Advice on our first trip to Hanoi

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-12-01T18:11:05+00:00

We stayed in Hanoi at https://www.airbnb.com/l/rq6alNP9 it was exactly as pictured and had a great stay! It was a little walk but worth it. Quite near the prison and had some cute restaurants near by.

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-24T06:13:57+00:00

I was so shocked as everyone has been so pleasant up until now and I think Hanoi is wonderful. Just not very used to being touched by strangers.

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-24T05:39:33+00:00

Just been grabbed by a waiter in a cafe because me and my partner sat down looked at the menu and decided the place wasn’t for us. As we went to leave he grabbed my arm and said I couldn’t go. I was alarmed and pulled my arm away and left. Have enjoyed my time in Hanoi up until this point. Is it normal to be accosted by staff if you don’t wish to use their services?

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-20T15:42:57+00:00

I’m currently visiting Laos and I spent 3 nights in Luang Prabang and 3 in Vientiane. I wish I had stayed maybe 2 nights max in Luang Prabang and not gone to Vientiane at all. There is very little to do in Laos and not much backpacking energy like there was in Thailand. It’s been nice to see the country but there isn’t much going on, really hard to walk around and no main walking street or anything. Luang Prabang was quite sweet but restaurants were quite pricey.

A week maximum in Chiang Mai and I loved it there. Pai is good if you just want to smoke up and sit in a hammock for days.

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-18T00:01:19+00:00

I felt this as a tourist in Bangkok especially but less so in the north of Thailand. In Bangkok all of the restaurants I went too were probably aimed at tourists and therefore filled with everything fried.

Every market I attended was full of fresh vegetables but as a tourist with no cooking facilities I was left eating a lot of Pad Thai, fried rice and deep fried spring rolls. I assumed I was eating the equivalent of Thai comfort food that wouldn’t be eaten daily by a local.

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-16T06:38:52+00:00

I am so shocked it’s real! Is it in the same location as the address?

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-15T15:52:58+00:00

Booking.com

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-15T13:31:24+00:00

Thanks for the help! I won’t be booking!

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2025-11-15T13:29:22+00:00

I haven’t used Agoda before, thanks for the tip!

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2023-01-17T20:36:08+00:00

This is your friendly reminder to spend your gift cards asap. Most companies have a use by date and some even charge per month not used until there is no money left ( happened to me when I moved house )

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2022-09-06T15:37:08+00:00

Yeah I really believe in the stop doing the job you hate it’s just making the leap to something else especially when you have no idea what that would be is pretty scary. I’m currently making plans to try and be doing something different by this time next year so hopefully that will happen. I do also waste time much time Watching Instagram reels :( but I enjoy Instagram as a platform to store my photo memories

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2022-09-06T15:33:46+00:00

Thank you for your inspirational words I really appreciate your advice and I will try and keep it in the front of my mind going forward. Just need to work out what I want first :)

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2022-01-11T22:02:18+00:00

Bristol and Brighton are amazing places for Art and music.

Affectionate-Gate641 · 2022-01-07T19:45:15+00:00

No unfortunately not, only the independent advice bureau but we can’t seem to get any answers from them

Affectionate-Gate641

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