Playing Frogger in Hanoi

This time a year ago, we went on a blissful trip to Asia for a few weeks.  Our arrival to Vietnam wasn't the smoothest.  Despite being a huge planner and researcher before any trip, I somehow missed the fact that Vietnam requires a visa to enter the country.  While everyone else was getting out their organised folders and  visa photos as our flight descended into Hanoi, we began calmly breaking a sweat and pondering the delicacies of Vietnamese prison food.  Thankfully, the airport mercifully offers an "expedited visa," with a very formal process of looking you up and down and naming their price... I'll call this the idiot tax - if you're that stupid to get to the airport without a visa, you rightfully owe the idiot tax.

Crisis expensively averted, we held on for dear life in the taxi to our hotel.  Despite a mild mention of the swarms of motorcycles, Lonely Planet couldn't have prepared me for the chaos that was Hanoi.  Stepping out of the hotel was like a very advanced game of Frogger for people with a death-wish.  We were advised to walk confidently at a constant but slow pace and cars / motorcycles would drive around you. Here's some demonstrations - none performed by me or my now-husband as we never quite mastered the art of crossing a street in Hanoi.   An estimated 30 people die per day in Hanoi due to road accidents.  This video we took explains why (watch the various people take a leisurely stroll across!):

Street chaos aside, Hanoi was an enjoyable place to begin our exploration of Vietnam.  The food and nightlife were excellent - with some very memorable meals.

In search of the highly-reputed street food of Hanoi, we sought out Bun Bo Nam Bo - famous for the one dish on offer - Bun Bo, a bowl of rice noodles, beef, lots of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, fried onions, crushed peanuts and a small amount of beef broth.  Locals and tourists lined up for this dish and sat side by side at long tables.  You wait your turn, order (one? two? five?), then sit at the table until a hot bowl of Bun Bo is placed before you.  There's no atmosphere to soak up - just a functional cafe to feed hungry, busy people as they buzz through the day.  But that doesn't mean there isn't time to sit there and savour every morsel of the Bun Bo and wash it down with a Bia Hanoi - the local brew.

Haven't yet tried to replicate this dish yet - but I think it's high-time I did!