I landed in Vietnam running on fumes, stumbled into one of the wildest city scenes I’d ever witnessed, and met a guy who looked just like me at the airport. This was my first time ever in South East Asia and this is how it started. This is Part 1 of 3

The flight to Hanoi was smooth, but I barely slept. I was pretty fried when I landed, the kind of tired where your eyes burn and your brain feels like mush.

As I’m walking through the airport in a daze, I lock eyes with a guy who looks exactly like me, except maybe 15 years older. There was a silent acknowledgement but he didn’t say anything and neither did I. It was pretty bizarre. (Maybe I was just really Tired) Eventually, we nod. His name is Paul Harding from Los Angeles, and he’s been teaching English in Hanoi. Cool guy, we chatted for a little while and he told me a little bit about Vietnam.

After that little Twilight Zone moment, I grabbed a SIM card and hit the ATM for some Vietnamese Dong. Then I bumped into a young Taiwanese couple who were staying near my hotel. They offered to split a cab ride, so I hopped in with them and we made plans to grab dinner later.

I showed up to my hotel around 5am. The guy at the front desk was chill, but all the rooms were still full. Check-out wasn’t until 11 AM, so I spent the next six hours sitting in a stiff wooden chair in a tiny, humid lobby — slowly losing my mind.

I kept thinking about the soldiers who were prisoners at the so-called “Hanoi Hilton” during the Vietnam War — starved, beaten, tortured. And I reminded myself that if they could survive that, I could survive this lobby chair. Somehow, I slept for maybe two hours. Mostly, I just sat there trying to hold it together.

At 11:30am, they finally handed me a room key. I collapsed onto bed and didn’t wake up until 5pm.

After a much-needed shower, I stepped outside into chaos. I was staying near St. Joseph’s Cathedral, right in the heart of Hanoi’s Old Quarter. It’s a never-ending swirl of scooters, food stalls, neon signs and market noise.

I walked past a table covered in pig snouts and faces, just laid out raw like some kind of horror film buffet. I didn’t see any street dogs. Not one.

Within an hour of walking around, I’d already had five guys roll up on motorbikes showing me nude photos of women on their phones, asking if I “wanted one.”

Eventually, I sat down for my first bowl of pho which of course was amazing. Later I grabbed some spring rolls off a street vendor. The food in Vietnam is incredible.

I walked for miles in my flip-flops, passing through the French Quarter where colonial buildings looked like they’d been airlifted from New Orleans and dropped into Southeast Asia. It was beautiful and bizarre. The humidity wrapped around me like a wet blanket. Every step made me sweat and my shirt was soaked from all the walking.

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St. Joseph’s Cathedral was built in the late 1800s by the French, and it looks like something out of a Dracula movie. It towers over the surrounding streets with a dark, gothic presence. I really wanted to see the inside, but you can only go in during mass.

So I came back later for the 6pm service, slipped inside to take a quick video and admired the vaulted ceilings and stained glass. The service was in Vietnamese, so I quietly ducked out through the giant wooden doors just before they locked them.

I’ve seen a more elaborate cathedral in New York, but this one wins for sheer presence. Especially at night.

The next day, I wandered over to Turtle Lake (Hoàn Kiếm Lake), where I saw two preserved Hoan Kiem turtles in glass tanks. These things were massive, probably 500 pounds each. According to the sign, only six are still alive in the world.

Another display explained a local legend: a golden turtle once gave a magic sword to a Vietnamese emperor to defeat invading enemies and afterward, the sword was returned to the lake.

Personally, I think he was given some kind of alien tech. Maybe the “golden turtle” was a spacecraft. Who knows?

I only stayed in Hanoi for 3 days, so I’m looking forward to going back one day to really see what the city has to offer.

I’d been in Vietnam for less than 72 hours and already felt like moving to the next destination. Still tired but curious, I booked six nights at a hotel in Ha Long Bay for a total of $84. I wanted to get out of the city and see the ocean.

I went to bed early, ready for a change of scenery.

From chaotic city streets to quiet sea cruises, Part 2 of this Vietnam series picks up in Ha Long Bay and follows the journey through Ninh Binh, Hoi An and beyond.

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