While choosing accomodation (especially when abroad), we are usually torn between selecting our Air BNB or hotel in the city centre (crampy yet expensive) or farther (relatively cheaper and beautiful). Because staying in the centre means better access to facilities and public transport, while comprising on the beauty of the property (especially if we are on a budget). While the farther you move away from the heart of the city, you have more spacious accommodation at half of the price.

Now it depends what your preference is. We are local transport users and prefer walking over everything. And of course, the hustle bustle and the culture of any city can be fully fathomed by staying in its heart, not fingertips. With a clan of 6, which included 2 kiddos and 2 seniors, it was best that we stayed as close to all the Indian restaurants and historical places. So while booking a place in Hanoi, we opted to stay right in the heart of Old Quarters, where everything we needs were right by the curb.

Our hotel was Moon Hotel. It was a small boutique hotel with no more than 20 rooms, spread across 4 floors. Now coming from Cat Ba island after staying in the Oasis Bunglows that offered a straight view to the Lan Ha bay from the room, it felt crampy and slightly disappointing. Because even though the size of the room in Moon hotel was big, there was no connection with the outside world. The windows opened to the lobby and there wasn't any balcony. There was neither a restaurant that offered breakfast nor was there any room service. However the staff was extremely helpful.

The Vietnamese people are extremely sweet by nature but language can be a severe hindrance. On the last night of our stay (and our trip) we realised that our elder daughter needed to get a Covid test done in order to safely enter India (this is 2022 November and Indian entry from the South East Asian countries was subject to the result of these tests). She was eight at that time and of course not vaccinated. Now panic struck in the middle of the night. We had come back from a whole day trip to Ning Binh and were dead exhausted, and we were flying back next afternoon. We needed to get the test done ASAP.

We tried contacting the local hospital by ourselves, but no one spoke English. Then we reached out to the receptionist and he helped us communicate with the hospital staff. We learnt that they called us early in the morning, and they could handle us the results after 6 hours.

Now the beauty of staying in the heart of the city is that you can walk to all the important places and save a hell lot of cab fare. Next morning, we walked to the hospital and gave the sample for testing. Then we spent the rest of the morning buying souvenirs and visit to the St Anthony church and few other spots. 

On our way to the airport, we picked up the test reports from the hospital. Thankfully it was negative and we all heaved a sigh of relief. No one could bar us (and my little girl) from entering our own nation. I will always be grateful to our hotel receptionist who made communication with the hospital a breeze, that too in the middle of the night. Otherwise it would nearly have been impossible to get things done, especially at such a short notice.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2024.