Rats, We are Leaving Hanoi

Hanoi is a chaotic place whose charms slowly grew on us. Upon arriving, we quickly learned that sidewalks are used as parking lots for scooters and the best way to travel by foot is to join the throngs of scooters, cars, and other pedestrians in the street which is instantly overwhelming. We later learned, that if you make eye contact with the oncoming scooters, they will avoid you, but as soon as you look away, you are fair game. This news lead us to "stare down" every oncoming driver at each intersection.  The pho is delicious here, and the coffee is the best we've ever had. We explored some local temples, checked out a night market, walked around the central lake, and spent the afternoon at the spa.

Upon flying out of Hanoi, we decided to stay in one of the airport "sleeping pods" to make things easy for our flight the next morning. What an experience! The capsule/ pod had a bunk bed which was fun as neither of us could recall the last time we slept in a bunk bed. The bathroom was a ways away in an employee section of the airport. For dinner, there were four restaurants on the above floor. While eating at one, we saw a rat, so we switched to another one which was accompanied by a second rat sighting. The staff and other patrons seemed unconcerned by this, but it left us with fears of rats invading our pod in the night (lucky this fear was not realized).

We hope to return to Hanoi in the future to explore Sapa, but as for the sleeping pods in the Hanoi Airport--they are likely a one-and-done experience.