The Constant (Failed) Dieter: Travel Log: Rain-Kissed in Stormy Hanoi (Day 1)

Thursday 6 September 2018

Travel Log: Rain-Kissed in Stormy Hanoi (Day 1)

Destination: Hanoi, Vietnam

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

Malaysia Opposition Party was celebrating its first election win in GE14 and we as ‘Rakyat’ was given 2 additional public holidays for its victory. However, not all companies were able to have public holiday on the fly thus ours were replaced on Aug 29 & Aug 30 instead. A short excursion is planted in my mind since it would be a 5 days long weekend. Hanoi became my choice as it was an AirAsia direct flight from Penang and cost only about RM400+/pax for return tickets (purchased without zero fare promo).

Sammy is craving for a trip!

Day 1: Some People Walk in the Rain, Others Just Get Wet

Our Penang-Hanoi flight departed on Aug 29 in the wee hour of 6.15am. We departed from home at 4am to park the car in multi-level car park at Bayan Lepas area (can’t risk the car getting flooded when we were out) before taking Grab to the airport. Yes, Grab was definitely available at 4.30am and came to us in 5 mins. It cost RM7 to get to the airport in a 5-10mins ride. Amazingly our flight took off on time and we managed to take some short naps in the 2.5 hours flight.

Sammy having kid's meal on AirAsia...

Mini Pizza anyone?

We arrived in Hanoi Airport at around 8.20am (Vietnam is 1 hour behind) and bought a simcard with 2Gb/day data plan for VND200K. The girl at the counter helped us to setup the phone properly and made sure that it was working before handed it back to us.

Hanoi welcomes us with rain...

Data plan at VND200K for 7 days

It was raining and we were wondering whether to take a minibus or bus 86 to the old quarter. The minibus driver quoted us USD5/pax then slashed it down to USD4/pax when he saw we were not really interested. We ended up taking bus 86 which cost only VND35K/pax to disembark at the Hanoi Melio hotel stop. The bus conductor was really helpful as he was asking around which hotel the passengers stayed so that he could give advice on the correct bus stop. The bus trip took less than an hour.

Bus 86!!!

We booked Serenity Villa Hotel which cost around USD29.7/night from booking.com and it was around 10mins walk away from the bus stop. This was the 1^st time we experienced the Hanoi traffic and I must say it was definitely an eye opener! The best was to follow the local to cross the road – or just close your eyes and leave it to fate! LOL!!! We put our data plan to good use for Google map and walked past this Book Street with quaint little book stores – definitely our 1^st photo moment in Hanoi (with rains and all!). ;)

At the Book Street

Lots of Little Bookstores at the side...

We walked past a lot of local shops and restaurants on the pedestrian walkway which was mostly covered by motorcycles or chairs & tables from restaurants. It was definitely not easy to maneuver with luggage but thankfully we traveled light.

Serenity Villa Hotel was located at the end of a small alley and we were greeted warmly by the staffs. We were offered coffee/tea with the reception giving us a map and explained to us on places of interest while they prepared our room even though we were too early for their check-in time. We managed to get to our room at around 10.30am. The room was clean and comfy with slight issue on the shower glass door but we just let it slide since it was only USD29.7/night - with breakfast for 2 no less!!! We were lazing on the bed since we had a super early morning flight.

A View from our Room

The Bed

Complimentary Drinks

Bathroom

Serenity Villa Hotel located at the end of an Alley

We finally dragged our heavy feet to explore the area amid the heavy rain. I’m a breadoholic so the 1^st thing I wanted was to get a delicious Banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich). I did some research before the trip and noted down a shop but hubby decided to ask the hotel reception for local recommendation. They pointed us to Banh Mi Pho which we were not impressed as the pork seemed tasteless.

Recommended by the Hotel

Saigon Special

Kebab Banh Mi

We continued our walk to Saint Joseph’s Cathedral and it was really impressive – one might thought we were at some European square. We continued our walk through small alleys to main road and stumbled on the Hanoi Train Street among the houses. We quickly took some pictures but did not stay for the train since it would only passed the railway at 3pm.

Saint Joseph's Cathedral!

Let's just imagine i'm in Europe! LOL!!!

Railroad in an Alley

We marched on to find the Flag Tower of Hanoi and continued to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in the gentle rain. There were hardly any visitors there and the entrance fee was VND30K/pax. During our walk, we noticed that Vietnam’s national day actually falls on Sep 02. Therefore the imperial citadel was decorated nicely with blooming flowers which made it a great place for photos! Definitely excellent timing! :p

The Flag Tower of Hanoi with wet pants! *facepalm*

It's time to visit The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long

Flowers for National Day?

Overlooking the Flag Tower

Oh no... I can't seem to escape Stairs during travel..

At the Top...

A Great Place to take picture!

