up.

For getting around, I bought a super cute and cheap Vietnamese bike (€70, even the locals were shocked by the price; I got compliments every week on the street). But it got stolen, mistaken for a pricey Japanese bike. Meanwhile, JB’s bike—a real Japanese one he borrowed from my dad—was spared. Though it was “ready to be stolen” since the only lock protecting both bikes had been cut.
JB’s Airpods broke, and we had to go around Hanoi to find a repair shop. In the end, our repair guy was just 3 streets away from us.
JB picked up my dad’s watch, which he had received from my grandfather. We lost count of how many times we went to watch repair shops (the watch was gaining minutes each day) until, same as before, we found a repair shop just 5 minutes from us.
JB tried to get his motorcycle license and failed unfairly, without any valid reason.
Having left Vietnam for too long, I no longer understand the customs, the innuendos, and I find myself feeling like an idiot in simple situations that become ultra-complicated for me. People try to squeeze money out of me, but without asking directly—it’s sneaky and complicated. I won’t go into details, because I myself didn’t really get what others wanted. Anyway, in a simple daily situation like signing JB up for the gym, there were all these intrigues, things to know, things to say, questions you should know to ask, double meanings, and plot twists worthy of Hollywood.

In short, after all these little struggles, I snapped. I wondered if we had tried to do too much in Vietnam instead of just settling for work/sleep/food. Being a non-stop translator for JB, I’ve had enough social interactions (and complicated situations) to last the next 3 years. I couldn’t take it anymore! On a whim, I told JB, “Let’s get out of here; we’re going to Bali.” A place associated with begpackers, digital nomads, “dream sellers,” in short, the place we usually avoid, but it was one of the few spots open in Asia at that time.

Funny enough, once the tickets were bought, all those little hassles stopped right away, and I had 10 peaceful, worry-free days.

In the meantime, we had time to:

welcome our friend A. during his one-month stay in Vietnam. We visited Sapa (and stayed in stunning places), Ha Long (on a boat worthy of a billionaire’s). He went to Hoi An alone and really liked it.
A. then invited us to experience with him a unique stay at Capella Hanoi, one of the best 5-star hotels IN THE WORLD according to a recent magazine ranking. The experience is out of the ordinary; I highly recommend it. One night is enough; your eyes (and taste buds) will be in for a treat.
welcome our friend F., and we traveled together to Da Nang and Hoi An. We discovered a great hotel, toured luxury hotels, learned about the existence of crystal bowls, and had a memorable stay in Hoi An (which involved a little food poisoning (for all three of us!) hahaha)
spend a few nights in Saigon and I saw, after years, my beloved cousin, and two Vietnamese girlfriends who love to travel. The encounters were brief, but we made plans to meet up somewhere in Europe/Africa
to go see our friend J., who’s more or less based in Saigon

I know it sounds like I’m setting myself up. My schedule was packed. The calls were numerous because every two days I received a package.

Shopping in Vietnam is just awesome! I was buying stuff on Tiki and Shopee. Both offer express shipping, but even more efficient than Amazon Prime Now.

The sellers, if they’re in the same city as me, can send me a package in the middle of the night. The delivery fees are super affordable too, €1 to €2 even for express delivery (in 30 minutes). I spotted several Japanese, Korean, and Chinese products. It just took a few clicks on Facebook to find someone able to buy them in Korea/Japan and send them to me by courier a week later.

For orders from China, I found another site: 24hdathang. I just had to give them the purchase URLs, make a transfer, and wait patiently for the products to be sent to their warehouse in China, cross the Sino-Vietnamese borders, and land at my place via courier. Things were simpler if the borders weren’t closed for several months due to the numerous lockdowns on the Chinese side. So I had to wait for my poor packages for at least 3 months.

Speaking of shopping, I met several artisans, including a jeweler and two leatherworkers that I told you about here.

Then Instagram kept targeting me and I ended up buying designer clothes, customized on demand (just had to send them the measurements).

Anyway, after my stay in Vietnam, I’m dressed head to toe in 100% personalized items, even unique in the world, because designed by myself 😀

In both small and big cities, everyone has a bank account now. Since bank transfers are instant and done effortlessly from a smartphone, people carry less and less cash, and both small and large amounts can be paid by transfer. I remember a client from my old agency, back in the 2010s, who dreamed of having farmers as clients, each with €40 in their bank account, but millions of farmers. It seems his dream came true.

Due to the many orders with the leatherworkers, what was inevitable happened: I became obsessed with leather goods, to the point of fully equipping myself (enough to open a small workshop) and I took a week-long small leather goods course with my leatherworker. I made a vertical wallet for my dad, in Epsom leather. I really enjoyed it. Firstly because I truly thought I wouldn’t manage it, and secondly because I learned lots of things and hidden details that help me better appreciate handmade work.

Even my leatherworker asked me why I took the course. I don’t know!

I’ve always had this desire, this need to know everything about a craft, to practice it like a professional, then forget it. To be able to look at an object and give a lecture on it: “this leather comes from the Haas tannery and has the distinction of being tanned twice…”

I’ve already told you how I took sewing classes for professionals in Vietnam, and jewelry classes… What did it get me? It helped me spot and buy excellent quality products, that’s all! Someday I might also become a carpenter ahaah 😀 and I’ll stop going to IKEA. Who knows.

I left with small leather items, but notably two luxury bags designed by myself and hand-stitched by my artisans, made with the most luxurious leathers & accessories (one in novonappa and the other in crocodile).

