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Re: Hanoi
Note on Fortuna Hotel and Oasis Hotel in Hanoi, PLEASE READ if you intend to try it out.
Fortuna Hotel is absolutely notorious in Hanoi, and to my knowledge one of the only places in Hanoi to procure short or Long Times as someone who doesn't speak Viet.
Getting to and from the Hotel is incredibly hard, taxis don't want to go there. Grab drivers will avoid you like the plague. What I found most surprising was when I was going to the Hotel, I would get acceptances on Grab only for them to be cancelled, this happened multiple times until the last guy which he stopped close to the pickup point for at least 5 minutes and wasn't moving. I wondered maybe he was filling up or had to to to the toilet so I zoomed in on the map to see where he was stopped, and it was beside a police station. I immediately cancelled that Grab trip and tried to find a regular taxi. I eventually did, but it was this old tiko cab driver who seemed very nervous the whole period. At night, I would jump into a taxi be greeted by the driver and I'll ask to be taken to Fortuna Hotel, their faces would look worried and then they would immediately say no taxi, or no Fortuna, I would then have to get out of the cab. This went on several times for half an hour.
When I stayed there, I couldn't get a Grab car to pick me up from that Hotel at all. I tried to negotiate the rate with a cabby that was on the outside, but he laughed at me and said I was free to try and get another price from a regular taxi.
By that proxy I assume they'd have the same reaction to Oasis Hotel across the road, which is also notorious for their dirty massage. But when I went to Oasis, I asked to be dropped much further along the road, never specifically mentioned the Hotel.
A trick to being able to negotiate a ride to and fro from there if you intend to stay there is to ask to be brought to 2 Lang Ha road. There is a bar there which is close enough to walk. (Fortuna Hotel is @ 6 Lang Ha)
But overall, at 3 Million VND for a short time. That's very steep for Vietnam.
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