Hanoi - Vibrant yet Demure!
During my birthday celebration last week, I was reminded of my birthday trip to Vietnam a few years ago. It was a short 4 days' trip and the target was to visit the Halong Bay. I have very fond memories of the trip and I wanted to capture the picturesque frames from my mind into this blog.
We were a group of friends who decided to visit Hanoi in the month of June. June is a very hot and humid month for any destination within South East Asia. But we wanted to see Halong Bay. Desperately!
Day 1, we landed in Hanoi in afternoon and decided to take it free and easy. We stayed in the Old Quarters and explored the town area by foot. Old Quarters is the historic or rather the old town of Hanoi which still maintains its heritage not influenced by development. The streets have little shops, eateries (mostly selling Pho), massage parlours and beer. Beer is extremely cheap in Vietnam. You can buy a local beer can for 0.5 USD to 1 USD. The night market of Hanoi is extremely vibrant and the smell of Vietnamese Coffee fills the streets along with the smell of other delicacies. Despite attracting many tourists, Hanoi isn't very popular with vegetarian food. It is available but in scarcity and in bigger restaurants / hotels you stay at. We decided to stay at "hotel and chose a suite room. Hotels in Hanoi are usually small and very affordable. Most suite rooms come with a bottle of wine, fruit platter, etc.
Note: The picture below makes me think of our lives pre-COVID. Doubtful whether we can witness a crowd such as below ever again during our travel days in future.
Day 2 early morning, we were picked by the tour operator but our trip to Halong city.It is approx 3-4 hrs ride by bus which passes through the countryside filled with greenery and rice fields. usually there are stop overs for a quick grab of breakfast / Vietnamese Filter Coffee. Specialty of the coffee - the coffee is served with the filter and condensed milk at the bottom. The coffee drips and mixes well with the milk at the bottom and creates a unique flavour of the beans. This is a must try in Vietnam. Most of the shops also sell the famous "Snake Wine" - not for the faint-heart!
Snake wine is extremely popular in places located along the Mekong River / Delta. The snakes / reptiles are killed and fermented in rice wine to create a unique taste (mixture of blood and rice wine). Most tourists want to get adventurous and want to try the wine (more like a check box). It just wasn't for me! Quite spooky to see a snake inside a bottle staring right at you!
Well, we reached Halong City pier around lunchtime and collected our boarding passes. We had opted for a 2Day 1Night cruise. There are many cruises / junk boats operating in the area who provide full board services. We had chosen Syrena cruise based on their reviews on Tripadvisor. The warm welcome left us astonished that service could be this amazing.
Welcome cocktails were provided. Buffet lunch was ready. Now here comes the most amazing part of my trip. I had specifically requested for vegetarian food (as I was not sure of the meat provided and i can be quite fussy so vegetarian food helps). They had prepared a mini buffet of all vegetarian dishes (approx 13-15 varieties) without egg / onion / garlic. I was awed that they had actually taken effort to make so delicious food for just myself on the cruise. I truly felt special and happily hogged the food.
The cruise started and we started going inside Halong Bay - this place is surreal and magical. The limestone formations are incredible and you would just want to take pictures every where. We spent the next 2 hours taking pictures before actually stepping inside our suite room. The room was spacious and had a huge bathtub. They had kept a bottle of wine as a welcome gesture.
Afternoon tea and snacks were serve on board and while we were cruising along the bay. We stopped at Titop island around 5pm. Water sports are available on the island and once can actually climb to the top for a view of Halong Bay. Tourists decided to swim, to canoe, to do water sports in the island till sunset. Sunset was beautiful we could capture the sight from the top.
Dinner was served at the main hall and again the variety was too good. Post dinner, our group was asked to shift to a smaller boat for a "jelly fishing" tour. I was a little scared and suspicious about this night adventure in the sea but I went along. It was my hubby's plan to celebrate my birthday in a small boat in the middle of jelly fishing! We had a good celebration and headed back to our rooms to enjoy another round of cocktails on the house.
Next morning (Day 3), we woke up early morning and were alerted by the crew to check out the floating market. A local lady was selling essentials on her small boat. Lovely sight to see how innovative one can get. Post breakfast, we visited the floating village where the locals live and actually have a fishing farm in the village. We also visited the limestone caves which are a few thousand years old. It is interesting to see and experience so many things in a single day.
Sadly, we were back at the port post lunch for our transfer back to Hanoi city. We reached Hanoi city around evening and checked back into our hotel for a night's stay before boarding our flight to Singapore. We spent the evening enjoying the Old Quarter streets, Puppet show and a body massages.
Day 4, we checked out early morning and headed to airport for our flight back to Singapore. One can choose to do a 2 nights Halong Bay cruise also to enjoy more of the limestone formations and visit more places inside the bay area. One could also choose to stay longer in Hanoi city to feel the culture more. Sadly, such trips come to an end taking us back to routine urban life.
