Hanoi, Hua Hin, Bangkok and some SQ Suites

[RB]

A great writeup of Ha Long Bay.-it seems that the side attractions have stayed similar, the caves, fishers, pearls etc. We actually stayed a few nights on Cat Ba Island-really enjoyed a visit to the Hospital Cave where an old guy spoke & then sang a wonderful song that echoed around. I swam in the waters out there but hadn't read the various stories about sharks before we went.

Plenty of boats prepare for the night off Car Ba Island in 2001
Cat Ba taken from the water

 

[yld200]

When we got back to Hanoi we checked into Meracus Hotel 1 which was rated slightly higher on Trip Adviser than our first hotel. The room was nicer and cleaner than Golden sun Palace but that's about it. The service wasn't as warm and the room was so noisy, you could hear anyone in the hallways and whenever someone walked up or down the stairs you could hear them which was quite disturbing when trying to get some rest.

The room actually came with a laptop which was strange. We didn't use it but some might have found it useful



After settling into the room we ventured out to find some dinner. I had looked up a restaurant on TA called Don Duck. The restraurant was rated highly in Hanoi so we thought we'd check it out.



We had the seafood fried rice, the sauteed shrimp and squid and the duck with mint leaves. The Fried rice was pretty good the other dishes were nothing special. Im not a big fan of duck so others might appreciate the duck more than I did. The also do the big hot pots here which a few people around were getting so that might also might be a good option.


After dinner we walked around the old quarter some more. The beer corner area was very busy with people touting you to go in for beers and restaurants trying to get you in for food. It was very busy here.

I started getting a pretty bad sore throat and started feeling a bit worse for wear after walking around for a while so it was time to retire for the night.

 

[love_the_life]

Hope the sore throat did not develop into anything worse.

 

[yld200]

The next morning while walking down the stairs to have some breakfast I misjudged a step, tripped a little and rolled my ankle really badly. I play soccer and have never hurt my ankle this bad. I tried to soldier on and go get some food but my head started spinning and I felt like I was about to pass out so had to hobble back to the room. After a bit of rest, ice, putting the feet up and neurofen I was ready for food again. Breakfast at this place had a small buffet area with some rice dishes, toasts and eggs your way. It was good enough to get you going in the morning.

After a bit more rest we took an uber to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The trip took 23 minutes and cost around 63K VND (~$4).

Entrance to the museum cost 40K vnd by memory so it was very cheap. At the museum they go through the different ethnicity groups of Vietnam, how they live and some history of each. Part of the museum was closed for renovations but each display had a description in English which helped. A tour guide who knew a bit of the history would have made it easier to get through otherwise you find yourself reading a lot. We ended up skipping past a lot of things due to this. The ankle was holding up well at this point and I could feel it starting to swell.





Theres also an outdoor area with examples of houses that each of the different ethnicity groups live in.



After walking around for a while we found some wifi and ordered another uber to take us to some cafes near the Hanoi Prison. This journey cost basically the same. I had found uber very convenient in Hanoi, cars everywhere and willing to do short trips.

We sat done at a place called Cong Ca Phe which was a bit more of a cooler style cafe place. The crowd was young and a little bit more hipster which was cool. We had a dish of noodles which was like 2 minute noodles and amazing, a croissant with condensed milk, I also had an iced chocolate drink and the wife had a hot coffee.

 

[yld200]

After our coffee break we went to the Hanoi Prison or locally know as the Hanoi Hilton. Entry was cheap again only something like 40K vnd per person.



Once you walk into the prison you immediately feel the sombre atmosphere. The first section takes you through the history with the French. There's a womens section and the death row cells which aswell.





The second section goes through the Amercian history with the American attacks and POWs.

Overall we enjoyed and appreciated the recent history the Vietnam including the French involvement. A good was to spend an hour or two which is walkable from Hanoi old quarter.

We then walked back to the hotel to get some rest as the ankle was starting to hurt again. Some more sight seeing along the way.

 

[yld200]

I downed some pain killers and it was time for a food tour! I went off Trip Advisor and booked with Hanoi Street Food Tour. Cost is $20 usd per person for a walking tour and they also offer scooter options as well. We met our guide Cherry @ 5pm. She was lovely but her English wasn't great, it did the job though. She didn't really understand us when we spoke but we made it work.

We don't eat pork so this was substituted where possible.

First up was a North Vietnam Specialty - Bun Cha. It's a dish of port, carrot, papaya served with a side of rice noodles. We had a vegetarian spring roll with ours. Delicious.


Second dish was a Dried Beef Salad - Amazing, fresh, zesty and tasty. There was a second dish of pork and mushroom dumplings. We gave those a miss.


