Recently, I've challenged myself to take on a trip to Hanoi just to experience a different environment. I can say it has certainly been an exciting, fun, frustrating and maybe enriching journey. Spending one night in an airport before I depart for Hanoi is very tiring. No chairs to even sleep on and no shower room! Yuck.
The first thing I noticed when I land in Hanoi is the weather. Ooh, that weather. I can still feel that burst of hot air on my face. Yes, the heat is unbearable! It's so humid and just damn HOT. I chose a really bad season to visit there. It was around 42 Celsius. Although there's no sunshine, you can still drench yourself in sweat after a few minute out in the open. It's even hot at night! No wonder the people there wear really thin materials. The only time i see sunshine is around 10am-2pm and during that time the sunshine really burns your skin. No matter where i go, the heat is everywhere. Even in Halong Bay.
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| Old Quarters |
Next up. I got such a shock by the traffic systems there. Almost got a heart attack in the cab. There are simply too much motorbikes there. The whole place are filled with them and they dodge cars so haphazardly. The left can go to the right anytime and vice versa. I can't even open my eyes to look. Even the cars are dodging each others in a zig-zag manner that I don't know how to tell. The system is really scary is all i can say. Then there's the constant sound of car horns blaring. I can tell you one thing, Hanoi have a serious case of sound pollution. After a few days there, I started to notice that the drivers does have a system of their own- tolerance and understanding. They will blare their horns but they will give ways to each other.
I've stayed in a hotel in the old quarters called Sunshine Suites hotel. It was a pleasant stay. The staff is really friendly and helpful albeit hard on the communication part. You can hardly find a person who can speak fluent English there. You're lucky enough to even find one who speaks English. One of the receptionist there speaks quite fluently. Quite. Upon arrival, the valet/guard/waiter (boy, does the dude perform lots of job) carried my bags and served us drinks while we checked in. Then to my delight, we've been upgraded to a family suite without additional charges when there's only two of us. I hogged the queen bed. The room is spacious with a sofa, PC, coat rack and shelf. The bathroom is equipped with high tech shower stall (the type where water comes out from the top and from the sides), Jacuzzi, radio (though it's all Vietnamese songs- if u don't mind) and funky colourful lights. The receptionist was kind enough to recommend places to eat with reasonable price and places to visit. They even help organized my tour to Halong Bay. Breakfast was great too. It's not 5 star hotel breakfast but it's decent. But don't be too surprised at the appearance of the "hotel". It looks more like an inn or lodge house. Then again, all hotels looked like that in the Old quarters. Rooms are clean too. So yeah, if you're in Hanoi and looking for a good hotel. I'd definitely recommend Sunshine Suite hotel. To get around in the Old Quarters, you really do need a map. It's a maze in there, with roads linking to other streets, you'll easily get lost. All the roads looks the same. The hotel kindly gave us one map that i proudly wore it out by the end of our trip. I practically memorize the streets.
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| Pho Bo |
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| Spring Rolls |
The food there. Hmm.... I must say, I'm surprised at the portion of food they provide for one person, It's a huge serving. I enjoyed the Pho Bo (Beef noodles), its a clear beef broth with a squeeze of lemon/lime, it's refreshing and delicious. The Spring Rolls (rice noodle and prawn wrapped in a thin paper-like wrappers) is a must try. Sometimes its wrapped with a stalk of spring onion but i usually pull it out. Eat it with a special sauce that comes with it and its really delicious. I usually enjoyed the food served in a proper restaurant rather than the normal small stalls near the roadside. The streets are decorated with small food stalls and you eat it from a bowl while sitting on tiny stools with cars/motorbikes constantly zooming past you. Ahem... i rather not do that due to hygiene. You'll see plenty of stalls and ladies carrying heavy baskets of fruit or food to be sold. The beer there is cheap, so you'll see tourist enjoying a cool beer by the roadside from morning till midnight. The thing i was surprised at was the meat consumption. They love meat there. Every dish consist of lots of meat. Not that I'm complaining, i love meat.
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| Hoan Kiem Lake |
During the night, take a trip to the Hoan Kiem Lake for a stroll. It's pretty near the Old Quarters so you can walk there. The lake doesn't look as night as it was during the night than it is during the day. You can get a better view of a small pagoda on a tiny island in the middle of the lake during the day. And the flower filled tree's during the day is a burst of colors. And as i mentioned, even during the night, the heat is unbearable. We took refuge in this luxurious shopping complex next to the lake called Trang Tien Plaza, you won't miss it. It's an attention grabber with it's lights and glamorous structure. I just went in for the aircond cuz the shops sells luxurious goods like Gucci, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Prada. You get the pic.
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| Trang Tien Plaza |
Be really careful about crossing the roads. The vehicles hardly stop for anyone. You need to be brave to cross the road or you'll never get to the other side, at the same time, you need to look out for the cars. It's really a chore to cross the roads there.
