Unlike certain places you might visit around the world, Vietnam’s capital still lives up to the hype, be it the postcards, the Instagram images, the Youtube videos or the TV travel shows.

With its scenic inner-city lakes and ponds, its pocket-sized temples billowing incense into tiny cobbled backstreets, and of course its ultra-modern skyscrapers and shopping malls, Hanoi is a metropolis that’s about as enthralling as they come.

Just a two-hour flight from Hong Kong or Bangkok, or four hours from Shanghai or Singapore, a trip to Hanoi makes for an affordable and time-efficient weekend getaway.

For those with a few more days to spare, perhaps as they embark on a north-to-south exploration of Vietnam as a whole, Hanoi’s endless backstreets hold enough secrets to warrant a week’s stay or more.

P.s. Click here to read our guide to travel in Vietnam (visas, tours, money, etcetera).

Here’s our guide on how to make your visit a success, including travel tips, sightseeing recommendations, eating and drinking suggestions in Hanoi, and ideas for your onward journey.

• When to visit Hanoi

• How to get there

• Upon arrival

• Where to stay in Hanoi

• Getting around

• Safety in Hanoi

• What to see in Hanoi

• What to do in Hanoi

• Where to eat in Hanoi

• Where to drink in Hanoi

• Where next?

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It’s more than two years that I live in China – the country of dog-eaters by default – but I’d never seen a slaughtered dog.

It may be because I only spent a few weeks in Guangxi and Guangdong Provinces, the Southern provinces where the habit of eating dog meat is most common.

Or maybe because eating dog meat is not as common as people think and you have to make a conscious effort to find it.

The point is that it took me less than two hours of sightseeing in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, to find a dog butchery.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a butchery as there were two girls selling raw and roasted dog meat (thịt chó in the Vietnamese language) on a table in the street.

This is a controversial topic in the West.

We do not eat dogs. We consider dogs as part of our family. I personally grew up with a German Shepard called Apo and I love dogs. Almost as much as I love cats. And I distrust people that dislike animals.

But before you get mad at the Vietnamese for eating dogs – or at me for showing these pictures, – think about that.

In India, you go to prison if you kill a cow. In California people can legally butcher AND eat cows but slaughtering a horse is forbidden. In Italy, we eat both cows AND horses. However, we are horrified by people that eat dogs.

In Northern Vietnam eating dog meat is a widely accepted tradition. This is their culture and we should accept it, even if we disagree.

This photo gallery show slaughtered dogs. If you think it may hurt your feelings, you should leave this page now. [Read more…]