Next was rolled pancake dish with rice and pork. We had egg instead of the pork. This dish was very tasty.



Next up were some fried dumplings and a lemon drink. I think we had the Shrimp cake, sweet donut and salty donut but it was hard to understand Cherry. Either way, a win again with the food.

 

[yld200]

Another soup / noodle dish, this time with fish I think? Snail was also optional - I tried it was very rubbery and similar taste / texture to duck. I'm not a fan. This dish on its own great.



Time for some dessert - I don't think I took photos here apart from the entrance (I think I'm missing some photots, I'll update if I find them). I had a black rice pudding which was amazing, light and not too sweet.


Beer time at the beer corner.


We then went to the last stop which was a place where we had a Banh Mi (Baguette with pork) we had egg in ours and it was delicious. We also had some egg coffee here and rice wine.

Overall it was a great way to experience local food without worrying too much about what to order or if you're eating something safe. Got to meet some other people on the tour which is always nice - our group was 10 people.

A summary Cherry wrote down for us of what we ate.



After this we just wandered around the city some more until my ankle and throat / head cold had enough

 

[yld200]

Hope the sore throat did not develop into anything worse.

It just progressed into a head cold with congestion, swollen throat and then a cough. I still have a slight cough 2 weeks later

 

[moa999]

Great photos of the street food tour. Night I did mine it poured heavily the whole time which made things interesting.

No photos of the tiny stools !

 

[yld200]

This morning we woke up and didn't want to get at the hotel so decided to go for a walk down to an area with backpacker places and ate the Hanoi Social club which is a bar / cafe style place.



We had potato fritters and french toast. Food was ok but nothing too memorable. Coffee was great though.



After brekky we went for a bit of a walk and then made our way back to the hotel and packed most of our things in preparation for check out. Since we had some more time to kill we decided to go for a massage (I did anyway). We found a place in the old quarter - Marguerite Spa - that had good ratings on Trip Advisor. I got a 1 hour massage and the wife got a mani pedi. Massage was 490k vnd and mani pedi was 300k vnd. We also got a 10% discount being happy hour which is between 9am-12pm.

Massage was ok, place was nice and clean with 4 beds in the massage room. I was the only one in there at the time. SO also enjoyed her mani-pedi which lasted her quite a while. Not bad for around AU $40.

After some more exploring we came to Banh Mi 25. We had the chicken option which was delicious. Great roll for under $2.


Time for our last coffee in Vietnam. I had my last egg coffee, the SO opted for a traditional hot black coffee.

 

[yld200]

After our coffee it was time to check out of our room. Our driver arrived at 2pm on the dot to take us to the airport. It was a funny journey, a section of the hwy was closed as they were putting up some decoration for new year - greet time to do it guys! - so everyone was had to detour off the fwy. Our driver looking concerned just decided to go left instead of right at the exit ramp - which happened to be another hwy - and drive into oncoming traffic with his hazard lights on to the next exit which took him back onto the fwy after the road closure. Typical Vietnam!!!!

Some final thoughts on Vietnam. I loved it, the food, the people, the culture it all just felt right to me. I definitely want to come back some day.

Some final few shots.

 

[yld200]

We were flying on QR835 HAN-BKK which continues onto DOH. This was a paid flight which cost around $150. Checking in was easy, straight to the OLCI counter to drop our bags off. I cheekily asked if there were any upgrades available and after a few calls I was told it would cost $475 usd each. Not worth it for a 2 hour flight.

We cleared customs and went airside. I connected up to the wifi to check if there was a priority pass lounge I had access to, no luck. I then remembered I signed up to some other offer... what was it called?? quick scan through my emails, ahh DragonPass. Success, access to the Vietnam Airways Lounge. Up we went to the lounge.

A nice comfortable lounge to spend some time in. There are plenty of seating areas which almost all have power points, a resting area for those who wish to take a nap, showers and a smoking room. The lounge was pretty empty around 3.30pm



Food options were nothing special so I just sat down with a beer and some prawn crackers.


Boarding went ok, we were in seats 11A and B which is one behind the bulkhead seats. Our flight pushed back at 5.25 but had to wait for 3 other planes taking off before ours, take off was at 5.40pm.

I noticed what looked like around 20 jets of some sort in hangers while we were taking off. Tried to get some shots on the iPhone but there were quite a distance away.



The flight was pretty easy going and a snack was offered which was a chicken pie and a sweet pastry of some sort. Both were pretty good.


Somewhere between Hanoi and Bangkok.


