Halong Bay, Vietnam - 28 & 29 Nov 2009

Happy birthday, Fata! :)

To start, the bus pick-up to Halong Bay was 20 minutes late, 'cos there was a delay at one of the earlier pick-up places. Oh well...

The drive to Halong Bay was supposed to take about 3+hours, but there was standstill traffic at a road, and all the buses heading for Halong Bay made u-turns. Oh well...

Reaching the tourist-laden pier for our Halong Bay cruise, had to take a connecting smaller boat to the larger overnight boat, very much like the connecting boats we take to Kaleebso :)

We we lucky yo get on Phoenix Cruises' largest boat, the room was tight but comfortable. The bathroon had a rain shower too. Nice :)

I didn't like the set-up in the dining area, not at all flexible, they have more tables then are set up, and people are made to play musical chairs to accomodate families and couples... Lunch was not good, and we soon found out that all the meals weren't any good at all :(

After lunch, we took the smaller boat to a cave walkabout. Pretty, but nothing extraordinary. oh well...

Instead of heading back to the boat, Allan had asked the guide to bring us to buy some seafood for our dinner. At a small collection of floating houses, there were a few nets of fish, cuttlefish and crab. Allan decided to buy 5 large black-shelled clams and 6 small matis shrimps, all for 350,000 / US$20 / SG$30.

It was really sweet at dinner time when the boat presented Fata with a birthday cake & flowers. And another couple who were there on their honeymoon, also got cake & flowers. The rest of the evening was spent chatting with Kurt & Evie from Belgium.

The next day was quite a rush, 7am - breakfast, 8am - kayaking & 9am - springroll making class. Breakfast wasn't any good, as usual. Kayaking was uninteresting as we went to places where the main boat had gone before, plus the guide didn't tell us what we were supposed to do, nor provide any instructions on kayaking [like getting in / out of the kayak, how to paddle... all they keep telling us is to NOT loose the paddles 'cos they're US$20 each :( ]

When we were rushed back to the main boat, we were given 15mins to freshen up and check out 'cos the rooms had to be cleaned... oh well...

Thankfully, the springroll making class was somewhat fun. By the way, did I mention that the large boat that we were on had engine probolems overnight? The 3 couples going for the 2-night cruise had to be transferred to another boat... oh well...

Oh yes, the springrolls... while the class went on, we noticed that a boat had pulled up on either side of us to tow us back to the pier. It was interesting to see the differences between the 3 boats. Ours was definitely the biggest, with an extra level.

The boat on our right (starboard side) was filled with very hungover looking young people. The boat on our left (port side) was filled older people wearing big hats :P

I feel that Halong Bay is in the same category as the Water Puppet Show, a one-time deal. But we met people who have been to Halong Bay multiple times :) oh well...

This trip to Halong Bay reminds me of the getaway we had in Sentosa earlier this year, but at least this one's in-and-out in 24 hours :P

5 Bookmarks Worth Of 'Wisdom'

5 days of Melia Hotel, Hanoi bookmarks:

(1) The world is full of willing people - some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

(2) Success is not doing extraordinary things, but doing thing extraordinarily well.

(3) The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.

(4) Experience is the name people give to their mistakes.

(5) Don't take life too seriously - you will never get out of it alive.

By the way, what is up with Facebook in Hanoi? Can't log in since yesterday :(

A Tale Of Two Travelers

On our trip to Sapa, Pea & I met 2 people, 2 men traveling alone to the Sapa.

The first guy, we met in the dining cabin of Victoria Express (US$170 return) on the way to Sapa. He was already there when we got there, and we stopped to chat. He's English, traveling alone (had a train cabin all to himself, expensive...) to Sapa. Been to many southeast-Asian countries before and will be visiting more after Sapa.

We bumped into him at Victoria Hotel, so he was staying there too. (Rate rates start st US$215).

At the train station for the train back to Hanoi, we chatted again. He said that he had a guide all to himself, and that he had gone further than some falls... He also said that he had a cobra. To eat. The heart, the gall bladder, then the snake was cooked in 6 ways.

After Sapa, this first guy's off to even more places to see even more things. We had bumped into him at the Lao Cai station waiting for the train back to Hanoi.

The second guy we met was at the first dinner we had at Sapa Global Hotel. He is Chinese-American, and he spoke in Mandarin with us at dinner. He's a retired professor, and he was in Vietnam for a conference in Hanoi on Sunday. The professor said that he bought his Sapa trip from the tourism desk at the airport in Hanoi.

For US$130, he got the overnight train to and from Sapa & Hanoi (we didn't ask which class), a couple of nights at Sapa Global Hotel and the half day treks, plus the transfers to and from the Lao Cai station and Sapa.

The professor was leaving Sapa the day after we left, after Hanoi's conference, he's going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then meeting his wife and daughter somewhere in China, then he's going somewhere else again...

