Hanoi, Vietnam: Day 3 (Part 2)

The last post of Hanoi *winks* gonna focus on FOOD! We had a sumptuous dinner to spend all our Vietnam Dong before leaving this country! We chose the famous restaurant Nha Hang Ngon which was highly recommended by the locals.

I love the cozy ambiance and dim lighting :)

We ordered several Vietnamese dishes. Bun Thang- also known as Vietnamese spaghetti. Hmm I prefer pho instead of bun thang :)

Green papaya salad. Very appetizing but I still prefer Thai's version (Som Tam).

Banh Cuon- The outer layer is similar to the thick version of chu cheong fun (Malaysia's steamed rice flour rolls), while the inner fillings are a luscious mix of pork, black fungus, mushrooms, and vegetables, topped with fried shallots. 

Cha ca la vong- Grilled cat fish in Lavong style. Hanoi specialty dish, only available exclusively in Vietnam. The renowned authentic restaurant for Cha ca la vong is actually located in Cha ca street, but it's too expensive and sharing is not allowed so we tried it in this restaurant. Hmmm still, this is ordinary grilled fish, so nothing special to me though.

 They fried the grilled fish in front of us *__*

After dinner, we walked back to the beer street near our hotel. I called it beer street haha but I forgot the actual street's name. The beers are so cheap! Only 5000VND (RM0.75)/glass! The beer is slightly diluted but still acceptable for me :)  

Leaving Hanoi to Bangkok on the following morning. Bye Hanoi ^__^

I would like to line out some useful tips for those who wanna travel to Hanoi :)

Food and beverages

• Pho- Vietnamese noodle soup 
• Bun Thang- Vietnamese spaghetti
• Banh Cuon- rolled cake (like our "chu cheong fan" rolls with the inner filling of meat)
• Cha Ca La Vong- grilled fish pie in Lavong style (an expensive local delicacy, nothing special to me lol but it's a must-try because it's only available exclusively in Vietnam)
• Spring roll- frankly their spring rolls taste like our "loh bak"
• Hanoi beer -go for the more flavourful Hanoi Beer instead of Bia Ha Noi
• Coffee- Trung Nguyen coffee (famous coffee's brand), weasel's coffee (famous coffee bean from the weasel's faeces >.< ), filter coffee (the local drinking style), highly recommend Avalon Cafe
• Nha Hang Ngon Restaurant is a must go too!

Places to visit

• Hoan Kiem Lake
• One pillar temple
• Temple of literature
• St. Joseph's Cathedral
• Museums
• Water puppet show 

People

Most of the Vietnamese couldn't speak English fluently but they know simple words, use of body language is inevitable too lols Many of them also speak Mandarin. Don't be surprise that many of the Hanoians are very rude. They like to push people when we're in their way. The vendors like to force people to buy their stuffs and showed the despicable face when we bargained with them. We even came across two Vietnamese that approached us to promote the postcards, STICK to us even when we said we not gonna buy it! I scolded them but they still walked very close to me, and they opened the zip of my friend's bag! They even touched my pocket! IT WAS DAY TIME AND WE WERE WALKING AT THE MAIN STREET! Eventually they stopped tailing us when we quickly entered a shop. After that we walked to the famous Lake, several guys with baskets approached the tourists aggressively to glue their slippers even the tourists rejected it. They took away their slippers and forced them to pay :/ So if you wanna travel to Hanoi, be highly aware when you're walking at the streets. 

Transport

If you travel in the old quarter, basically you can walk around there because everything is within walking distance. There're a lot of taxis with meters, so it's quite convenient and cheap to travel around.

Accommodation

• May de Ville ( http://maydevillebackpackershostel.com/)

I highly recommend May de Ville which located in the centre of old quarter near the "beer street" lol The service is extremely good, the staffs are very friendly and helpful. They also can speak English fluently Most importantly, they are very sincere. They offer package to Halong Bay, Tam Coc, Sabai etc with a slightly higher price but better service. The room rate is not expensive too. They offer both private rooms and dorm. Trust me, go for the private room, slightly expensive but very very comfortable and clean :) You can visit their website for more information.

Hanoi, Vietnam: Day 3 (part 1)

The last day in Hanoi :) City tour again! It's quite easy to get around in Hanoi since taxi is available everywhere! Early in the morning, we walked out from the hotel with a map in hand. Met this girl that promoting her Longan. In Hanoi, it's normal to see the women sell fruits or vegetable by loading them on shoulder pole. 

Then, we visited the local market- Dong Xuan Market. Basically it's a busy wholesale market. Nothing much to buy, mostly for the locals I think.  

Tried the local ice cream :) I chose coconut ice cream. Not bad! Very creamy and rich flavour. 

Yum yum *slurp*

The center of Old Quarter. Cloudy day.