Visit my Instagram Page to view more pictures and find out more about each place :-)
Tummy_Full_Travel
We were a group of friends who decided to visit Hanoi in the month of June. June is a very hot and humid month for any destination within South East Asia. But we wanted to see Halong Bay. Desperately!
Day 1, we landed in Hanoi in afternoon and decided to take it free and easy. We stayed in the Old Quarters and explored the town area by foot. Old Quarters is the historic or rather the old town of Hanoi which still maintains its heritage not influenced by development. The streets have little shops, eateries (mostly selling Pho), massage parlours and beer. Beer is extremely cheap in Vietnam. You can buy a local beer can for 0.5 USD to 1 USD. The night market of Hanoi is extremely vibrant and the smell of Vietnamese Coffee fills the streets along with the smell of other delicacies. Despite attracting many tourists, Hanoi isn't very popular with vegetarian food. It is available but in scarcity and in bigger restaurants / hotels you stay at. We decided to stay at "hotel and chose a suite room. Hotels in Hanoi are usually small and very affordable. Most suite rooms come with a bottle of wine, fruit platter, etc.
Note: The picture below makes me think of our lives pre-COVID. Doubtful whether we can witness a crowd such as below ever again during our travel days in future.
Day 2 early morning, we were picked by the tour operator but our trip to Halong city.It is approx 3-4 hrs ride by bus which passes through the countryside filled with greenery and rice fields. usually there are stop overs for a quick grab of breakfast / Vietnamese Filter Coffee. Specialty of the coffee - the coffee is served with the filter and condensed milk at the bottom. The coffee drips and mixes well with the milk at the bottom and creates a unique flavour of the beans. This is a must try in Vietnam. Most of the shops also sell the famous "Snake Wine" - not for the faint-heart!
Snake wine is extremely popular in places located along the Mekong River / Delta. The snakes / reptiles are killed and fermented in rice wine to create a unique taste (mixture of blood and rice wine). Most tourists want to get adventurous and want to try the wine (more like a check box). It just wasn't for me! Quite spooky to see a snake inside a bottle staring right at you!
Well, we reached Halong City pier around lunchtime and collected our boarding passes. We had opted for a 2Day 1Night cruise. There are many cruises / junk boats operating in the area who provide full board services. We had chosen Syrena cruise based on their reviews on Tripadvisor. The warm welcome left us astonished that service could be this amazing.
Welcome cocktails were provided. Buffet lunch was ready. Now here comes the most amazing part of my trip. I had specifically requested for vegetarian food (as I was not sure of the meat provided and i can be quite fussy so vegetarian food helps). They had prepared a mini buffet of all vegetarian dishes (approx 13-15 varieties) without egg / onion / garlic. I was awed that they had actually taken effort to make so delicious food for just myself on the cruise. I truly felt special and happily hogged the food.
The cruise started and we started going inside Halong Bay - this place is surreal and magical. The limestone formations are incredible and you would just want to take pictures every where. We spent the next 2 hours taking pictures before actually stepping inside our suite room. The room was spacious and had a huge bathtub. They had kept a bottle of wine as a welcome gesture.
Afternoon tea and snacks were serve on board and while we were cruising along the bay. We stopped at Titop island around 5pm. Water sports are available on the island and once can actually climb to the top for a view of Halong Bay. Tourists decided to swim, to canoe, to do water sports in the island till sunset. Sunset was beautiful we could capture the sight from the top.
Dinner was served at the main hall and again the variety was too good. Post dinner, our group was asked to shift to a smaller boat for a "jelly fishing" tour. I was a little scared and suspicious about this night adventure in the sea but I went along. It was my hubby's plan to celebrate my birthday in a small boat in the middle of jelly fishing! We had a good celebration and headed back to our rooms to enjoy another round of cocktails on the house.
Next morning (Day 3), we woke up early morning and were alerted by the crew to check out the floating market. A local lady was selling essentials on her small boat. Lovely sight to see how innovative one can get. Post breakfast, we visited the floating village where the locals live and actually have a fishing farm in the village. We also visited the limestone caves which are a few thousand years old. It is interesting to see and experience so many things in a single day.
Sadly, we were back at the port post lunch for our transfer back to Hanoi city. We reached Hanoi city around evening and checked back into our hotel for a night's stay before boarding our flight to Singapore. We spent the evening enjoying the Old Quarter streets, Puppet show and a body massages.
Day 4, we checked out early morning and headed to airport for our flight back to Singapore. One can choose to do a 2 nights Halong Bay cruise also to enjoy more of the limestone formations and visit more places inside the bay area. One could also choose to stay longer in Hanoi city to feel the culture more. Sadly, such trips come to an end taking us back to routine urban life.
Visit my Instagram Page to view more pictures and find out more about each place :-)
Tummy_Full_Travel
Aaah with no holidays in sight, the memories of holidays bring much cheer!
ReplyDeleteVery true! But we can hope for the best and lookout for future travel (2021 maybe....)
ReplyDelete