Vietnam, Part 1: Hanoi, 25 Years Later — Cyclos, Coffee, and the Old Quarter
Ninety-degree heat, 76% humidity, and an iced Vietnamese coffee that fixed everything. That's how Hanoi welcomed me back after 25 years away.
There’s just something about this combination of old shops, painting, graffiti, motos, and cartoon tiger that I really love. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
I’m in love!!
… with G Adventures, that is!
I just got back from a one-week familiarization trip with G Adventures to beautiful Vietnam. That means it was an educational trip with just 10 travel advisors, along with staff and our guide. We spent the week exploring Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City with a variety of travel styles, transportation, hotels, and activities. It was a wonderful experience I’ll never forget!
I’d been to Vietnam before, on a backpacking trip in 2001. That was 24 years after the war, and it was a longer trip, so I saw more. But it was really interesting to return and see what it’s like now, 50 years after, and we did a lot of unique things on this trip that were first-times for me. Yay!
This was also my first-ever group tour, so it was interesting to experience first-hand what it’s like to travel on someone else’s schedule and agenda, with a guide and a group of strangers, and to share a room.
Learn more about What It’s Like to Travel With G Adventures and my thoughts on group travel.
Now, let’s visit Hanoi!
Fun fact: Did you know Vietnam grows Robusta beans, which have double the caffeine and less acidity than Arabica beans? It’s bold, rich, and sweet from the condensed milk. I can never get enough of it.
Hello, Hanoi!
I was warmly greeted in Hanoi, both by my transfer driver and by 90° heat and 76% humidity. Ugh. This is why I don’t recommend visiting May through August, unless you enjoy spending time in a sauna with clothes on!
You’ve probably heard of Vietnam’s coffee culture, and perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to experience it. I absolutely love Vietnamese coffee in every style, so that became priority #1. After checking into the Thien Thai Hotel (GA’s classic-style accommodations), I headed to the cute rooftop restaurant to do a little work and have an iced glass of nirvana. Ahhhh, the perfect remedy!
The tour started downstairs with our welcome orientation. I loved our guide, Son. He was patient, kind, super knowledgeable, and funny. He and G Adventures staff gave us an overview of the week and we all introduced ourselves.
Our excellent tour guide, Son, giving us the low-down at the welcome orientation. Me in my private cyclo. Miscellaneous shots of the Old Quarter.
Then it was off to the races! Sort of… We all hopped on human-powered cyclos to get acquainted with Hanoi’s Old Quarter. My driver pointed out a few interesting places along the way and answered my many “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?” inquiries. I had walked around Old Town in 2001, and though my memory is a bit foggy, it’s definitely more built-up now, and more international (Japanese restaurants are popular!).
Our drivers passed us off to our next leader, a cute, energetic young woman nicknamed Aroma. Funny, right? Well, it’s for a reason: She was our guide through the market and led our cooking lesson (an activity from GA’s Solo-ish tours). I love cooking lessons! It’s fun to learn how the food is prepared, and even more fun to eat it! In the market, Aroma showed us all kinds of things that aren’t as common in the U.S. (unless you go to an Asian grocery store) and I got to sample a fresh lychee and mangosteen.
We ended our first day with a fantastic Vietnamese meal and some kind of delicious tea at Rose Kitchen. That's Aroma, giving a demo; the outside courtyard, our lovely table, and two of our group having a smashing good time. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
The cooking school, Rose Kitchen, was a super stylish little place and we all had our own assignments to prepare our fabulous feast together. Aroma led us through each dish — banana-leaf salad, spring rolls (my fave), phở — with lots of humor. Unfortunately, my phone died at the end of the cyclo tour and I’d left my power bank in the hotel room, so I couldn’t get all the pics I wanted. But sometimes it’s better to just enjoy the experience anyway.
And with that, it was back to the hotel and a cool shower. It probably wasn’t even five minutes ‘til I fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of cups and cups and cups of coffee and the Old Quarter’s bustling narrow streets.
Day Two: Motos, History, and Egg Coffee
Our first full day in Hanoi was jam-packed with so many fun things. I loved the variety: a moto tour, the “Hanoi Hilton,” a coffee demo, an amazing lunch, a crafting experience, and dinner at a family’s home. Whew! No wonder I was so tired (but happy!) when I hit the sack.
