Motorbiking Through Hanoi

I will start by saying I absolutely love Hanoi. Back in college I had come here for a night as a means of getting to Ha Long Bay, but this time I was with my mom and we were going to be spending a bit more time to experience the city. It was so fun. What made it even more enjoyable were the two tours we took on our first day that gave us a local's perspective on the area, culture and best restaurants. In this post I'll cover Xe Om Tours and in the next post I'll cover Hanoi eBuddies.

Xe Om Tours

The first tour was Xe Om Tours and I booked it through Klook, a discount activities app I had come across in Singapore. The tour was only about $35 per person and lasted five hours. Oh, and did I mention it was a motorbike tour? Yes, well that's THE BEST way to really experience Hanoi. The streets are covered with motorbikes and there are basically no rules. While I may have been able to rent a motorbike and go out on my own, the amount of stress it would incur and my lack of knowing the random streets would have made it tough. 

Luckily, Xe Om Tours provides a driver for each person! So, my mom and I each had our own local female driver (the company is all-female). I had Alice and my mom had Anna, both of whom were Hanoi locals and English experts. And as you can see from the above pictures of my mom, we had FUN! Here is a run down of the activities we had in store for our tour.

What We Saw:

Hanoi Opera House was built by French colonials in the beginning of the 20th century and still has the yellow color sported by many of the French buildings in the French Quarter. It provides a wonderful vantage point for viewing the mass chaos of a roundabout in Hanoi.

Hoa Lo Prison Memorial was a prison also built by the French that is more commonly recognized to Americans as the Hanoi Hilton. Though it used to be much larger, the memorial is in part of the original building and includes some information about it's history.

One Pillar Pagoda sits just around the corner from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It is supposedly very uncommon for a pagoda to only have one pillar. It was built back in the 11th century by the emperor because of a dream he had. Seemed like many people built things because of dreams.

Ho Chi Ming Mausoleum is only open in the morning and Alice and Anna said there is usually a couple hour wait. So we just walked around the outside and made sure not to cross the yellow line, otherwise we'd get whistled at by the guards.

What We Ate/Drank:

Okay let's get to the good stuff...the food and drink highlights of the tour. 

Bun Cha Dac Kim is a 4-5 story building and it was packed when we arrived, a good sign of what was to come. Bun Cha is a dish of grilled pork and noodle, and let me tell you it was spectacular. They give you a plate of greens, a plate of noodles and a bowl of the good stuff with grilled pork and pork meatballs. And then you go to town making whatever combo you see fit. We would later dine here again because it was so delicious. 

And then round two...

Cafe Dinh is where we had our encounter with Vietnamese egg coffee. Yes, you read correctly and no it's not gross. In fact, it was absolutely delicious and beautifully decorated. It is basically really strong coffee topped with egg yolk, sugar and condensed milk all whipped together. This spot was originally owned by the first creator of egg coffee and has since been passed down to his relatives.

Unfortunately this was the end of our half day motorbike tour. For anyone in the area wanting a fun way of seeing the city I'd highly recommend this company and am so happy we had the lovely Alice/Anna duo. It was amazing!