![Rose: Halong Bay in Vietnam Rose: Halong Bay in Vietnam](https://i0.wp.com/thevanishingpoint.world/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PXL_20230819_085121563.jpg?fit=150%2C113)
I had doubted and dithered over whether to visit Vietnam, but travel guides represented it as such a fixture of southeast Asia tours that I booked a short stay in the capital city.
After the metropolitan sprawl of Bangkok, Hanoi startled me. It exuded character – a strange and fascinating blend of chaotic market and modern brilliance, embellished throughout with the remnants of colonial French architecture.
I arrived wide-eyed at my hotel in the heart of the Old Quarter, where property has purportedly sold for $15,000 – per square meter.
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