My friends decided that we visit Hanoi, Vietnam instead of Ho Chi Minh as they have been there before ( me, not yet) and we were also interested to check out Halong Bay.
We arrived at about 2 am in the morning. The airport was not that busy perhaps because it was a weekday. We were fetched by a taxi and dropped us at our hostel, May de Ville Backpacker Hostel. The staff were all pleasant and accommodating. Our hotel room was at $30 for 5 days with free breakfast buffet. It was really a good deal.
We slept first since it was too early to stroll. As we got ourselves ready, we just walked around the place, the old and new quarters of Hanoi There weren't much sky rise buildings here. Most buildings here were of old structures converted to stores some with great architecture details such as their government offices and opera house.
Mode of transportation is here are the traditional buses and cars, I think they have trains too for long destinations, but motorbikes and scooters are what most Vietnamese use as their primary vehicle. There's "cyclo" too but I think this is mostly appreciated by the tourists, cost about 5 USD per hour/tour. There were no traffic here. Traffic signs are just being followed strictly on major highways but the rest based on my experience, you can cross the street your way, you can drive left or right, no one way or so as how you want it. Police officers were not that visible too.
What was so catching about Hanoi is they have simple citizens. Upon exiting our hostel, you'll see a long stretch of stores of all kinds and food stores ( some kinda like carinderia here in the Philippines) locals and tourists wouldn't mind being seated on a small chair ( stool) and have a round tray on top of it where their snack and tea are placed. It was that simple. Business must be good because every night the streets are packed with people eating and dining till midnight. The air here is clean. So even if the food may have been prepared not the hotel way, people would not mind, after all you still get these Vietnamese authentic taste.
We arrived at about 2 am in the morning. The airport was not that busy perhaps because it was a weekday. We were fetched by a taxi and dropped us at our hostel, May de Ville Backpacker Hostel. The staff were all pleasant and accommodating. Our hotel room was at $30 for 5 days with free breakfast buffet. It was really a good deal.
We slept first since it was too early to stroll. As we got ourselves ready, we just walked around the place, the old and new quarters of Hanoi There weren't much sky rise buildings here. Most buildings here were of old structures converted to stores some with great architecture details such as their government offices and opera house.
Mode of transportation is here are the traditional buses and cars, I think they have trains too for long destinations, but motorbikes and scooters are what most Vietnamese use as their primary vehicle. There's "cyclo" too but I think this is mostly appreciated by the tourists, cost about 5 USD per hour/tour. There were no traffic here. Traffic signs are just being followed strictly on major highways but the rest based on my experience, you can cross the street your way, you can drive left or right, no one way or so as how you want it. Police officers were not that visible too.
What was so catching about Hanoi is they have simple citizens. Upon exiting our hostel, you'll see a long stretch of stores of all kinds and food stores ( some kinda like carinderia here in the Philippines) locals and tourists wouldn't mind being seated on a small chair ( stool) and have a round tray on top of it where their snack and tea are placed. It was that simple. Business must be good because every night the streets are packed with people eating and dining till midnight. The air here is clean. So even if the food may have been prepared not the hotel way, people would not mind, after all you still get these Vietnamese authentic taste.
Basically we just toured the place on our 1st day. We visited temple, Ngoc Son Temple and have seen their beautiful park with a beautiful lake, gives you a very laid back feel. We ate at Ph024 for lunch, then had dinner in one of the food store found in the street and ended the day just like that. It was more of trying to adjust and adapt on the phase of life here in Hanoi. I say, food is cheap, time is slow, people are simple.
On our second day, It was time for Halong Bay Cruise Adventure. It took us 4 hours to reach the place. We paid 45USD to get a luxury service, table of our own and free soda's served. This trip was similar to that of our Bohol's Loboc River Cruise, difference is boat is bigger, and more private. But honestly the food in Bohol was more delicious than what we had here. As we took our lunch, cruising started too and I felt a little bit dizzy. That's when I realized I was having sea sickness. We were made to appreciate the beauty of Halong Bay, it's islands, the view around it. Activities offered were boating and kayaking. This gives you the feel of Palawan Philippines. After this, we were asked to get up to the mountain, through a stair of course, It was high and tiring. We've seen different rock formations inside the cave. This is what consider one of the seven wonders of nature. Honestly the rock formation were beautiful, you'd really be amazed with God's wonders. Again, on my part I wasn't that impressed. I've seen rock formations in Puerto Princesa and Sagada with natural limestone so beautiful and so alive. What they had here were dead rocks. I think this maybe because they put lighting effects, they made the pathways convenient for tourist so the natural beauty of the stones, well as for me were gone.
