A Whirlwind Vegan Tour of Hanoi, Vietnam

Despite spending almost two weeks in Hanoi I was sick for almost the entire time which a) totally sucked and b) means that I have far less fun stuff to tell you about than if I'd been on top of my eating 'n exploring game. So sad! I've never really been sick whilst travelling before and it was definitely challenging. It was the first time since leaving Brighton that I wished I had a home to go back to...  one with fluffy blankets and my panda and a fridge full of comfort food. I actually left Luang Prabang with what I thought was the end of a cold which morphed into an intense headache at the (very brightly lit) airport. That calmed a little and I managed to pop out and eat and then boom, food poisoning that lasted a whole week. I ended up visiting a doctor at Family Medical Practice who ran some tests and confirmed that as well as food poisoning I also had a sinus infection. Both are apparently common amongst westerners in Hanoi because of both food hygiene and air quality issues. I feel pretty lucky that this happened in a city where bottled water and vegan baguettes are easy to come by and I was super grateful that we'd chosen to stay somewhere with air con. We actually upgraded to a bigger, nicer and less damp room after six nights because I literally couldn't handle staring at the same four walls any longer!

During those first few hours where I felt okay enough to explore Nick and I walked around a small section of the city. We checked out the Old Quarter and Hoàn Kiem Lake where Nick bought me a balloon to cheer me up! I love balloons!


We ate at Zenith Yoga Cafe about 24 hours before I got sick and I'm pretty sure it was their salad rolls that got me because they were literally the only thing that I'd eaten and Nick hadn't for days. The service there was awful too (and I'm British so trust me, I'm used to a certain level of crappy service!) and Nick said that his burger tasted like it had been grilled the day before and then microwaved. I assumed he was exaggerating and took a bite and had to agree, it was the kind of thing that I'd have thrown away if I'd made it at home! It was such a shame because Zenith is a cute, chilled out space in the midst of a loud and busy city and it could have been a nice place to spend more time. It was also the only all veg place super close to where we were staying so it was definitely frustrating that I didn't trust their food enough to venture back there. We also managed to check out Bo De Chay where we shared one order of Salted Chicken with a side of white rice and another of Seafood Spring Rolls. Neither dish was what we were expecting but they were enjoyable none-the-less.

Despite not being able to eat anything other than plain baguette for three whole days I did manage to pop out for some walks around the neighbourhood. We were staying in the Old Quarter so the streets were bustling at all times of day with motorbikes and street vendors.





The salespeople can be a little pushy and we found it impossible to stop the woman we were dealing with from putting a non vegan fried pineapple thing into our bag. These were incredibly sweet and whilst I'm not at all averse to a sugar hit these were a little much. If I'd had the chance I would have liked to try their sesame covered counterparts bánh rán vùng which I would assume would be a little less sugartastic.

This place was on the expensive side for Hanoi but it was still really cheap from a western perspective, the portions were large and delivered exactly what the menu description said they would which is something I always appreciate. Everyone there spoke ridiculously good English so we had quite a lot of options as they were able to understand veganism and could have modified dishes from all over the menu not just from the vegetarian section. The slightly caramelised and super tender aubergine was delicious and I really wished I hadn't only discovered it on my final night in the city.

I was a little sad to be saying goodbye to Hanoi just as I felt that I was getting to know it but cleaner air and adventure were calling us and we decided to make our way to Cat Ba Island. To get there we took the train from Long Biên station in Hanoi to Hai Phong, walked across town to the port and then took the fast boat to Cat Ba.