hanoi-halong bay. nov 2007

Day o1 Wednesday 7 Nov 07

We arrived in the evening, chucked our bags at our hotel and headed out to hunt for food. we settled on this place that served vietnamese food and beer, and which looked crowded enough to assume the food was good.

browsing the menu outside the dinner place

browsing the menu at the dinner table

still browsing the menu

Day o2 Thursday 8 Nov 07

Exploring Hanoi's Old Quarter and 36 Streets before moving on to St Joseph's Church, followed by the area around Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

bunch of kindergarten kids getting ready for their excursion

alley stall

stopped by The Green Tangerine to make reservations for dinner

umbrellas & motorcycles

every time we crossed the road, we'd be like 'yay, we did it again!'

brunch at Little Hanoi, our favourite little cafe

decisions, decisions...

waiting for our food to arrive

laiyeow & ivan

startled for no apparent reason...

our pretty looking drinks arrive

almost vietnamese

surely vietnamese

sidewalk cafe

st joseph's church

nice graphic t-shirt shop opposite the church

i don't know what is it about this wide parade square but i liked walking along it

outside Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, unfortunately it was closed for renovations

i think its the amount of space after having dodged all the motorbikes on the little streets in the Old Quarter, perhaps

comrade laiyeow

and fellow comrades

took some pictures and went back to the St Joseph's Church area to have a very late lunch

we found this cozy little pizza place and stuffed ourselves silly

roaming the streets around the area

Hoan Kiem Lake in the evening

i can't remember if these two were fishing by the lake but there were lots of pyjama clad vietnamese doing all kinds of body stretching exercises around the lake

stopped by Bobby Chinn's to make advance reservations for dinner on our last night

back to The Green Tangerine for dinner

i loved dining in the courtyard of this restaurant. the beef cheeks that i had was excellent!

Hanoi Elegance 2, thats us in our hotel room with a window overlooking the main lobby

admiring my favourite souvenior - i just love looking at it

Day o3 Friday 9 Nov 07

Off to our 2 day cruise in Halong Bay

waiting for our transport to Halong Bay

setting sail on board our Halong Bay cruise boat

taking an afternoon nap

teik & ivan enjoying the sea breeze

getting ready to disembark

inside the sungsot caves

below: thats our bunk aboard our junk boat cruise

halong bay was stunning and it was a nice change from the crowded little streets of hanoi

we loved the multiple layering effect of the rock formations against the blue skies

halong bay at sunset

Day o4 Saturday 10 Nov 07

2nd Day of our Halong Bay Cruise

waiting for sunrise at the top deck in my pjs

teik photographing the sunrise

ivan wishing laiyeow was next to him

breakfast with our shipmates, Richard & Malee

sailing back to mainland late afternoon and transferred to another hotel just down the street cos Hanoi Elegance 2 was overbooked

we had a splendid authentic dinner of grilled fish with herby vegetables and rice noodle at Cha Ca La Vong. This place is so famous they only serve one dish and customers come streaming in even though the shop facade looks pretty dodgy. unfortunately my camera batt was flat so i don't have pics of the place

dessert & drinks at Little Hanoi after dinner

Day o5 Sunday 11 Nov 07

Picking up from where we left off in Hanoi before Halong Bay

we went back to the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum area and visited the One Pillar Pagoda, which wasn't quite like the pagoda we imagined

we decided to check out the Ho Chi Minh Museum since we didn't get to see the Mausoleum

resting outside the museum before our next destination

walked about 25 minutes to the Temple of Literature, thought this sidewalk along the periphery walls of the temple felt rather frenchie french until ivan pointed out that we shouldn't walk too close to the wall cos people peeed onto the wall

loved this shot which ivan took of laiyeow at the Temple of Literature

another place we were recommended to go to for vietnamese food was Quan An Ngoc which i thought was very nice too

i have no idea what i just ordered

at the outdoor seating area for dessert

loved this composition by cheryl

visited the Hoa Lo Prison, which of course is no longer an active prison

behind the prison walls...

voila! there's ivan

laiyeow needs a cigarette

since we couldn't afford the room rates at the Soffitel Metropole, we settled for afternoon tea instead

haha thats the nearest i'd ever get to an LV bag

Opera House, we were daunted by the traffic to try and get to it

quaint little sidewalk bookshop

dream of the red chamber

back to Bobby Chinn's for our extravagant dinner on our last night here

13 kinds of Chef's Specialties

5 satisfied diners before heading to the Water Puppet Theatre for our 9.15pm show, after which we hung out at Papa Joe's for supper and drinks and talked about dying traditions

Day o6 Monday 12 Nov 07

scrambling to take in a bit more before our noon flight out of hanoi

house at No. 87, Ma May Street

picking up some last minute souveniors

customary farewell photo at hoan kiem lake on our last morning

cheryl & teik on the bridge

thats all folks!

Featuring Travel Buddies: LaiYeow, Ivan, Cheryl, TeikGuan