Travelogue - Hanoi, Vietnam April 2013 (1)

I am so excited to share with you the sights and sounds of Vietnam! Hanoi is probably not the most romantic place on earth but to my dearest bestie Ruth and I, we loved it! This trip was supposed to be a relaxing one with two other besties, Peck Hiang and Stephanie. Unfortunately, these two had motherly duties to perform hence they missed the trip!

Our tickets were bought in July 2012 to be travelled in April 2013! Kiasu much? Haha, they only cost us $110 return each! Then Jetstar decided to cancel all direct flights to Hanoi and forced us to transit at Ho Chi Minh City. The cancellation came only around Nov 2012 and Jetstar offered us $50 credits which I have utilised for my Perth trip in last month in August 2013. However, I didn't feel that the $50 credits were worth it as we had to face a 2-hours delay at Ho Chi MInh City enroute to Hanoi, and on the way back it was a 9am flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City then a 3pm flight back to Singapore. The transit was neither long nor short so it was rather irritating for us.

Accomodation only cost Ruth and I $60 each for four nights! With airfares in, I think we each spent less than $400 for the entire trip!

It was raining the morning we flew. Especially grateful to my parents who silently supported me and my dreams and gave me the freedom to travel to anywhere that I want to. They woke up as early as Ruth and I did, made us hot drinks and even sent us to the airport. Very very grateful!

Raining.

During the delay, we got hungry so we bought our first bowl of Vietnamese pho at the Ho Chi Minh airport, which tasted like Maggie mee.

Our first Vietnamese pho, which tasted like Maggie mee.

Upon reaching Hanoi, we had wanted to take a cab to our hotel but we decided to take a bus which would send us to the Old Quarter of Hanoi, which is also known as the Hoan Kiem area, where our hotel was located at. It was definitely squeezy on the bus so it was great that Ruth and I packed light and we had all our belongings close to us. Met an Australian girl from Perth who spend two months teaching English in Thailand and this was her first time to Hanoi as well.

When we reached Hoan Kiem, some guy came onboard the bus and asked if we would be willing to pay another USD$1 to send us directly to our hotel. We were like, why not? So we paid and showed him our hotel address and within the next 10 minutes, we reached a road and he told us to get off. Another girl came to fetch us and we crossed the road to enter what seemed like a tour agency. The girl, with her broken English, tried to ask us if we wanted to book a hotel but we tried to tell her that we already booked one. That was when Ruth and I felt cheated and uncomfortable, we decided to leave the shop and walked.

We walked for about ten minutes before we entered another hotel and asked for a map. The receptionist at the hotel was helpful and showed us the directions to our hotel. We explored for another twenty minutes before finally reaching our hotel! Turns out that our hotel was not easily accessible by car and any car to pick up would have to stop by the main road outside and you have to walk in for about twenty seconds before you would reach it. Checked in and the hotel gave us a free upgrade to a family room! Super worth the money, can.

Tired out by the day of transits, we took a nap and woke up for dinner. We exited onto the main road and saw the famous Hanoi Backpackers which many many guidebooks recommended. We decided to have dinner there and saw so many ang mohs in the bar.

This was taken before it got really crowded.

With so many angpows in and out of the hostel, it really reminded me of the hostel in Prague which Tex and I stayed in.

Apparently, this hostel was opened by an Australian.

Australian.

I ordered Fanta at almost every meal! Haha!

Glass bottles.

Chilli Con Carne

Eating rice was sooooo comforting that evening!

I was nursing a headache that night but we still decided to head out for a night stroll since it was a Friday night and the night markets were open. Walked about 15 minutes to Dong Xuan. The good thing about staying in the Old Quarter is that there are many places of attractions that are within walking distance. The area is also littered with cafes and you can always enter one and refuel before continuing walking. There are tourists everywhere and I can safely say that Hanoi is slowly becoming more and more commercialised so quickly go before it becomes another Bangkok!

A mandatory photo.

We headed back around 9:30PM that night and had an early night's rest. Stay tuned for Day 2, hehe!