Landed in Bangkok at 7.22pm and clearing immigration was easy. We had a horrible time clearing immigration in coughet 2 years ago so weren't sure what to expect. Immigration lines were pretty empty, only 3 or 4 people infront of us and we were out waiting for our bags before you knew it.

I had organised a driver to Hua Hin through recommendations on Trip Advisor. I emailed Mr Roong let him know all of our flight details and the driver was waiting. It is not Mr Roong it's drivers he has working for him. We had a young guy called Kek and he must've thought he was a F1 driver. Once we cleared Bangkok he was weaving in and out of traffic doing 100-120 kph, i was pretty worried but we made it there in one piece. He asked for a tip when we got there so I gave him something small (didn't have any other change) and said next time drive slower.

Dinner was some potato chips and banana bread from 7-eleven $2 dinner - I like!

We would be staying at the Rest Detail Hua Hin for 4 nights. We arrived just after 11 pm by memory and check in was easy. Staff was friendly and gave us a refreshing drink on our arrival.

Time for sleep!

PS - my ankle was still sore and swollen at this point. The sitting down for 3 hours in the car didn't help the situation. My foot felt like it weighed an extra 5 kg at this point.

 

[GDSman]

Loved the Hanoi TR - I'm right in the middle of planning a trip and you've given me some great tips...thanks

 

[yld200]

Found some more of the food tour photos - They went into a different folder on my SD card.

Dumplings with our lemon tea


Dessert


Banh Mi with egg


Rice win shots and egg coffee

 

[yld200]

Back to Hua Hin...

Our Room was the basic Rest Green Room on level 4 of the building which is the top level. The room was very spacious, clean and felt very comfortable.

The Room photos were taken on the night we arrived.

 

[yld200]

We were up early for breakfast and headed down to the restaurant.

Breakfast was nice, there were plenty of options ranging from cold cuts and cheese, cereals, breads for toast including pastries, noodles, stir fry, thai coffee, bacon, sausages and an egg station with a chef to cook eggs how you like them which I've found to be a standard sort of thing at most asian hotels now. After brekky we took a stroll around the resort. It's not a very large resort and has a few different buildings which house the different rooms.

The view from our 4th floor - Not our our room view, our balcony looked out the side. There are 2 rooms that would have had ocean views. We weren't luck enough to get one.


The main pool area which is also part of one of the restaurants.


Another pool which is exclusive to those with the higher end pool rooms. This is one of the photos that sucked us into this place without realising it was only for certain guests. Oh well.

 

[yld200]

The hotel offers a few shuttles a day into Hua Hin city centre which is a 15 minute drive from the hotel. Options are 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm & 8pm

We booked the 11am shuttle to go into town for a little bit. It was NYE and the road into town was very busy, traffic was very congested. We made it to the clock tower nonetheless and took a stroll around.

Some of the local places down the ocean end getting ready for the night


We walked around for about an hour and had an icy drink to keep us cool. We walked through the fresh food market which had all kinds of seafood for sale. A few places selling fireworks as well.



It was time for a massage so we went to a place called Thani Thai which is on one of the main streets ocean side. I got a 1 hour thai massage for 250 baht ($10) and the wife got a facial. Place was very clean and professional, one of the women noticed my swollen foot and gave it a light massage with some tiger balm while we waited to get ready. The massages are done upstairs and you lay on a mattress which is on the floor. There are around 9 beds with and all except 1 were taken when we arrived.



The massage was great and I would definitely recommend this place.

We hopped back onto the shuttle 2.15 to take us back to the hotel. We chilled by the pool for a while and then had a little nap before dinner. I was still being knocked around by the cold so the rest helped

 

[yld200]

Dinner was a special NYE seafood buffet with a live band playing. They had set up tables all around the pool and buffet stations around the tables. Cost was 1500 baht per person which is probably expensive by Thailand standards but you're in a resort and it is NYE so it is what it is.

We had a table down by the water which was away from the main tables. It made it feel nice and private.



The food was delicious - So many options. Options off the top of my head were; sushi, salads, prawn coughtails, duck, satay, fresh BBQ seafood, pasta, noodles, stir fry, roast and then many dessert options. I stuck to mainly seafood and was well and trully stuffed by the end of the night.





We both felt pretty tired after all this food so we celebrated the new year on Melbourne time and went to bed

None of the fireworks or noises woke us up which was good

 

[yld200]

The following morning we were up early to join the Merit Making ceremony to start the new year. The hotel brought in some monks who revised some prayers and the guests then gave gifts to the monks to take away.

 

[yld200]

Loved the Hanoi TR - I'm right in the middle of planning a trip and you've given me some great tips...thanks

Thanks GDSman! Vietnam is a lot of fun