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| Big C |
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| Dinner!! |
The following day, i visited a shopping malls such as Vincom Towers and Big C. Nothing much in Vincom but in Big C, I was amazed by the food section. They sell all sorts of delicacies. From pastries to noodles. You will hardly starve when you're there. I found my dinner there. Tsk... buying stuff like souvenirs or handicrafts in the Old quarters requires some trick. You want to haggle as much as you can but you don't wanna offend the people there. It was a hard task for me, that's why i always prefer shopping malls where price cannot be negotiated. I had to resort to sweet talking in order to get a good price but i was lucky to meet a nice girl who offered me a good price. My dad on the other hand, is a very straightforward person and he offended this lady selling these beautiful handmade greeting cards. She gave us a hostile expression and a harsh "NO" to our suggested price. Since language was a barrier there, we didn't buy a lot of stuff. The only words the sellers there understand is "How much" and "What size" (in the case of purchasing garments). Really, if you can find a person that even understands a bit of what you're saying, you're lucky.
Be aware of taxi scams. I hate this part about travelling. Taxi scams everywhere. The price hikes up every minute. That's why you need to find a trusted taxi company there. I usually prefer walking. Again, the language barrier was a problem. This one taxi driver didn't know where we wanted to go and yet he picked us up like he knows. Then he drove to a hotel where his friend was working as a valet (the friend knows English) and ask the friend to translate what we wanted to driver. Thus, costing us unnecessary money.
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| St Joseph Cathedral |
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| Opera House |
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| Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple |
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| Museum Of History |
There wasn't much tourist attraction that i went to. I passed by the St Joseph Cathedral at night and the place looks eerie like a scene from a horror movie ( the kind where things go horribly wrong when you take shelter in an abandoned church during a stormy night). The place lack maintenance. It would look much better with a lick of new paint. I also visited the Opera House. The building is gorgeous, designs are majestic. It's a shame i didn't go in there. I guess the interior would have been even beautiful. Then i went to the museum of history. I never enjoyed educational trips to museum, it's too boring for me. There is a Ngoc Son temple in the middle of Hoan Kiem lake.
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| Halong Bay |
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| Sung Sot Cave |
Now, moving on to the most enjoyable part of my trip. Halong Bay! I mentioned that the hotel arranged a two days one night tour package for me to Halong bay. The bus came to pick us up in the morning, then it's a 3 hour trip to reach there. The weather was hot and the bus stuffy, so it wasn't a pleasant ride.
Upon reaching there, we took a boat to the "cruise". I've saying it in inverted comma's cuz it wasn't much of a cruise to me, more like a old ship. Certainly not luxurious. The wood holding the sails are decayed (the guide mentioned that they never used it). The entire shore is cluttered with boats, yacht, ships and cruise ranging from luxurious to old, glam to miserable. Lunch was served with an assortment of odd dishes (not exotic, don't worry) It's just that, i never tried some dishes cooked that way (eg: fried sweet corn kernels tossed in sugar and cucumber drizzled with Thai sauce). We spend like an hour after lunch just sight seeing, it was noon so i don't really see much of the isle or limestone karsts due to the fog or was it haze.
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| Kayak! |
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| "Beach" |
During the afternoon, our tour included a trip to Sung Sot cave. It was a pretty steep hike up into the cave and mind you, the weather is still humid and real hot. So entering the cave was a relief. It was so cool in there than i felt like staying in there. The cave looks just like any other cave to me so i don't see the attraction there. Later on (my favourite), kayaking along Halong. It was my first kayaking experience and i was thrilled. i got really nervous when entering the kayak. It was rocking real hard and i was terrified about falling in ( i was more concerned about not getting wet). My first row sent me floating forward instead of turning right like i wanted to. My dad was shouting at me to row at different direction cuz a boat was coming. We got very nervous, rowing in different direction until we finally figured out with direction to row when turning left or right. It took us a while. After we discovered the trick, it was easy. We just stayed (or rowed) in one corner cuz it was real hot and i was hiding behind the rocks. The fun part was poking at the jellyfish bobbing not far away from the kayak. I screamed everytime my dad moved and the kayak was rocking furiously like we're gonna fall in. We were done after just a few minutes. The rest of the evening was spent on a "beach". It's such a tiny area and crowded with tourist. So i stayed out of the water. For an hour, i watched an intense game of soccer.
It was during dinner time that i tried out my first margarita. It wasn't as bad but i don't know if i like it that much to try it again the next time. I should have gone for the Mojito instead. During the night it was much cooler so I just enjoy the breeze while looking at other boats from a distance. The room in the cruise wasn't pleasant. The aircond broke down and i slept for two hours with the hot air blowing at me before the room got too stuffy and i had to wake up and open the door to let the wind come in. We complained to the crew but they didn't do a thing. So we ended up opening the windows, it was much better. Kinda think about it, i should have just took the blanket and sleep on the deck.
For the last day in Halong, we just cruised slowly along the bay. Mostly, i lounged on the deck doing nothing. During noon, we headed back to Hanoi (another unpleasant 3 hours ride back).
We went back to Hanoi for another day and stayed at the same hotel. They gave me another room, its smaller but it still has the same modern high tech shower and PC with internet. They were kind enough to help us store our luggage on our trip to Halong and even when we check out (it was a few hours before we had to leave for the airport). The last lunch I had was Kentucky Fried Chicken. My dad insisted we try it to see if there are any differences between the one there and at home. Well, it taste the same, much to his disappointment. But i will emphasize one thing about the KFC there: the staffs are really helpful and friendly, unlike the one's back at home. The cashier kindly help me pick out the right notes from my riot of small changes in my wallet. AND he was kind enough to leave the counter to help me carry the tray to my table cuz it was too heavy.
Overall, the trip was okay. Its a good experience. But i had enough of the place so safely to say, I'm not returning anymore.
