Dana Overcash
Description: The Official Travel Blog of <a href="http://danaovercash.com">Dana Overcash</a>
As I traveled north through Vietnam, I continued to hear not-so-great things about Hanoi, and I was not looking forward to the 4 days I had saved for myself there. When I finally got there and walked around, experiencing the street food, the hustle and bustle, the water puppet show (which is a waste of time and money), and the people, I confirmed what I had heard. So I kept my belongings in my hotel and ventured up to Mai Chau to avoid the city.
However, my last night in the city completely changed my view. I started with a foot massage and some last minute souvenir buying, before I grabbed a child-sized chair on the sidewalk of one of the busiest intersections and ordered a bia hoi. Bia hoi is draft beer that is brewed daily and costs a whopping 5000 Vietnamese dong, or less than $0.25. Definitely can’t be beat!
I drank my beer, wrote out postcards (because, yes, I waited until the very last minute), and just observed. I watched fellow tourists drinking their bia hoi, and rushing to take photos when a motorbike with 6 people on it would ride by. I watched police tell people they couldn’t be selling certain items on the street, and those same people run if they saw the cops coming back. I watched children play and listened to the chatter all around me.
Dana Overcash