My First 24 Hours in Hanoi, Vietnam 🇻🇳 Culture Shock & First Impressions

Xin chào! We just arrived in Vietnam and for the next days we are going to explore the northern side of Vietnam and today is our first day in Hanoi. So today we're starting with exploring this beautiful city, the capital of Vietnam. Are you ready? Let's go! We are going to start today by ordering a bike. Here the main application you can use is Grab. I'm really excited for this because the last time I went on a bike was I think in Thailand. So yeah, it's been a long time. My Grab is here. Thank you! Hello! I will put on this one and we have separate one. Elias has another one. Okay, let's go! Bye! At least the area where we are, where the hotel is, is not that hectic. I was thinking that the traffic is going to be really hectic because we also filmed in Ho Chi Minh City and there were so many cars. It's also a Sunday today so maybe that's why the traffic is not crazy. I hope it's not going to be too hot but oh no, we're going off-road. Bye! Thank you! Bye bye! This is such a fun way to start the day. Our first mission for today was to find each other. I think Elias found me faster than I was able to find him and he's going to do the second challenge for today which is crossing the street here in Vietnam. There are so many scooters and cars coming from that side but I still think it's manageable. In our research, we saw that this area is called the Flower Street and we just asked the vendor, she told us to cross the street over there. Let's see if we find any. Oh wow, this street is so pretty! Look at the trees, look at the flag over there, look at the, I don't know, the street full of leaves. This is such a beautiful atmosphere and I really love that the city is so shadowed. I think it's mostly because there are so many trees, there's a lot of nature, the city is really green. So I love it even more. Update, we didn't find any flowers but this street is awesome. I would still come back here to have a stroll because it's really beautiful. This area being explored, I think it's time for us to have a quick breakfast and for breakfast we're going to start strong with a traditional bread here. It's a traditional sandwich, it's called banh mi. It's like a french baguette, a really long sandwich. You can see they're selling veggie banh mi. So let's go inside and have some! Xin chào! One signature vegan banh mi and one with avocado. We got it, I have the signature banh mi and Elias has the one with avocado and egg. Oh that's nice and he already tried it and I will try mine as well. I think it has some tofu. I only had a small bite but I like it. To be honest, completely honest with you, I didn't expect a vegetable banh mi to be so delicious and it's almost better than the one with meat. I think it's really good. I can only say that this place was such a nice find, amazing, really really delicious and the bread was so crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. With this occasion, I found something really interesting. Banh mi is a dry food and because it's a dry food, they usually drink something with it. They usually order a drink with it, which is really interesting because they also had many drinks there and one of them was kombucha and we had the ginger kombucha. It was really delicious, really delicious and it really balanced everything so good. I think it's time for my favorite part, coffee time! There are so many cafes here. Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil. So today, we're going to try a little bit to soak into the coffee scene here in Hanoi. Let's go! It's so nice outside and we have a new friend. His name is Bam. I think that the coffee places here are telling you exactly the story and the culture of Vietnam and I think it's such a vibe to be staying in one of these places. Even if you're not a coffee lover, just come, order something else and soak a little bit into this atmosphere because it's lovely. We are going to stroll a little bit around and explore the center, the old quarter of Hanoi. Right now, we are going to a street that is selling so many different things. The name of the street is Pho Hang Ma and I'm really curious to see it in real life because in my research, it was very lively. It was very interesting with all the shops. Let's check it out! This street is crazy cool. I think this should have been the flower street because there are so many shops with flowers but all the flowers here are fake. This is so crazy but I think my guess is that they are selling seasonal things. Oh, this is so nice! Right now, we have so many flowers around. Oh, and look! Oh, this is so colorful and pretty. I love it! The secret of Pho Hang Ma and of this area in general is that it has so many colorful shops and it's a very pleasant walk around so that's why we came. On this street where we are right now, there are so many shops selling spices. Look, for example, this one. There's another one next to it over there. There's another one next to it. There are so many shops selling spices. The old quarter is quite big and walkable and depending on the street and area, you find different things. For example, right now, it's a street selling a lot of spices and we previously saw a