Next day I took a little trip outside of Hanoi, though, still within vicinity - I went to see few local trade villages...For that I had to join a tour.

The villages I visited were - Quang Phu Cau - the incense making village - insanely bright and colourful (and it wasn't even a sunny day!) Besides being a truly Instagrammer's Paradise, it does educate you how the incense are being made.

A very simple manual process which involves drying bamboo, splitting it into sticks, colour one end of each and dipping the other into aromatic paste of actual scent. that's it.

But then - the fun part of it happens - the sticks are getting rolled into bouquet-shaped incense bundles and left outdoors to dry naturally, creating a super colourful display, which locals arranged into patterns to amuse tourists.

The other village on that trip was a conical hats making - Chuong Village.

Those famous Vietnamese hats (they call them - non la) are made from palm leaves and bamboo, the process runs typically a day, but for us, mere curious tourists, they had a ready-made samples for those wishing to take a part in the process by painting their very own hat!

Yes, please! (who would resist?!) And so, on a second day of my travels, I ended up with the extra luggage to carry around!

But it was fun, it was inspiring and it was worth it! A paradise for that artistic soul in everyone!

So, that were my two days in Hanoi. As brief as it could ever be, this time still helped me to make my own impression of what Hanoi is like...

But, most of all - I've experienced a lot, being submerged into the every day's life...And now I know - Hanoi is not to be "seen", Hanoi is - to be "felt". And that's the best way to know it...

To Be Continued...