A Short Hanoi Experience

Xin chào!  That's hello in Vietnamese.  From our very short trip to Hanoi, I only learned to say hello and thank you from our very informative tour guide, Thanh.

When we were first planning for this trip, I have to admit I wasn't really excited.  My impression of Vietnam was that it would be just like the Philippines.  I expected hot, humid weather, snatchers, and pickpockets...No offense, but that's the reality.  I've read about how taxi drivers would cheat tourists and how there were even fake web sites posing as the official pages of travel agencies and tour providers.  Indeed, when I was searching for a Ha Long Bay cruise, I saw La Fairy Sails had several different web sites and didn't know which one was really their official page.  Because of this, I decided to book with Agoda.com just to be safe.

Since we would be arriving at midnight, I also opted to book an airport transfer with our hotel so I wouldn't have to deal with fraudulent taxi drivers.  Our hotel charged us US$38 round trip.

Our ride to the hotel

Our ride to the airport

Overall, the airport transfer service was pretty good except that our driver lost his way going to our hotel.  It would be wise to download an offline map of the Hanoi area in your phone.  I used Google Maps while we were in the car and that's how I knew the driver was lost because he veered off the correct route and was circling round and round the area.  He didn't speak English so it was hard to communicate with him.  He even got mad when I showed him the map and told him which way to go.  Eventually, after 30 minutes of circling around and asking two people on the street, he decided to follow the map after all, haha!  The next day, the manager told me that since their hotel was only six months old, a lot of drivers didn't know its location.  Okay Mr. Driver, you're forgiven.

Finally got to our hotel, Luxury Old Quarter

Because the Old Quarter is their primary tourist area, we chose a hotel there.  All tours offer hotel pickup and drop-off from the Old Quarter, making it most convenient.  Our one-day tour around Hanoi didn't charge us for hotel pickup and drop-off, but our Ha Long Bay cruise charged us US$25 per person round trip from our hotel to the docking area.

We booked the Superior room through Agoda again.  Can you tell it's my favorite booking site?  The design was Japanese inspired and the only seat available was a round cushion on the floor.  The vanity mirror was also very low and we had to kneel down to use it.  Everything was nice and very clean.  One thing that puzzled me was the placement of the towel bar.  Instead of putting it inside the shower enclosure, they put it beside the sink.  So when we showered, there was nowhere to hang our clothes or towel.  There also wasn't anywhere to put soap and shampoo on.

Breakfast was good with a lot of food varieties.  Unlike other hotels which serve the same breakfast over and over again every day, they changed it up.  The dining area was very elegant although seating capacity was very limited.  If I remember it correctly, it could only seat about 18 people.  Can't really blame them because it's just a small hotel.  Almost all the hotels in the area were about the same size.  Going around the Old Quarter area, there were a lot of other nice-looking boutique hotels.  Plus, hotel rates were very affordable.

The best thing about our hotel was the service and their staff.  They were really hospitable and very friendly.  Ms. Phuong was very helpful in arranging things and spoke good English.  They even let us stay in the lobby with free drinks to wait for our ride to the airport even if we've already checked out.  This is the best service I've received from a hotel so far.

On to our city tour which I booked through Klook, we were picked up at a little past 8 a.m. to join a group of other tourists who were all very friendly too.  It was a mix of Malaysian-Chinese, Australian, German, Indian, and Korean people.  Our guide, Thanh, spoke good English although his pronunciation could be sometimes off and I had to analyze what he was saying in order to understand him.  He pronounced Burma as "Boomer" and Australia as "Autralia".  He was really funny with his jokes and so it was rather entertaining.

First stop was the Tran Quoc Pagoda.  Some tourists buy small turtles from the vendors outside and then release them into the lake because of a belief that if they do that, they can live a very long life.

Buddha tree from India

Do note that wearing sleeveless clothing is not allowed inside the temple and be prepared to remove your shoes before going in.

Next stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  It's a little like our Luneta Park.  Sadly, the mausoleum was under renovation and we weren't allowed to go in and see President Ho Chi Minh's remains.

Thanh then took us on a tour of the palace grounds to see the Presidential Palace built by the French.  We saw the house where President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1954 until 1958 and also his cars.  We weren't allowed to go in the house though.

Little Buddha trees scattered all around the lake

Pomelo trees

You can buy souvenir items before exiting the palace grounds.

Next, we went to the Museum of Ethnology to take a peek into the lives of the various ethnic groups in Vietnam.

The entrance to the indoor museum starts with pictures of the 54 different tribes in Vietnam.

There really wasn't much to see inside the museum, and it was pretty boring.  The exhibit outside the museum was more interesting and more interactive.  Again, be prepared to remove your shoes before going in the wooden houses.

One of their tombs

We got to take a tour inside this very long house where families used to live together.

 

Believe me, it was easier to go up than down!

It was already past noon when we finished exploring, and everybody thought lunch would be next.  Much to our Korean companions' dismay, we had to stop over at a lacquerware shop before we could have lunch.  We were all so very hungry already!

Upon first glance, the lacquerware shop didn't seem like much.  There were lots of artwork like this one below all around the place.  At first I thought they were just ordinary paintings on glass, but when the shop's guide started explaining how each artwork was done, I started to appreciate them.  Imagine, they were all made by hand using crushed eggshells, crushed oyster shells pieced together like a puzzle.  I wanted to take some home but they were so expensive and not to mention bulky.  Definitely wouldn't fit in my suitcase.

Finally, lunch time!  We went to Blue Butterfly for lunch.  Thanh informed us that their travel agency also owns the restaurant.

It was a cozy restaurant with very nice decor.

We had grilled fish, green papaya salad, chicken with lemongrass, mixed vegetables, and rice.

We were seated five people per table and shared the food.  Beverages were not included so if you want something more than water, you'd have to pay for that.

After lunch, our last stop was Quoc Tu Giam to see Confucius' temple, the Temple of Literature.

There were a lot of graduating students roaming about having their pictures taken wearing the traditional Ao Dai.

Stone steles where successful graduates have their names engraved on.

Confucius' Temple

It was an enjoyable experience with APT Travel (no, they're not affiliated with the one in Australia).  Touring these places without Thanh would've been boring.  What made it come alive was his input of information about the places we visited and the other tourists in the group who were all very nice and friendly.  We were lucky the weather was nice.  It wasn't too sunny and not too cloudy.  When you go, be prepared to get sweaty with all the walking and also wear shoes that would be easy to remove since you'll be doing a lot of that.  Best to wear socks so your feet won't get dirty.

That's it for our one-day Hanoi tour!  Stay tuned for my next post of our Ha Long Bay cruise.  Hope I can find the time to finish it ASAP.  Tạm biệt!  That's goodbye in Vietnamese.