Awesome Hanoi, Vietnam #5 Hoa Lu-Tam Coc

We woke up at 6am to get ready for our next tour to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. As usual, we had our breakfast at the hostel and waited for our tour guide to pick us up at the lobby.

Breakfast with tea for the second try.

Mr Huan, our tour guide, is a very cute and friendly guy. Although he cannot speak Mandarin, he still can speak a little of many different countries' languages. That morning, we had a Denmark family, a Spanish guy, two guys from France and a USA guy with his Taiwanese wife. It was a 2 hours journey from Hanoi to Hoa Lu. On the way, the tour guide explained about Hoa Lu's history. Hoa Lu was the ancient capitol of Vietnam before the king moved it to Hanoi. Hanoi, means inside the river. According to the tour guide, the king saw a dragon ascended from the Red River and hence, he decided to move the capitol to Hanoi as he believed this will bring prosperity.

We visited the temples of the kings of two different dynasties. The temples were built dedicated to the kings for their great contribution to the country. The two dynasties were Le Dynasty and Dinh Dynasty. Dinh Dynasty came after the Le Dynasty. We were also told by the tour guide that King Dinh was the son of otter.

Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam.

Temple of the Linh dynasty.

Temple of the Dinh dynasty with our tour guide.

After the visit to the two temples, we proceeded to Tam Coc to have our buffet lunch. There were many different types of food in the buffet. However, the mutton was recommended by the tour guide and it was really good. I liked the vegetable soup, too!

We went for a boat cruise at the lake after lunch. We had to split and I had to join another tourist for the boat trip as one boat can only accommodate two people. I shared a boat with the Spanish guy. Although I had some hard time understanding his English, we had a nice chat along the trip. It was a very long journey on the boat before we got back to land.

My companion for the boat trip, Roberto.

Beautiful scenery in Tam Coc.

Next, we had a chance to cycle around the village. It had been a month since I last cycled in my campus. This one was definitely a different feeling. We enjoyed the wind blowing at our face and the scenery in the village.

We were ready to cycle!

Around 4pm, we had to leave Tam Coc and get back to Hanoi. Tam Coc is a very nice place. Although the boat trip was a very long journey and made me feel bored, I still have to admit that it is an awesome place! The scenery was way better than Halong Bay. It made me feel closer to nature. However, the weather was as usual, very hot.

When we reached Hanoi at 7pm, we went to Hoan Kiem Lake for dinner. We were scheduled to watch the famous water puppet show at 8pm that night.

Hoan Kiem Lake is an amazing place in Hanoi, especially at night. I was amazed by the citizens there with  their night life. But still, no one can guarantee that it will be 100% safe, especially at night. We were "lucky" enough to encounter a pick-pocket. Luckily, Kuan realized it before the pick-pocket had any chance to take anything from her. Phew!

The people behind the scene for the water puppet show.

A night at Hoan Kiem Lake.

It was our last night in Hanoi but we did not spend enough time to really look around because our schedule was too pack. It was a regret. Hanoi is an amazing place to visit. I wish I can come back again one day.

So long, beautiful Tam Coc!

For more pictures, click here.

Awesome Hanoi, Vietnam #4 Halong Bay

After a two days one night trip in Sapa, we were ready for our next tour to Halong Bay. We reached Hanoi early in the morning at 5am on 5th August, 2013. We were to take a taxi back to the hostel. When we reached the hostel, it was CLOSED! All the shops were closed! We had no choice but to sit in front of the hostel and wait for it to open. People might be thinking, wouldn't it be very dangerous to sit by the street early in the morning when the sky was still dark? Well, all I can say is, it was a really quiet street and you cannot find a single soul walking around. It was more scary that way when we were all alone. Honestly, I felt more relieve when I saw a backpacker walking passed us.

Sitting in front of the hostel.

We decided around while waiting for the hostel to open. We walked to St. Joseph's Cathedral area for another round of photo shooting. We even found a 24 hours shop there and bought some mineral water. We had some bread to fill our stomach and enjoyed the view of sunrise in Hanoi.

St. Joseph's Cathedral at 5am.

After an hour time spent at the church, we went back and saw the French we met in Sapa. Not long after that, the hostel finally open and we quickly entered to take shower and had our breakfast.

Our first breakfast in Central Backpackers Hostel.

Around 9am, our tour guide finally arrived. We took a van to Halong Bay. The journey was 4 hours long. In the van, there were a USA uncle, Singaporean uncle and aunty, a pair of Vietnamese couple, a Canadian and a English. We did not have much interactions with others except for the Singaporeans. Besides, the tour guide was good. He can speak Mandarin and we were glad about that. Haha!

Along the way, we had a short stop at ABC Stopover. Some stopover that I have seen in Shanghai trip. They sell expensive stuff there. It was very hot when we reached Halong Bay. I can feel my skin burning under the hot sun although I had put on some sunblock. We went on a boat and started the tour. We had our lunch on the boat.

On the way to Halong Bay, we saw this famous Long Bien bridge.

Fried spring roll.

Fried egg.

Fresh prawns.

Steamed fish.

We were given two options when we stopped at the dock, either kayak or boat. We chosen a boat cruise around the islets.

The lady rowing the boat.

Boat cruise at Halong Bay.

The floating school.

Our next stop was to visit two caves. We had to climb many flight of stairs to reach the caves.

The first cave.

The second cave.

Around 4pm, the tour ended. We got back to the mainland and took another 4 hours journey back to Hanoi. We stopped at the same stopover again to have our dinner.

Our dinner. I bet pho tasted like this too.