I was of course enjoying all the best of Vietnamese gastronomy. I’m crazy about vermicelli soups and can eat the same soup every morning. My favorite dishes are:

Bun doc mung
Bun rieu
Bun cha
Oc luoc
It’s not Vietnamese, but I found people selling Korean-style marinated raw crabs (homemade). You have to order online but get them delivered by courier, and oh my, they were so good, worthy of the Michelin-starred restaurant we’d tried in Seoul

Just because I was born in Hanoi doesn’t mean I find the food better here. Sorry, but Hanoians know what gastronomy is all about. Just travel 10km in any direction and it’s a whole different recipe (disgusting!). JB didn’t believe me at first, but when he tasted the sugar-loaded Phở in the South, he got what I meant. In Vietnam, there’s only one cuisine I can stand: Hanoi’s. That’s why I’ll struggle to settle here: the city is too polluted and noisy. But I can’t go anywhere else because I’d eat terribly 🙁

JB, for his part, requires a quota of European food a few times a week. He loves the Pizza 4Ps chain above all. And when we crave a Vietnamese buffet, we book at Maion Sen, not far from the French embassy. And when we wanted to try several dishes that had nothing in common, we went to Quan Ngon (in Vietnam, good restaurants only serve one or two dishes per restaurant, hence the difficulty of finding one that offers a hundred).

JB finally managed to get his motorcycle license (A2) in Vietnam and convert it into an international license—a huge win! This will allow him to drive anywhere in the world, insured, and stop paying fines in Chiang Mai every 3 days 😀 On the administrative side, I managed to renew my Vietnamese ID card.

We then left for Bali. Those were the two most uncomfortable months since we started our round-the-world trip (6 years ago). At the time, I attributed my unease to work stress, the unsuitable environment, the bad vibes of the place, and my cat Rosalie’s death… Every day, I had a terrible fear… of dying. Every day, I wondered how the day would end. A few days before leaving Bali, I, who never lose anything, misplaced my gold bracelet. Handmade, of course. The bracelet had fallen off my wrist on its own, as I never took it off. The Vietnamese say that objects leave in place of their owner, so I was more or less relieved to lose an object instead of losing my life. And when we were on the plane back to Vietnam, I couldn’t believe my eyes and only felt relieved when we truly set foot on Vietnamese soil, in Saigon and then Nha Trang (Vietnam). But a week later, JB had a terrible stomachache and underwent emergency surgery in Nha Trang and that’s when I understood: it wasn’t me who was afraid of dying. It was my intuition urging me to leave, because JB was in danger. Indeed, in Bali, we would have been lost—I don’t speak Indonesian, we don’t know anyone… So we absolutely had to return to Vietnam to be saved. So, after a month of convalescence in Nha Trang, we came back to Hanoi for a month.

This time, we alternate between a hotel in the city center and an apartment in a friend’s building near West Lake. West Lake is the favorite spot for expats because it’s one of the few places where you can truly breathe. However, due to a heavy concentration of expats, everything else is expensive (food, services…).

We barely have time to take a long weekend trip, but what a long weekend! Unknowingly, I chose the most spiritual place with the most energy to recharge.

Among:

MGallery Yen Tu, which looks like a royal palace, all alone in a valley in the middle of Yen Tu National Park
the cable car that takes you to the top of Yen Tu mountain with mountain views
we got closer to Ha Long, especially to enjoy the Yoko Onsen, a Japanese-style onsen with 40 baths of all temperatures and sizes
and a thermal spring that worked miracles (a lady who bathed there every day was recommended to walk despite being half-paralyzed)

I found a dermatologist. A real one! Who works at the hospital during the day and at her own practice in the evening. Thanks to her encouragement, I was able to try so-called “invasive” treatments that I would never have done in France. Yes, you need an Asian dermatologist to treat Asian skin, because she’ll know the right product and have more experience. Asian skin is totally different from Caucasian or Black skin: we have completely different issues: for example, aging Asian skin has spots, while aging Caucasian skin has wrinkles!

Thanks to her, I dared:

get PICO laser to completely remove all my freckles (freckles are actually brown spots in the making)
get laser to remove all the moles on my face
get mesotherapy (to “tighten” the skin via hyaluronic acid injections)
get two peels (to remove less deep spots)
start collagen treatments
have an even more complete routine with lots of active ingredients

In parallel, I got a package at a spa recommended by a friend. The sessions aren’t very relaxing because the aesthetician takes the opportunity to upsell and chat, but the results are there—I’ve really rejuvenated, I swear! Because even my sister, looking at my photos, was super impressed by my glowing skin.

We left Hanoi with three full suitcases. Blame it on Bamboo Airways, which gave us too many kilos (45 kg each!). I took the opportunity to bring back baby clothes for my pregnant sister, Vietnamese products for her, as well as gear & leather for my new passion 😀 plus all the orders made in Vietnam (I know, I know, I’m no longer minimalist all of a sudden). Bamboo offers cheap flights between Hanoi / Saigon and Frankfurt, so we first land in Frankfurt and then take the train to Paris.

Our stay in Hanoi was long and eventful. But we managed to do a ton of things. I learned a new trade! JB got surgery in Vietnam! Who would have thought??? Not us, that’s for sure, we still can’t get over it! Hanoi is and always will be a complex city: with hidden treasures, not easy to tame, it drives you up the wall, but there are still so many things you can only find in Hanoi.

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