Hi! I’m Maaike, marketing assistant at Indosole. Last July I went to Vietnam, and with my analogue camera I captured Hanoi: the streets, the food and the people.
This wasn’t my first time. I first visited nine years ago during my gap year, when I was 18. The second time was four years ago, travelling around Southeast Asia with one of my best friends, someone I’d met on that very first trip to Vietnam.
This time I went back with that same friend. You could say I’ve already seen a lot of Vietnam, and I have, but this trip felt new again. It showed me different sides of the country and let me taste food I hadn’t tried before.
We stayed in Hanoi the whole time, and instead of travelling around, we moved to a new neighbourhood every two or three nights, which gave us a completely fresh view of the city each time.
I loved exploring them all, and the further north we went, the more I loved it, from the little streets of Trúc Bạch to the quiet lakeside lanes of Tây Hồ around West Lake. We walked a lot, I think 20,000 to 25,000 steps a day, most of them in my Indosole flip-flops. Long walks: approved.
The north is quieter, and we found the cutest little food spots. We’d eat, walk, find another spot and eat again. I’ve had quite a few bánh mì over my trips to Vietnam, but the best one I’ve ever had was at Bánh Mì Giòn Bảo Minh (Bảo Minh Crispy Bread) in Nghi Tàm, right by West Lake. The perfect holiday, if you ask me.
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