I spent nine nights split between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, enough time to realize Vietnam isn’t the neatly packaged “lanterns + pho + rice fields” fantasy Instagram loves to sell. It’s louder, softer, messier, and way more real than that. Hanoi hits you with this beautiful chaos: honking that never stops, tiny plastic stools that somehow hold full-grown adults, and the constant smell of coffee strong enough to wake your ancestors. Then you land in HCMC and suddenly everyth