Before we start on today’s adventures, I need to finish off yesterday’s update…. 

After finally taking off from Sydney yesterday afternoon we had a bit of a bumpy ride across to Vietnam. With a couple of hours to go we were advised the weather in Hanoi was still too severe and the airport hadn’t opened. We were diverted to Da Nang where we sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours until the weather had passed in Hanoi. Eventually at 330am (Sydney time) we were back in the air and landed safely in Hanoi an hour later. We were transferred to our accomodation and were absolutely gobsmacked at the state of the roads. We drove the wrong way down roads and on footpaths to get around fallen trees. After 24 hours of no sleep we were still very alert!

After a 3 hour kip we met up again this morning to explore and comprehend the scale of last night’s typhoon in daylight. It’s been an amazing experience walking around and seeing the outcome. All of Hanoi seemed to be out on their Vespers to see the devastation themselves. We tried using pedestrian crossings under the misconception that we could cross the roads easier. A few hours later we are experienced and can confidently walk across roads keeping our gait constant and relying on the bikes to move around us. 

I can’t really describe what we saw today. A mix of cultural experiences combined with wide-eyed amazement at the typhoon damage. The people here seem to take it all in their stride and were straight onto cleaning the mess. We were told last night during our airport transfer that although Vietnam experiences many typhoons each year, Yagi is the most extreme to have hit the city in 30 years. 

Anyway, I’ve found it hard to cull photos today so I’ll indulge and hope they can convey the scale and diversity of what we have seen. 

After happy hour and a downpour at the hotel pool we headed back out to get dinner and sample the street night life. Turns out all of Hanoi was not out checking out the typhoon damage on their vespers this morning – they were all out tonight! Horns constantly blaring but no aggression at all. I may have become a little complacent regarding traversing the roads and had a very gentle brush from a passing vesper. Reminder to utilise hearing assistance (and eyes) where necessary 🙂 .

Dinner tonight was traditional Vietnamese Pho from a Michelin establishment (or so they say – not sure a noodle kitchen pumping through patrons could possibly be classified as that). The consensus was it was very nice and worth the 15 minute line up to get in the door.

Back to the hotel by 830 (or 1130 for those of us still on EST) and we are ready for a really BIG rest. We’ll do it all again tomorrow.