I’ve always wanted to travel Vietnam. When I was still in college I tried to visit the Vietnamese embassy in Manila to gain some insights on Vietnamese culture. Unfortunately the embassy was closed at that time but somehow I never decided to return. My interest in Vietnam was piqued when I initially wanted to become a missionary to the country right after graduating from High school. At that time Vietnam was not as open and progressive as it is now. Anyway that did not push through as it seemed that God had another plan for my life.
But despite that I still have this itching feeling to visit the place. So when Tiger Airways announced that they will be having their maiden flight (Which was on sale at about $ 100.00 (U.S) or Php 4200+ all in back and forth per person) from Cebu, Philippines to Singapore, I immediately booked two tickets for me and my wife. I knew Singapore was the hub to other Tiger Airways destinations. We were confused as to whether to go to Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi City, but we decided to go to Hanoi City so that we can visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Halong Bay. Ho Chi Minh city will have to wait in another trip, one in which Cambodia will be included since it is only 6 hours away. The back and forth Singapore – Hanoi ticket costs us $ 140+ (U.S) or Php6,100.00)
Our flight from Cebu to Singapore left on September 6, 2011. We stayed in Singapore for a night and then took the Tiger Airways flight to Hanoi the next day. After a 2 hour flight we touched down at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport and then proceeded to immigration. I was surprised that we were not asked to fill out an immigration card. I’ve been to a lot of countries but this is the first country I’ve been where no immigration entry card is required. (Until now I still don’t have a clue as to what the purpose of the immigration card, because for me it’s just a waste of paper, considering that all our data is already in the passport which is encoded in the computer, so it’s a good thing that Vietnam doesn’t require this) Since the Philippines and Vietnam is part of the ASEAN, we entered Vietnam visa free. I noticed that some Caucasians got their visas upon entry.
Immigration was a breeze and since we only carried backpacks, we were one of the first ones to exit the airport. I already arranged somebody from our hotel to pick us up since I’ve read in the internet that there are a lot of first time visitors who were ripped off by some unscrupulous taxi drivers in Vietnam. We will be staying at The Original Especen hotel in the center of the Old Quarter in Hanoi, which is a tourist area. Take note that they call it “The Original” because according to them there is another hotel in the same area with the same name. The 45 minute ride from the airport to the hotel cost us about $15.00 (U.S) or about Php 630.00. I wanted to confirm if we got a good deal for this arranged ride, so later on in the trip I asked another foreigner how much he paid for a taxi from the airport, he said the driver told him $30.00 (U.S) but he insisted on lowering the price, so the driver slashed it to $15.00 which is about the same price we paid, so it seemed ok.
Our Vietnamese driver couldn’t speak much English. For us to identify him, he just held up a signboard with our names on it. He led us to the car, helped us with our bags and drove off. There was some sort of festival going when we arrived so traffic ranged from light to moderate and little bit heavy in the small streets.
As we drove to the hotel, I noticed how progressive Vietnam has become. I’ve read news articles about the economic successes of the country and how it has become one of the fastest growing economies in the region, but now I have seen first hand what this really means. Huge modern buildings can be seen right across Hanoi’s landscape. Billboard ads with neon signs litter the highways. Vietnam’s road network is also quite well developed. The improvements that you can see might not be comparable to that of first world industrialized nations, but give Vietnam another 20 to 30 or so years and I’m sure the country will propel to first world status if they maintain the same rate of growth. If you ask economists, the growth in this century they say is first with BRIC, (Brazil, Russia, India and China) followed by the Next Eleven or N-11 in which Vietnam and the Philippines are included. The BRIC together with N-11 are said to be the countries that has the potential to become the world’s largest economies in the 21st century. In the ASEAN region, the emerging growing economies are called VIP or Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Being part of the so called next emerging markets Vietnam and the Philippines have so much in common in terms of economic growth. Its land area is more less the same, albeit Vietnam is a little bit bigger. Population wise, both countries have about 90 million people and both countries’ history is marked by several decades of foreign colonization. That is why when we drove the streets of Vietnam that night I immediately felt at home. The streets were just like passing by the streets of Metro Manila or Cebu where people were standing by outside, eating street food and just loitering around to pass the time by and the traffic is as crazy as the Philippines ! Small mom and pop stores or what we know in the Philippines as sari2x stores are also found in almost every corner. The Vietnamese are also a warm, friendly, hospitable and smiling people just like Filipinos.
However there’s one thing that separates the streets of Vietnam from that of the Philippines and that is the millions of motorbikes that zooms pasts its streets everyday ! I couldn’t believe the number of motorbikes that I saw. I don’t even see this much motor bikes in the Philippines! They say there are about 50 million motorbikes in the country, that means about half the population has a motorbike. A local later on told us that even some of the rich people prefer to travel on a motorbike not only because it is the “in” thing to do but because of its convenience and practicality.
So that you will get a feel of what I am describing, here is a video we took while we drove through the streets of Hanoi Vietnam. The music you can hear in the background is a Vietnamese folk song which is being played using native Vietnamese musical instruments. 
After going through the big hi-ways and passing by the crazy streets of Hanoi, we finally arrive at our destination, The Original Especen hotel. You can read about my review of this hotel in the post entitled “Hotel Review: The Original Especen Hotel Hanoi Vietnam” . After checking in, we dropped off our bags and went for sumptuous street food dinner which I will also write about more in another post. Our exciting journey in Vietnam has just begun and we needed rest for that and as the Vietnamese say, Xin chao, see you on the next post and stay tuned for more of our adventures in Vietnam.