My bus ticket was VND 340,000 for another 18 hours bus ride from Hoi An to Hanoi.

I walked about an hour to get to Hanoi Lucky Guesthouse 2 from where the bus dropped us off.

I was so tired but my room was not yet ready. One of the guys asked me where I traveled from, I told him from Hoi An and I just need a shower. He asked me to leave my bag upstairs and gave me a towel so I can take shower in the bathroom downstairs. That was nice! When my room was finally ready, I got lucky to have a big room. They said the people supposed to go on Halong Bay Tour couldn’t go due to storm so they ended up extending their stay in the dorm. They gave this room to me for the same price $5/night including breakfast.

I went around the old quarter and boy there were lots of shops then I finally saw the famous Lake.

When I searched for Hanoi’s famous tourist spots, it didn’t interest me because it’s very similar to Saigon.

I had dinner at Countryside Restaurant.

The food was very good. I must say, the best Vietnamese food I’ve had so far. I ordered vegetable spring rolls and vegetable fried noodles for VND 45,000 each. When they served the food, I was surprised by the quantity. It was such a huge serving that I couldn’t finish all. I took the leftovers with me.

Since I really didn’t want to stay in the city, I booked my bus ticket to Sapa the next day for $13 via Hanoi Nonprofit Hostel. The cheapest I found!

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