From Chaos to Calm: Hanoi Streets and Sapa Hills

After two weeks drifting down the Mekong and trekking through Laos, it was time to turn the page. Vietnam was waiting.

Hanoi greeted me the way Anthony Bourdain once promised it would — loud, unapologetic, alive. The Old Quarter is a sensory overload: mopeds buzzing in every direction, street vendors grilling meat over open flames, and plastic stools crowding the sidewalks. I sat on one of those stools my first night, a cold 50-cent Bia Hanoi in hand, watching the chaos like a theater performance. For a few bucks, I was given fried tofu and rolls that could have fed a family of five.

The days that followed were a blur of flavors and encounters. I bartered with a shoe shiner for a 50,000 dong ($2) polish on my muddy shoes, tasted my first coconut coffee at the famous Note Café, and braved the scooter-filled streets where the rule is simple: walk straight and don’t stop — they’ll flow around you like water. I shared Rosh Hashanah dinner with travelers at Chabad, nearly the whole meal in Hebrew. Even though I didn’t understand the language, the feeling of community was grounding.

Chris caught up the next day after a visa mishap in Laos, and together we explored the city — visiting Hoa Lo Prison, wandering Train Street where trains brush by just inches away, and cooling off with salt coffee (a new favorite). Hanoi is exhausting and exhilarating all at once, a city that doesn’t let you stand still.

From there, we boarded a sleeper bus north to Sapa. The chaos of Hanoi gave way to misty mountains and rice terraces carved into the hillsides. At Chopai Homestay, we joined family dinners of rice, pork, chicken, and the best spring rolls I’ve ever tasted. Each meal ended with “happy water” — local rice liquor — and laughter shared around the long wooden table.

Days were spent trekking through the valleys, climbing above the clouds, and cooling off by waterfalls. Evenings meant music and community — like the night I played guitar with Bach, a local barista and musician whose voice stopped everyone in their tracks. He sang everything from Sam Smith to Johnny Cash, and the night turned into one of those unforgettable travel memories.

On quieter afternoons, I swung in a hammock watching Bourdain’s Vietnam episodes, struck by how perfectly he captured the country’s spirit.

“Vietnam. It grabs you and doesn’t let you go. Once you love it, you love it forever.”

I’m beginning to understand exactly what he meant.

This morning, I left Sapa with Chris and Val, a new friend from Ireland, on a bus to Ha Giang. Tomorrow we’ll begin the four-day Ha Giang Loop — a motorbike journey through Vietnam’s northern mountains. If the past week has been any indication, the best moments are yet to come.

Family dinner at Chopai Hostel outside of Sapa.

The hostel team rolling fresh spring rolls before frying.

The view from the terrace of Chopai hostel.

View from a cafe overlooking the streets of Hanoi.

Steep narrow roads up the mountains of Ta Van.

Bamboo forest trail.

Views of the rice terraces near Ta Van.

Views of the rice terraces near Ta Van.

Bánh Xèo meal with friends. Crispy rice omelet wrapped in rice paper with fish sauce.I

Selfie of me on the sleeper bus to Sapa from Hanoi.

Photo of me on the tracks of train street.

View of Hanoi from hostel rooftop.

25000 dong Bánh mì on the streets of Hanoí

Late night eats and Bia Hà Nội