On our third day, we basically just had a free and relaxed time. I had enough of spring rolls and noodles the whole time we were here. I opted for a pork this time. If there was one thing we didn't get tired of doing here, it was actually eating, hehehe. We had lunch at "Little Hanoi" then checked out Ho chi Minh's Mauselum, One Pagoda, and The flag tower. It was breezy and cold so even if we were just walking, we didn't sweat much. Of course, with all these places, we've felt the warmness of the people and i appreciate the cleanliness of the all the places we've visited. For our dinner, we went to "pineapple" this gives you more of a fine dining style, it was like a house converted to a restaurant. We enjoyed the food and the service here, matter of fact we had lunch here the next day before preparing to go back to Manila.
On our last day, it was our shopping day. I'd say there are a lot of good buys here too, mostly house decors, silk and cashmeres, pashmina and etc but we had a hard time finding good Northface and Kipling bags because it really looks like imitation and quality were not good.
We enjoyed our Hanoi trip. This trip defines vacation. We were so relaxed. There was no call time, you do your things at your own pace you do nothing but eat and sleep and when bored tour and stroll. Time here is slow, people are very simple far fromf HK where everyone is a hurry. Hanoi has so much potential to progress. People here knows how to work the hard way. I like it here.:-)
On our second day, It was time for Halong Bay Cruise Adventure. It took us 4 hours to reach the place. We paid 45USD to get a luxury service, table of our own and free soda's served. This trip was similar to that of our Bohol's Loboc River Cruise, difference is boat is bigger, and more private. But honestly the food in Bohol was more delicious than what we had here. As we took our lunch, cruising started too and I felt a little bit dizzy. That's when I realized I was having sea sickness. We were made to appreciate the beauty of Halong Bay, it's islands, the view around it. Activities offered were boating and kayaking. This gives you the feel of Palawan Philippines. After this, we were asked to get up to the mountain, through a stair of course, It was high and tiring. We've seen different rock formations inside the cave. This is what consider one of the seven wonders of nature. Honestly the rock formation were beautiful, you'd really be amazed with God's wonders. Again, on my part I wasn't that impressed. I've seen rock formations in Puerto Princesa and Sagada with natural limestone so beautiful and so alive. What they had here were dead rocks. I think this maybe because they put lighting effects, they made the pathways convenient for tourist so the natural beauty of the stones, well as for me were gone.
On our third day, we basically just had a free and relaxed time. I had enough of spring rolls and noodles the whole time we were here. I opted for a pork this time. If there was one thing we didn't get tired of doing here, it was actually eating, hehehe. We had lunch at "Little Hanoi" then checked out Ho chi Minh's Mauselum, One Pagoda, and The flag tower. It was breezy and cold so even if we were just walking, we didn't sweat much. Of course, with all these places, we've felt the warmness of the people and i appreciate the cleanliness of the all the places we've visited. For our dinner, we went to "pineapple" this gives you more of a fine dining style, it was like a house converted to a restaurant. We enjoyed the food and the service here, matter of fact we had lunch here the next day before preparing to go back to Manila.
On our last day, it was our shopping day. I'd say there are a lot of good buys here too, mostly house decors, silk and cashmeres, pashmina and etc but we had a hard time finding good Northface and Kipling bags because it really looks like imitation and quality were not good.
We enjoyed our Hanoi trip. This trip defines vacation. We were so relaxed. There was no call time, you do your things at your own pace you do nothing but eat and sleep and when bored tour and stroll. Time here is slow, people are very simple far fromf HK where everyone is a hurry. Hanoi has so much potential to progress. People here knows how to work the hard way. I like it here.:-)