street selling flowers or a street selling souvenirs, etc. There is something I really want to try which is a local dessert. It's a local dessert that is very different from what we have in Romania, so in my home country, and very different from all the other places I travel to and you'll see what I mean by this. Oh my god, this is so crazy. I'm waiting for the shoot here. This is so nice. So pretty. Oh, and this is the place? Oh, this is the place. Wow! Wow, this place is so pretty. Look how it looks like. This is actually the banana with sticky rice and then with coconut milk. It looks really good. Let me give it a try. This is actually Elias's, but with the peanuts on top of it. So flavorful. It's really good. No, not at all. It's very different. I think you feel more the coconut milk and the peanuts on top of it, but the taste is really good. Really, really good. I only had the small bite, but I guess I will be asking Elias to share this. And this one, look at it. This is the green rice with cendol. I don't know which one is which one, but let's give it a try. And what is really interesting, and I've never seen this before. This is so new for me. Outside is like a jelly, and inside is like a small piece of coconut. They gave us a bowl full of ice, and they said the ice is for this one. So my guess is that you actually mix everything, but it looks so pretty to be mixed. I don't think you've ever tried this, like this, something like this before. You know, always that sweet where we are going. Yeah. The taste for this one. The taste is really good. Yeah, really delicious. And it feels really healthy also. I really like it. Yeah, me too. There is something we really want to try as an experience. It's to go with a cyclo, I think it's called. So we stopped one man who was cycling around. And let's see how much it will cost us to go to the Wankim Lake. We're going inside Ampers, the first one. And now, Elias is coming. Hello. This is so nice. We are going around the old quarter and to the lake. To the lake, yeah, Wankim Lake. And then he said that walking around the lake is restricted today because it's weekend. Saturday and Sunday. Okay, wow, this is so nice. I don't know how he sees where he's cycling. I think it's very difficult for him, right? I think this is an activity that I wouldn't normally do because I think it's a little bit too touristy maybe. But I saw many people doing it. And I think it's such a nice thing to do in Vietnam and in here, in Hanoi. It's a nice way to discover the center. We found this nice man who is willing to walk us around the city. And why not? I think this is a very relaxing way of discovering the city. And it's really nice. And you're covered and you have a fan, which is so cool. I understand now. So actually it's closed, I think, for cars, for bicycles, for scooters, for bikes. So you can freely walk during the weekend here. This is so nice and it's so quiet. This is so beautiful. This is so peaceful. I love it. And the locals staying on the benches there, having a nice weekend. Wow, this is so perfect. I love it. It's a little bit hot. So we need a fresh coconut. Can I have one? Come on. Oh, this is cold. Let me have a first sip. I don't have patience to go to the lake. I love it. I so miss it. I should make a wish. Since we're near the lake, we also want to have like a late lunch, early dinner. This is met vegetarian food. So like a Vietnamese restaurant in vegetarian food. Let's have a look inside and see what they have in the menu. I almost cannot believe a place like this exists. How many reviews it has? 29,000 reviews. 29,000 reviews on Google Maps. With 4.9 stars. 4.9 stars. 4.5 or 4.9? 4.9. It should be perfect. Yeah, it should be. It should be perfect. Do you have any food energy? No. So you have one deep-fried radish dough pillow with stir-fried meat, one deep-fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce. Thank you. Half one side of the radish dough like this. Okay. And you see, it's empty inside. Empty inside, yes. Fill everything inside. We even have the meat. Oh. The red onion. And onion. No. Kale and carrots. They're hot. Oh, okay. Thank you so much. I think this is such a good choice because actually we learned something new today. There is a specific way to eat this and the lady just showed us how to eat it. So let's give it a try. Wow, it's so hot. Very flavorful. It's very hot. It's not sweet at all. It's very delicious. I just got a coconut coffee for my sister because she asked me to buy for her. This local shop has more like instant coffee, coconut coffee, egg coffee, salted coffee, and all these cute little cups. This is so nice. With also, I think it's also like an instant coffee and more souvenirs. It's in the old center. There are many places from where you can buy souvenirs. This is a really nice gift that you can buy from Vietnam. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoy everything that we did today. We are a family of 34,000 people. And if you want to join the family, don't forget to subscribe. And also don't forget to leave us a like and a comment. Tell us what you liked if you are coming to Vietnam soon. And where are you watching us from? And I will see you on the next adventure from Vietnam.