After filling our SD card with countless pictures with the rain finally stopping, we continued to Cua Bac Catholic Church. Our legs were killing us as it was really not comfortable to walk with wet shoes for such a long time. Or perhaps we were simply TOO OLD for this! *facepalm* Cua Bac Catholic Church might not look as impressive as St. Joseph’s Cathedral but it had its own charm with its yellow paint. It looked especially refreshing in such bleak weather. ;)

Cua Bac Church in Yellow

We continued our long walk to the Presidential Palace and walked past some quiet streets. We were trying to take pictures of the street since it seemed so serene but a police stopped us! We suspected the stretch was some government buildings as we noticed quite a lot of police booths there. We walked past the Presidential Palace but did not go in since we were too crippled and there was tight rules for visit.

Picture taken before getting stopped by Police!!!

Presidential Palace at the back...

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was our next destination for more photos before turning to One Pillar Pagoda. There was basically just one pagoda with crazy tourists (That would be us!!!) posing for photos nonstop. *facepalm*

Just Keep Walking...

The Mausoleum

One Pillar Pagoda

One could pray up there..

A Museum that we never stepped in.. =P

Our next destination was Temple of Literature but for some unknown reason Google map went astray. We could hardly walked anymore so we walked in to a random café called Goky Tea. We ordered some Matcha latte which tasted too sweet but enjoyed resting there for a while. Of course it was also a good chance to use a clean toilet at a café. The heavy downpour also started during our short break there. *sigh*

LOST!!!!

A Much-needed Break!

We were there for almost an hour before bracing the heavy rain to walk to Temple of Literature. Entrance fee was VND30K/pax and the complex was a typical Chinese style temple. The downside was we had to walk all the way to the entrance for exit as other exit gates seemed to be locked. Not to mention that the rain was really heavy and there were pools of waters everywhere.

Entrance of Temple of Literature

At the 1st Courtyard

2nd Courtyard?

Finally the Main Building

We finally waved the white flag and walk back to our hotel under the torrential rain with non-stop honking traffics for some rest. During our walk, we noticed that the locals all seemed to be occupied with some football match and were shouting nonstop on the street.

GOAL!!!! The Locals were shouting nonstop...

After a short rest in hotel, we finally separated ourselves from the comfortable bed to hunt for dinner. Trust me, it was not easy to get up after such a long day! It was still raining quite heavily but thankfully our destination was just 5mins away. An Café (link) was highly recommended on tripadvisor for their banh mi and it was my original banh mi destination for breakfast this morning. We ordered “Special” & “Egg Special” along with Hanoi Specialty Beer & Saigon Specialty Beer. Both choices had the crispy baguette stuffed full of pate, meat, sausage, Chinese sausages and some pickled vegetables topped with fried shallots. The difference between “Special” & “Egg Special” was the pate was fried with egg for “Egg Special”. With the price of VND25K & VND30K each, they were definitely value for money and totally delicious!!!! Even hubby had to admit this was so much better than Banh Mi Pho which was more expensive and bland.

Here we are!!!

Beer! I love Hanoi Specialty Beer with less bitter taste if compared to Saigon Specialty Beer

Our Banh Mi are served!

OMG!!! Look at all the Egg & Meats!!!

Cheers!!!

After the yummy banh mi, hubby was tempted to try Dong Thinh Nha Hang Mien Luon - Glass Noodles with Deep-Fried Eel (87 Hang Dieu, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) which was another 3 minutes’ walk from An Café. The restaurant was the typical humble non air-conditioned Vietnamese eatery with locals and tourists. We went in and ordered Eel Soup (VND40K) & the famous Glass Noodle (VND60K) with a full stomach. *facepalm* The Eel Soup reminded me of sharkfin soup with a sweet seafood taste broth and it was really nice to had hot broth during the rainy weather.

Second Dinner! *facepalm*

Eel Soup

The fried glass noodle was served with lots of vegetables and the crispy eel – the eel was not as crispy as I liked as I think it was fried and left there for a while. The glass noodle had a nice stir fry taste (wok hei) and we were obsessed with the spicy chili sauce. The chili definitely enhanced the overall flavor.

Don't underestimate that unassuming Chili Sauce!!!

Glass Noodle with Deep Fried Eel

After the heavy double dinner, we’d decided to burn some calories by venturing to the Old Quarter. When we arrived there, there seemed to be police setting up some roadblocks but we thought nothing of it. We walked around the Ho Kiem Lake for night view and that was when the crazy celebration started! Hundreds or perhaps thousands of motorcycles were riding around the lake in circle with engine & honk blasting nonstop and Vietnam national flag flying along in high speed. We thought it was due to their national day but we were told later that the Vietnamese celebrated for the national soccer team for making into Asian Cup semifinal. The celebration was on even though they lost the match 1-3 to Korea since it was the 1^st time the team ever got into that far. The celebration seemed to go on forever but luckily we managed to find an opening to cross the road with those flying motorcycles. Gosh! It was only the 1^st day and we couldn’t even feel our legs anymore. It was already 10pm++ when we reached our hotel to call it a day.