Visited another famous landmark in Hanoi- St. Joseph's Cathedral. The cathedral was built in 1886 and still hold masses throughout the day.

The scene mode of my camera- pop effect.

Pin hole effect.

After the narcissistic photo-shooting session in the cathedral, we took a short break in Avalon Cafe. Highly recommend this cafe! Way better than Highland Cafe! The waitresses in Highland Cafe were so rude! She showed scornful face because we didn't order many drinks, and she even stopped us from using camera inside the cafe! Plus the cafe was so hot because they didn't on the air-con in the afternoon. But this Avalon Cafe was very very comfortable with beautiful view :)) The waitresses were very polite, they even apologized truthfully because they took the wrong order. So peeps you could visit this cafe if you visit Hanoi, undoubtedly my top favourite cafe in Hanoi! They have 4 levels- restaurant, semi lounge, lounge, and open-air cafe. 

The semi-lounge.

Say hello to Lotteria! Fast-food restaurant from Korea! I thought this was Vietnamese fast food restaurant initially lols cuz they're commonly seen in Vietnam even if compared to KFC and McDonald! 

Spicy chicken. The gravy tasted like Thai chili sauce. I still prefer KFC spicy chicken haha

Visited too many places on the last day. Keep some for tomorrow. Lazy to continue now gonna pen off ahhaha I'm a lame blogger (>.<) I promise I'll write a very good ending post for Hanoi trip :P 

Halong Bay, Vietnam: Day 2

First of all, a clarification here.. I just stayed 3 days in Hanoi before flying to Bangkok hahahaha so no Day 4/5/6 in Hanoi anymore :P haha thanks for your immense support XP

Back to the topic, after loitering in the old quarter on the first day, we signed up for one-day tour package to Halong Bay which included transport (van transfer), cruise service, kayaking, and lunch. The tour package costs around USD35 as recommended by the receptionist in our hotel. Anyway there're cheaper package out there but we rather chose somebody that we trusted due to the undue scam that occurred commonly in Hanoi.

On the second morning, around 8 a. m., the tour guide came to our hotel to pick us up to Halong Bay. He's a young man that could speak English and Mandarin very well. We were informed that the journey to Halong Bay took around 4 hours, such a long way zz. He also explained briefly about Halong Bay, which means "descending dragon bay", and we went to Halong Bay from Hanoi (Thang Long- Rising Dragon), that will bring luck :)

Along the journey, there're many paddy fields. The farmers worked very hard on it by using traditional methods. We even seen them ploughed the field plot by plot with the help of buffaloes.

A funny incident occurred in the van along the way to Halong Bay. The Vietnamese girls were eating fruits in front of us. My friends were curious because the fruits looked like our langsat but it's very very small.. tiny and cute. So we started to chat in Mandarin.. like "hey let's ask her what's that.." "don't want la, later she paiseh because thought we wanna eat ..." After a while, when my friend was courageous enough to ask her what's that, she turned around and replied us in mandarin, "you want some?" LOL AWKWARD MOMENT. anyway she's so nice, she gave us a large portion of it.. and it's really our langsat =.= in mini size.

Arrived at Halong Bay. Waiting for the tour guide to get us the ticket.

The ticket. Look at the kissing stone. So adorable!

 The cruise ship for the tour.

Interior of the cruise ship.

Halong Bay! We're coming! Halong Bay features countless limestone karsts which gone through millions years of formation. Therefore, it is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Our first stop for lunch. The floating fishing village.

Several dishes that we had in the cruise.. exactly like Chinese cuisine.

The next station is the site for kayaking which was included in our tour package. However, some of my friends were not interested to join, so we left 5 ppl for kayaking. 5 is not a good number though since we wanted to kayak in pair. In the end, I chose to join another friend to ride sampan into the caves which required me to pay extra USD4 >.< but it's an awesome experience haha

The sampan that I gonna ride on.. 

Rowing into the cave.

Our rower :D

Other sampans o.o at leisurely pace.

With my friend :)

The first kayak team that succeeded to tail us through the cave lols

Back to the village

 The school for the kids.

The last stop was Thien Cung Grotto.

Magnificent view of the stalactites :)

Our tour guide told us this is Heaven Gate lols you wanna go heaven?

Spot the lion :)

Found the elephants?

Vietnamese has good imagination :) They even have guy, girl, dragons and numerous animals in the cave haha 

The tour ended in the evening and we headed back to Hanoi. The traffic was horrible as usual. Can't believe that the motorcyclists even dare to ride on the highway (one way) oppositely heading to our van and nearly knocked down by our van! The traffic in Vietnam made me miss Malaysia :/

The beautiful sunset tinted the sky orange. Great ending to our Halong Bay trip :)

Stay tuned for the last day in Hanoi!