The curious cat walking

I am back from Hanoi last Wed night (Mar 29). A small trouble that delayed the flight for an hour. Arrived at Singapore at 12AM. Smooth flight though. I posted my pics on Yahoo Photo http://sg.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cch_lisa/album?.dir=/35c4&.src=ph&.tok=ph0vnoEBrKS7lw3f 

 

Vietnamese food is great. Lemongrass chicken, Pho, spring rolls...... and the French food. The first night as siib as we have finally arrived at Daewoo Hotel, first thing we did is to call a taxi and rush to Green Tangerine- the recommended French restaurant. The food was nice. I liked the Carrot-shape bamboo root with pork.. Impressively delicious and creative.The second day we went to the most fashionable streets, Nha Thro and Hang Gai, etc. Lunch at Little Hanoi. This is a cozy cafe with nice French banquette and local delights. Reasonable price as well. We found a new open foot massage store near St. Paul church. It only cost us USD 5 for one hr foot and head massage with herbal foot bath. fantastic isn't it. Still got time, we visited the best Hotel in Hanoi, Sofitel Metropole Hotel. We stayed in Le Club for some drinks. This reminds me of Raffles hotel in Singapore. smaller but graceful.  Later, we headed for the restaurant I wanted to visit most. The Emperor. A local Vietnamese restaurant where ex- US president Clinton and Singapore ex-PM had been entertained. This is a beautiful French style building.. Sense of noble and elegance. I definitely recommend it since that the decoration, and food is great and the waiters are friendly and interesting..

 

Vietnam has low cost consumption. The 3rd day we went for the spa and facial. 75 mins moisture facila only cost me VD 250.000 (SGD 25). The place was nice, staff is skilled and careful. And I did feel the result. It is goot place to relax like this.  We had lunch at Sofitel Metropole hotel again. The Pho they severd was nice looking and delicous. Cost us USD 7 each. My friend left for Singapore in the afternoon and I headed for a smaller hotel in old quarter. And hurried to book my one day trip to Halong Bay the next day. I spent my afternoon in the water puppet theater. Simple stories but full of humors and creativities. I am happy that I saw it eventually.

 

The 4th day morning, I got up early at 7AM. Having my simple breakfast, French toast and banana with Vietnamese coffee. I was to be picked up to Halong Bay at 7:30. Joint group. On the way I met a friend from Irland. And another 2 elder friends from Thailand and Australia. It was not boring at all even I traveled alone. The aussie shared us some experience to Cambodia and Berma and Africa. So this is a guy who had adventured himself and he is still doing that. Halong Bay is listed in the world heritage. And definitely it should be. The scene I have never seen before in my life. We took the boat and visited the water village, fruit vendor on the sea and beautiful caves. I had a happy day trip in Halong Bay. Especially I met a friend to travel with me. It is good to have someone to talk when you travel. We found a Kodak to burn the photos we took in the day time. We took hundreds. After dinner, it took us a great efforts to find a look ok bar. Apparently, Vietnamese doesn't drink so much alcohol. bars are for tourists and foreigners only. I noticed many western backpackers or tourists are happy to sit at the side of motobike-jammed road and drink beer. They don't mind looking like roamers or beggars on street. I am impressed. Somehow these people from Europe or US, they begin to travel when they are young. I start to think what I was doing when I was 20. I did travel. But not so bold and adventurous. perhaps our parents had over protected us. I think this attitude reflects to the value and behaviors of us when we turn to be adults.

 

The next morning, we had typical Vietnamese breakfast as recommended by the Irish friend. Banana hotcake. I ordered Vietnamese tea with it. The tea is much lighter than Oolong tea. Still good. We spent a lot of time in breakfast, and chatting and finally time to say good bye. he is heading to Bangkok and transfer to London.. Me later had to catch up with my flight back to Singapore.

 

Before the taxi came to pick me up. I went to the well-known cafe operated by Taiwanese called Tamarine Cafe in Ma May Street. It was in the middle of the old quarter and very easy to find. Mixed of Chinese and French decoration. I can feel something home in that cafe. A cafe of mixture of Chinese and French style interior. Free wireless internet - that is very advanced in Hanoi. Nice drinks and cozy coaches.They even have a travel help desk insides, travelers can find local tour package information there. I wonder why so many western tourists know about the travel agency inside of a cafe. Anyway Tamarine is another nice cafe in Hanoi I would recommend.

 

Overall speaking, I like my journey in Hanoi and Halog Bay. People are much more friendly than I expected. We didn't encounter too much fraud. Only once in the taxi and we quickly noticed that. we paid 2/3 of the fare and the taxi driver complained though didn't give us any threat. Basically this is a safe country to travel. To my own opinion and also some of the friends met in the trip people are nicer compared to some of those in Bangkok. . It is still a poor country and maybe has serious jobless as I found that so many people working for a simple function in the store that acutely duplicates the labor resource. And agriculture is still a main income of them. I have not seen an endless field of rice farm and so many cows for years. The scene seems to only seen in TV. Though I believe that someday it would grow with the low cost of labor & materials and their hard working.. And the close to China someday may bring them benefit and fortune.

 

Good to visit Vietnam finally I think. If there is a chance I shall visit their largest city in Ho Chi Ming. That is where the most foreign companies are investing. in.