We reached Hanoi around 9pm. After checking-in to our room, we went for a night walk in Hanoi. We crossed and turned into many streets until we thought we were lost. Luckily we had a map with us and found our way back. Before we went back to the hostel, we managed to visit the shop that sells coffee which our tour guide, Linh, recommended us on the first day. We tried the world most expensive coffee - Civet Coffee and bought some.

The lady boss treated us tea.

We bought this one cup of Civet/Weasel Coffee.

Around 11.30pm, we got back to the hostel and rested. Halong Bay has very nice scenery. It is worth a tour if you are a nature lover. However, I wished we have try a few days tour in Halong Bay. Maybe that would be a different and better experience.

Goodbye, Halong Bay~

For more pictures, click here.

Awesome Hanoi, Vietnam #3 Sapa Trekking Tour

On 2nd August, 2013, we took a night soft-sleeper train to Lao Cai at 10pm. It was my first time sleeping in a train. The three of us shared a cabin with a Vietnamese guy. We could not sleep well for the first time and kept on awake because we were not sure when and where the station is. Luckily we met a Malaysian uncle who was in the next cabin that told us we will reach around 6am.

The bunk in the train. Coffee and chocolates drink were served, but not for free.

When we reached Lao Cai, people from Auberge Hotel picked us up. Then, we were on our way to Sapa by van. The journey was 40 minutes long along the mountain road and I felt car sick for it. Along the way, we saw nice scenery in Sapa and the natives walking by the roadside. When we reached the hotel, we can felt the cold and fresh air. We had our breakfast in the hotel and were introduced to our little tour guide, Na.

Na, our little tour guide.

We had to trek 12km to Ta Van village and our home stay that morning in a group of eight. We made some new friends during the trek and got to know our group members during lunch. They were Carolyn (Canada), Murphy (England), three Switzerland guys and three of us from Malaysia.

Scenery of Sapa.

We're in the same group.

Nice valley.

We had another local beer during our lunch.

Our lunch. Simple dish, but tasted good!

Paddy field in the village.

We reached our home stay around 4pm. The weather was very cold since it was raining when we were on our way to the home stay. There was another group of people staying in the same home stay. Six French and four Canadians. We took a shower before we get ready for dinner. Besides, it was a very nice experience to learn how to make spring roll, a Vietnamese dish. We had some rice wine for dinner too! After dinner, we played some games and socializing with the other tourists in the home stay before sleep. 

Our home stay.

Making spring roll for dinner.

Rice wine.

Some games after dinner.

Had a short break from the games and tried on the native's costumes.

We had lots of rice wine the night before and had a very good sleep. Plus, the weather was very cold and comfortable. We woke up early in the morning around 9am to have breakfast and continue our journey. That morning, we had to trek for another 6km to the waterfall. The road to waterfall was less tiring as we took the easy way,  but it was tiring on our way back because we were going uphill. We had our last lunch in the village before heading back to Sapa by van.

Early morning in village after long night rain.

Waterfall.

We had an early dinner at around 4pm before we were ready to get back to Lao Cai. Unfortunately, the van that has to send us to the train station had flat tire and we had to wait for another half an hour. We took the same train back to Hanoi that night. This time we were much more alert with the stations compared to the first time we took the train.

Had lots of fun in the village, especially when we got to know each other from different countries. It was a very good experience. Not to forget that we did a good job in introducing Malaysia to them too! Sapa trek is the best tour we had in the one week trip.

So long, Sapa! Love Sapa lots!

For more pictures, click here.

Awesome Hanoi, Vietnam #2 Hanoi Tour

It was a 3 hours and 20 minutes flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi. We reached Noi Bai International Airport around 8.50am following Vietnam's time.

Noi Bai International Airport

After going through the immigration, we went to pick up our luggage. We waited at the "sushi bar" for our "sushi" for almost an hour. At the end, only we realised that we went to the wrong luggage pick-up counter.

Without wasting any time, we went out to the arrival hall to look for people to pick us up provided by the hostel. Maybe we were late and the person was gone, so we tried to call the hostel. We waited for another 15 minutes and finally got someone to pick us up. It was a long way from the airport to Old Quarters, where our hostel is located.

By the time we reached there, our tour guide was already there waiting for us. Soon after we settled the bookings and payments, we started our tour in Hanoi. We first went to the Water Puppet Theater to buy show tickets. Then, we had lunch. After lunch, we visited Temple of Literature. It was around 20 minutes walk from the hostel. After that, we went to Maison Centrale, the Hao Lu prison. We walked for the whole journey under the hot sun. Around 5pm, we went back to Old Quarters. We saw the famous St. Joseph's Cathedral and had a chilling break with iced lemon tea. Linh introduced a place to buy coffee to us before she left.

Ms Linh, from Hanoi Free Tour Guide.

Our lunch, bun thang.

Banh mi. Bought it on the way to Temple of Literature. Very crispy.

Temple of Literature.

Maison Centrale, also known as Hoa Lu Prison. Built by French.

St. Joseph's Cathedral.

Iced lemon tea.

Hanoi city tour took us around 6 hours. We ended the tour at 5pm. After a long day travelling and walking, we took a nice shower in Central Backpackers Hostel. We had our dinner before preparing ourselves for the next journey to Sapa.

Something like doughnut sold by a Vietnamese lady.

Our first try on local beer.

Evening street in Hanoi.

My dinner, the sweet and sour pork rice.

Lily's fried rice.

Central Backpackers Hostel.

Around 8.30pm, we left the hostel to take a night train to Sapa. Hence, the tour in Hanoi ended and we were going to start a new journey in Sapa.

Goodbye, Hanoi! See you again! And hello, Sapa!

For more pictures, click here.