The Constant (Failed) Dieter: September 2018

Saturday, 22 September 2018

Travel Log: Rain-Kissed in Stormy Hanoi (Day 3)

Previous Day: Day Trip to Halong Bay

Destination: Hanoi, Vietnam

Duration: 4 Days 4 Night (Aug 29~Sep 02, 2018)

Day 3: And I Miss you like the Desert Missed the Rain

We booked another day trip through Klook to Trang An for our 3^rd day itinerary so we were waiting for the tour guide at breakfast area like yesterday. The agent for this trip (GoAsiaDayTrip) actually emailed me before the trip that they are aware of the reservation and will pick you up on time. This definitely made me felt better unlike the Halong Bay tour agent yesterday. I was actually contemplating on whether to choose Tam Coc or Trang An but ended up with Trang An as I saw a lot of bad reviews on Tam Coc being too commercialized with people asking for money for various reason during the trip. The final straw that sealed the deal - Trang An was one of the shooting location of Kong: Skull Island!!! Tom Hiddleston! Here I come!!! *hyperventilating*

Noodle Soup at Hotel for Breakfast

DIY Mini Baguette Sandwich!!!

We were picked up on time and it was a 2 hour ride to our 1^st destination - Bai Dinh Pagoda which was the largest pagoda in Vietnam. The actual entrance was 5km+ away from the main entrance from parking thus we had to take the electric car. The weather was hot with scorching sun and we started to miss the rains from last 2 days. =( There was hardly anyone there and the tour guide mentioned we were lucky as during peak season it would be swarmed with people. There was temples, bell tower & pagoda with lots of stairs (again!). The pagoda was the last building we saw before being ushered to a 20minutes ‘shortcut’ to walk to parking area.

Entrance to Electric Car

Finally reach the 'Real' Entrance!

1st Temple at the Entrance

Look at the Top...

Connecting to other area...

With lots of Buddhas along the way...

Bell Tower

With Giant Bell inside...

Pagoda still far away...

Another Larger Temple...

Walking through another Courtyard...

To continue with more STAIRS!!!!

Getting Closer to the Pagoda

The Last Temple

Video about the Complex at night with illuminations on Pagoda

Sammy!! What are you doing?

A Buddha far away...

Finally at the feet of the Pagoda...

Another 20 minutes walk to the Parking Area

We were starving after the long walk and were driven to this restaurant for buffet lunch. It seemed like all patrons there were tourist thus we were not having high hope for the food. The food was quite forgettable as expected but it was a nice chance to get a cold soda to unwind.

The Food was so forgettable until the only picture we took was this blurry one.. LOL

After lunch, we continued to our final destination of the day - the Trang An Cave Complex. We discovered Sang Cave, Toi Cave, Ba Giot Cave and Sinh Cave by boat. Some of the caves were so narrow until we had to bend our bodies to avoid getting hit on the head. Nevertheless it was an amazing experience and we truly appreciated our boat lady who rowed the boat for 1hour+. The area was also the shooting location for Kong: Skull Island with the boat & villages still in place for tourist visit. Unfortunately Tom Hiddleston was not here to rescue me from the monsters! Doh! The Trang An boat trip was definitely more memorable than the Halong Bay junk boat.

Ahoy to the Boat Station!

Getting Ready to get on our Boat...

Sammy becomes our Boat Mascot again!

Getting Ready to row into the Cave...

A Narrow Cave! Let's Bend Down!

Sammy: Is there any Monster here?

Happy to be out from the Cave...

Look at the plants underneath the water...

Another Cave to Explore!

A Dark one no less! At least they put lighting there.. =P

Heaven after the Cave..

Was this the Limestone where King Kong fighting the Monster?

Yet another Cave to Explore...

A Stop at the Kong: Skull Island Shooting Location

With Stairs again!

The Boat from the movie!

The Place does look familiar...

But where is Tom Hiddleston?

I need Tom Hiddleston to save me! I'm a Damsel in Distress!

The Village from the movie..

Anyone there?

Time to get back...

Scorching Hot Sun!

Goodbye Trang An

Walking to the Parking Area again..

After being drop-off, we walked to Ho Kiem Lake area and noticed that most of the area was closed for night market so we could walk in the middle of the street. Yay! We walked to the Crab Noodle Soup place that we wanted to try last night but it was closed again! Seriously!!! We continued on to Dinh Café – another famous egg coffee place on a 2^nd floor of a building facing Ho Kiem Lake. The stairs to the café was really narrow and the environment was not as nice as Giang Café last night as people was smoking in an already crowded room. The only unique thing about their drink was the drawing.

Not Again!!!

I want!!!

The Small Entrance of Dinh Cafe

Full of People & Smokes!

Egg Coffee & Egg Chocolate

With Dark & Narrow Staircase

We continued to explore the night market but there was not much street food there unlike Taiwanese night market. Most of the stalls were selling souvenirs, ceramics & clothing which we were not that into. We ended up buying some deep fried roll which tasted kind of alright but super oilly. The sugar cane drink was mixed with lime which made it sour. We also channeled the local by sitting at the roadside to savor the kind of tasteless beancurd tau huay. =P It got kind of boring as we were not interested in the night market so we walked to An Café again to have some cold beer & their yummy banh mi again before calling it a night.