Why Hanoi?

Students arrive at X-Peditions workshops from many different countries, which gives us the flexibility of choosing pretty much any city in the world from which to base our program. We originally envisioned X-Peditions as a sort-of global pub crawl, swapping out our current location for another cool city every few years. But that was before we met Hanoi. Over the past five years, Hanoi has proven to be an ideal place from which to run our program. And it keeps getting better as we meet and befriend more people over the course of our visits. We think it is important for you to discover on your own many of Hanoi’s surprises as you peel back the layers of the city. But here are a few general reasons why we think Hanoi is a perfect fit as a location for X-Peditions.

Hanoi is Still a Unique City

As the advance of global chains continues to homogenize cities around the world, Hanoi’s uniqueness survives relatively unscathed. It features a vibrant mix of SouthEast Asian culture with a French colonial twist. At the right time of day, it can feel almost like a real-life movie set.

In 2024, you can’t take this visual uniqueness for granted. Seeing a McDonalds or a Starbucks on every corner can diminish the experience of having traveled around the world to escape just that sort of normalcy.

To be clear, you can get a Big Mac in Hanoi. But you’ll have to look for it. In a city of 5,000,000 people, there are exactly five McDonalds restaurants to be found.

Not that you’re going to want to eat at one of them.

A World-Class Food City

If you’re looking to nurture your inner Anthony Bourdain, this is your place. Seriously, watch Bourdain’s No Reservations episode on Hanoi. He gets it.

The food here is incredible. There are literally thousands of little mom-and-pop restaurants and food stalls just waiting to tempt you. Dining out here is healthy, delicious and affordable, to the point where most Hanoians rarely even cook at home. The entire city is their kitchen.

Your problem isn’t finding somewhere to eat. Your problem is that you only have a certain number of meals to allocate to all of the different choices. So try a nice selection of new things during your first few days here.

The last thing you want to do is to find your new favorite dish on the last day you’re in town.

Fortunately, trying new dishes is luxuriously affordable. Take bun bo nam bo (above) for example: a marinated beef and noodle salad with crushed peanuts, fried onions, butter lettuce, herbs and fresh pickled veggies with an addictive lime-based dressing. This will set you back less than $2.00.

You’re going to eat well.

Oh, and if you happen to fall in love with one of the city’s famous dishes, there’s even a cooking school a block away from our hotel where you can learn how to prepare it.

Life Out in the Open

If the city is Hanoians’ kitchen, it is also their living room.

The typical home in Hanoi is fairly small, so people tend live their lives out in the open. On the streets, in the park, at the lake, pretty much everywhere. It’s an incredibly social and community-oriented city.

That Hanoi’s living room is open to all is, of course, a wonderful benefit for us as photographers.

The soul of Hanoi is Hoan Kiem Lake, which lies three blocks south of our hotel. Take advantage of your jet lag and roll out early to take in the calm before the chaos that is a walk around the lake at sunrise.

This popular lake walk, while providing a great venue for street photography, can also evolve into somewhat of an emotional experience over the days you will spend in here. One of our travelers, realizing he had just a few dawn Hoan Kiem Lake walks left, reported, “This is going to be a hard breakup for me.”

Mecca for Coffee Lovers

Need to fully wake up after that 5:30am walk? Hanoi’s coffee culture is waiting to win you over.

Vietnamese coffee both world-class and unique. It features Robusta beans, as opposed to the more common Arabica beans, along with a different style of roasting. This combination produces a strong, flavorful and somewhat bitter cup of coffee. It is traditionally served with sweetened condensed milk, to balance out the flavors and deliver a singular experience.

But Vietnamese coffee doesn’t stop there. There is a bewildering variety of options, including coconut coffee, coffee with fruit, coffee with yogurt and even coffee topped with a combination of raw egg yolk whisked with sweetened condensed milk.

No?

Oh yes, you will. Trust me, egg coffee is amazing. That’s it, in the photo just above.

A Country Smiling Back

Vietnam is a place where smiles come easily.

You feel it in your everyday interactions with people on the street in the city. You feel it on the early morning walks around the lake: the ad hoc public exercise classes, the ballroom dancing in the park, the laughter yoga.

You feel it in the rural villages we visit on our overnight and day trips. In the rice paper village, where westerners are still very much a novelty, the smiles come at you proactively. There’s no avoiding them. You can’t help but smile back.

Vietnam is a country that constantly encourages you to open up. Which is absolutely one of the best ways to become a better photographer.

Our Hotel

Speaking of infectious friendliness, one place where you’ll feel it every single day is at our home base, the Tirant Hotel. The personal level of hospitality you’ll experience while staying here will leave an impression.

You won’t just remember the hotel itself, or your room. You’ll remember the people: Na, Ken, Hillary, Don, Snow, Chester and the others with whom you’ll interact daily.

Hanoi is a city of friendly and outgoing people. And the more people you take the opportunity to meet, the more rewarding your experience as both a photographer and a traveler. In fact, this is one of the principles we stress as we work with you to become more well-rounded shooters.

One Person in Particular

Lastly, perhaps the biggest factor in our decision to marry Hanoi as a base camp for X-Peditions is Thu Lê Hoài, our local producer. That’s her, at left, in a photo by Joe Sak.

Thu is a long-time fixer/producer in Hanoi who has worked for a variety of editorial and commercial photographers and filmmakers. Thu knows photography, and she knows Hanoi. We are fortunate to have her on our team.

Thu’s level of local knowledge, her command of group logistics, and most of all her constant presence as a wonderful person will largely shape your experience in Hanoi.

Your access to the country and its culture, both as a traveler and a photographer, will happen at a level that would not have been otherwise possible.

“Thu has an amazing insight into her city, nation and culture. You can tell she cares about the group”

– Jef Taylor, USA