I really love that G Adventures is so community focused. Rather than taking a motorcoach or taxis, we each got our own moto drivers. This was especially cool because GA’s non-profit partner, Planeterra, supports Top Gear Lady, a social enterprise that empowers young women. We were told that many of them come to Hanoi from the countryside to earn an income for their families and to fund their higher education. It’s also great because we could squeeze into narrow alleys. There’s lots of traffic but everyone weaves in and out like an orchestrated school of fish.
Me and my Top Gear Lady moto driver, Long Biên Bridge, fresh fruit and veg, and dichotomies: The less-resourced part of town dumps their trash into the river, right next to a field. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
We drove to Long Biên Bridge, then walked over it. Built by the French at the turn of the 20th century, it was the first steel bridge across the Red River, and it became a lifeline during the war — the main route north out of Hanoi, bombed again and again and patched back together every time. It seems a little rickety and very rusty, but trains, motos, bicycles, and pedestrians still use it every day, and our guide Son’s commentary made walking across feel almost like strolling through a century of Hanoi's history.
Maison Centrale, our local guide, shackled prisoners, a very tiny cell that was impossible to lie flat in, toilet holes with buckets underneath, and an artwork in the courtyard. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
Next up was Maison Centrale (Hỏa Lò Prison), better known in the U.S. as the “Hanoi Hilton.” Some travelers avoid museums like this, but I think it’s important to see how the “other side” views history. We had a very knowledgeable museum guide who told us about some of the history before leaving us on our own to explore. In short, the French built it in the late 1800s to hold Vietnamese political prisoners, and it later housed American POWs during the war, including John McCain, whose flight suit is on display. (But somehow, I missed that and his cell?!) Not surprisingly, the exhibits devote far more space to French colonial brutality than to the American era, which is presented in a pretty rosy light. Whatever your view of the framing, it's a sobering stop and a good reminder that the stories you grew up with aren’t the only ones being told. That knowledge helps us understand other cultures, which is why I love travel so much.
Our egg coffee demo and my own to enjoy. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
Next, we took a break for something I was super excited about — can you guess? Yep, coffee! At Ga Hanoi Café, we got a demo of how to make egg coffee, then we chose which coffee we wanted from the menu. I chose egg coffee because it had rum in it! But you could also get a black, white, coconut, or salt coffee. Of course, it hit the spot, and I would have loved another, but it was time to go.
The presidential palace, Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, a lake where they've kept an old war plane, best bun cha lunch ever. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
On the way to lunch, we passed by the lovely golden-yellow presidential palace. We were supposed to see Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum and the one-pillared pagoda, but alas, they were blocked off for some kind of government event. It’s OK; I saw them in 2001. Lunch at Bún chả CỘI Phố Cổ was possibly the best Vietnamese meal I’ve ever had. Bún chả is vermicelli noodles with char-grilled pork meatballs, veggies, broth, and a pile of herbs. It was incredibly flavorful, and I also loved the spring rolls we got with it. I just wished I had another stomach!
Kymviet sign language lesson, my cat keychain, an artisan sewing plush dolls, and a cool school of fish. (© 2025, Karen Cristello)
Another really cool Planeterra-related experience followed: A craft class at Kym Viet. Kym Viet is a social enterprise that employs people with disabilities (many of the artisans are deaf) to design and handcraft plush toys and other home goods, inspired by Vietnamese animals and folklore. The founder, Pham Viêt Hoai, is such an incredible human. We got treats and a tour of the workshop, learned a few words in Vietnamese sign language (don’t quiz me!), and then had a go at stuffing and hand-sewing the finishing touches on our own little keychain creatures. It's a joyful place, very moving, and the kind of stop that sticks with you for a long time.
Dinner: Greeted by a dragon, the family altar, the chef, the dining room and family photos, the feast, and a jackfruit tree in the front courtyard.
Finally, time to eat dinner at Lâm Đức family house. I was still full from lunch and was so tired by this point, but I liked looking at all their old photos and furniture and hearing stories about their family cooking business (many generations, catering to people of high stature, now they struggle to pay the taxes on their property…). To be honest, we weren’t impressed with the food. Still, it was special to be welcomed into someone's actual home rather than a restaurant.
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