Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Hanoi, Vietnam: Day 1

Hello! I just returned home from one-week trip to Hanoi and Bangkok. As I've mentioned in the previous entry, my Cambodia trip has been cancelled due to an interview. Therefore, I departed to Ho Chi Minh City to meet my friends right after my interview and spent a night there.

Due to the packed schedule, I don't have much time to visit HCMC, so I just walked in the city and took a rest in the famous Trung Nguyen Coffee Shop. 

Trung Nguyen Coffee Shop
I was so surprised that the Vietnam coffee is very aromatic! Way better than Starbucks, Coffee Bean or whatsoever coffee shops in Malaysia! It was very flavourful and fragrant :) I totally fell in love with the coffee <3 the price range is around 50,000 VND (RM7.50)

Milk coffee with a hint of nutty flavour :) love this
A very concentrated Vietnamese filtered coffee :) too creamy and concentrated for me.. 

The next day, I took a flight to Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Hanoi is an old historical city, very different from the metropolitan HCMC. Our hotel (May de Ville) is located in the centre of old quarter. On the first day, we walked around in the city :)

New Day Restaurant
We had lunch in this lovely restaurant. It's kinda famous so a lot of customers in the restaurant during lunch hour. Several must-eat food included spring rolls (fresh and fried styles) and pho bo (beef soup noodles). The food is considered mid-range price in Vietnam but cheap for foreigners. 
Fresh spring rolls (2pcs)- 15,000 vnd (RM2.50)
Fried spring rolls (12pcs)- 15,000 vnd (RM2.50)
Pho bo 45,000 VND (RM6.70) & beer 18,000 VND (RM2.70)

Hoan Kiem Lake 
Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword) is the main landmark in Hanoi. A turtle tower is situated in the middle of the lake. The name "Restored Sword) is actually from a legend that the king received a sword from the turtle god before he defeated the enemy. Then he once again met a turtle that grabbed back his precious sword. Some historical sites around the lake included The Huc Bridge, Pen Tower and Ngoc San Temple (Moonlight Tower).
The Huc Bridge
Ngoc San Temple (Moonlight Tower)
Pen Tower

Water Puppet Show
This is a unique traditional performance in Vietnam. We paid 100,000 VND (RM15) for the front seats and watched this fascinating show in the theatre. The puppets moved on the water playfully, accompanied by the traditional orchestra which caught my eyes more than the puppets lol Btw the tourists need to pay extra charge for camera, so I didn't bring in my camera :P I prefer to focus on the show though.


Street Food
The local people like to eat some street foods such as meat balls, cheese sticks, fries etc while drinking beer and sitting on the stools at the streets.
Cheese stick 6000 VND (RM0.90)
Meat ball 15,000 VND (RM2.20) the best meat ball I've ever tasted!! very juicy!

Xoi Yen
Xoi is a Vietnamese dish made from glutinous rice and other ingredients. We had our dinner in the shop called Xoi Yen. There're a variety of glutinous rice ranged from peanut/maize/original. We have chosen several ingredients such as shredded pork and fried egg.
Sticky rice-15,000 VND (RM2.20) + fried egg- 7000 VND (RM1) + shredded salted pork- 7000 VND (RM1) = 29,000 VND (RM4.20) large portion of sticky rice with appetizing shredded meat! I like this very much!

After one tiring day, we headed back to our hotel and enjoyed our night with Hanoi beer and a good sleep :)

-----to be continued- Hanoi: Day 2------

9 comments:

ms.bulat said...

ouh. the food is cheap! and really looks good

pah8000 said...

nice food....haha

Henry Tan said...

its good that the menu in chinese and english! =D and i want meatball! =DDD rm2.20 quite cheap mah! =D

Koh Kian Fai said...

looks hou hou sek eh? :P

Day 1? perhaps there is Day 2/3/4/5 XD XD

durianland said...

The fried spring roll looks AWESOME!

I can't wait for Day 2/3/4/5 soon! More AWESOME food coming soon!

http://durian2land.blogspot.com/

Hilda Milda™ said...

My friend who is a coffee lover once told me Vietnamese has one of the best coffee :D The food is srsly dirt cheap and looks good too! Can't wait for your next post (:

George Lim said...

Such a big contrast as compared with Saigon in their landscapes. I was in Saigon for a business trip and was impressed on what they can offer in the menu. DELICIOUS!!!

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Carolyn Tay said...

I love the pho bo <3 My favourite! I even bought boxes of the instant noodle back !


xox,c
carolyntay.blogspot.com

Jayren Kwan Hann Yaw said...

Why the tree branch block the restaurant name 1 ? haha Yes , vietnamese coffee is awesomely nice ! The sticky rice with shredded meat sounds special to me ! Glad to see that you enjoy your trip ! =D

http://jayrenthezompire.blogspot.com/