Oct. 30 Cool and rainyHere i am, finally got the time and physical condition to record my travel journal.
I know you must be dying to read my trip after seeing those beautiful pictures, right?
Okay, i will cut my prologue short~~
Hanoi, the first stop of our 11 days in Vietnam, proved my impression of Vietnam, economically speaking, 20 years back of China, but simply a more disorder melting pot than China 20 years ago. After a big struggle in my mind, I decided to share the first and the last unpleasant experience in Vietnam. It took about eight hours from Nanning to Hanoi, and it should have taken us to the central Hanoi according to the ticket. But (there’s always a but) it dropped us down at nowhere. Since all other foreigners were gone, we panicked and hopped on a taxi which we were double charged. The rage ran us over after we found out it only cost 50,000VND to get to the backpacker street near the Hoan Kiem Lake. And it really took a while to accept the fact we have been fool by the local people who don’t even speak English. Well, it’s not that shameful to admit we’re fooled, after all it is the first touch of strange world.
The taxi went round the town from the outskirt to more prosperous area, where I changed USD into VND. We finally reached the renowned Bagpackers, but decided to march on as we don’t really the idea to spend the night with 8 other strangers in a dorm. It’s all new and interesting to look around the streets, a lot of handicrafts stores and art gallery located along the old quarter. Before we settled down in a cozy guess house at Hang Be Street, we booked the open tour tickets at the Sinh Café Office. The tickets is actually TM brothers and half of the trip we took Camel bus. Thank God Crystal convinced me to take sleep on bus!
We finally have Mi Von Ton—which is wow, very delicious Vietnam yellow noodles for LUNPER (lunch & supper). Vietnam is famous for Mi (yellow noodles) and Pho (rice noodles), and this Mi Von Ton we had in Hanoi is my second favorite noodles in 11 days.
Our first day in Hanoi, we met Hanh and Eric, two nice guys, especially Hanh. You can live whichever the way you like in Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake is small, not the kind of exquisite lake. There are thousands of stores in 36 streets. It’s relaxing and fascinated to walk around the lake. We met Hanh at Hapro. It’s a cafe, the ice milk coffee I drank is a bit expensive, but worth every penny giving its ideal view of the lake. You know what, I always thought Crystal a shy and less-chatty gal, but she can be very talkative during this trip. She even charmed Hanh to show us around Hanoi the following day... I know Crystal will deny her flirting with Hanh, but I will lie, photos won’t. Check my pics. (Crystal will be mad, haha)
Any way, it’s very nice to walk around the lake, and the second day went on quite well. Hanh showed us the Ho Chi Ming Mausoleum, the museum. And if not for him, we have no way to take the local bus and very likely would have been foiled again taking the taxi.
BTW, the Saint Joseph Cathedral is breathtaking, I like European buildings, baroque style with pointed roof.
It’s small pity we only spent one day in Hanoi, and there are still a lot to be explored at this old but charming city.
To be continued.