Note: Not all hotels in Sapa have heating... and Sapa Global Hotel has no heating... you have to ask to either electric blankets, a heater, or just loads more blankets!

I find these 2 gentlemen very interesting 'cos the first guy looks 60+ and traveling alone using the expensive route & having a whale of a time. The professor is retired so maybe a little older than the first guy, but also traveling alone and using the more budgeted route and still have a great time. I think they're both really cool, I just hope that when I get to their age I'll still able to do such things :) Thank you for having met them both :)

Hanoi, Vietnam - 27 Nov 2009, Friday

In the morning after Fata was left for his conference, Pea & I wandered out of the hotel towards the old church looking for a french cafe Fata said he saw, for breakfast. We got all the way to the grouchy-lady sandwich shop, but still no french cafe, so we just walked down this street and stopped at a little cafe for an omelette and bread breakfast.

In the menu, I saw 'Dance On Ice', I asked the lady taking our order what it was, she said something I didn't understand, but for 15,000 dong, I figured let's give it a go. :P

A tall goblet filled with white cream, a dash of brown liquid & crushed ice. I took a sip and the taste was not pleasant, it was like something had gone bad in the glass! hahaha... tasted the brown liquid and it tasted like strong coffee. Oh well, I order an iced chocolate. The omelettes were ok, they came with 2 fresh rolls each.

After finishing all the food, and the ice had melted more in the glass of 'dance on ice' I attempted it again. When the same lady came back to clear our plates, she asked if I like it, I gave her a decided 'no'. Then she said that there was coconut, coffee and xxx in it. The xxx we didn't get... Anyhow, when we paid the check, we were enlightened!

The xxx was yoghurt!!! 'Dance on Ice' = yoghurt + coconut + dash of espresso + crushed ice!

The next hour or so was spent wandering around whichever street looked appealing to us :) That was when we chanced on 'Boo', a local street wear brand. Very cute t-shirts... Pea got 2 and I got 1 as a present for Tua Tao.

It was getting hot, and again the honking was getting to us again, so we strolled back to the hotel to wait for Fata to finish up with his conference.

When Fata found out that we couldn't find the french cafe earlier, he suggested that we find it and have have lunch there. Off we went again towards to old church... 3rd time today...

Oh well, had to look down a couple of street but we found it! It's called Paris Cafe, and there's another one called Moca Cafe just across the street from it. We shared an onion soup, a spaghetti puttanesca and a beef bourgignon. I had a chocolate-orange frappuccino, Fata had a lemon freeze & coke, and poor pale Pea had an earl grey tea.

There we chatted with the table of 4 next to us, there was a Singaporean, one from China, one from Hong Kong & I think the 4th one from Malaysia? It was like Asia at one table :) They recommended the best beef pho in Hanoi, some little stall that has only 2 tables and only one dish = beef pho! We recommended to them that place where we had our foot massage yesterday.

We vacated when the parisian cafe lost it's parisian flavor when a loud tour group entered. Walked down the street to get more name cards from the massage place, and we stopped at a shop (where Fata had gone a few times before, also just opposite the grouchy-lady sandwich shop. We bought more stuff for family before walking back to our hotel.

But a little alcove caught my eye, there was a bright red spiral staircase at the end of the short corridor. In we went, up the stairs.

A quaint store of propaganda inspired t-shirts, mugs, dolls, magnets, stickers... very cute :) I got a t-shirt, stickers, a boat magnet (for my granny), & a silver pendant/ring. The first shopping for myself :)

I wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner as Fata's birthday was the next day, and Pea birthday's 9th Dec, wanted to buy them a nice meal. We all took a cab to Metropole Hotel (5-star and VERY fancy, with lots of huge brand name stores lining the hotel), and walked around the available restaurants.

Saw the very fancy La Beaudieu (spelling?) at the Metropole Hotel, but with main courses costing about 600,000 dong, we figured we give this one a miss. Walked to the Opera Club and the Press Club across the street, and ended up at Nineteen 11 on the side of the Opera House.

There were 2 menus, one for the al fresco dining with pasta & pizzas, one for the restaurant buried in one side of the Opera House. Pea has the pumpkin soup with foie gras dumpling & orange duck. Fata had the prawns with Sapa mushrooms and lamb. I had the prawn bisque with sea bass. It was on the whole a very yummy meal.

But the service though good, the staff kept brushing into my bag which was hung from the corner of my chair, even with my arm over my bag, the waiter still brushed past... Plus, there were 3 bones in my sea bass :( I would've never expected any bones in a sea bass served in a fine dining restaurant :(

Anyhow, Fata & Pea both had a good meal, that was the more important thing.

Hanoi, Vietnam - 26 Nov 2009, Thursday

The train reached Hanoi at about 5:30am. Our Hanoi tour co-ordinator had told us when we left for Sapa, to not worry, that we will have a transfer from the train station back to the hotel. Well, after wondering around for about 10 mins, I called the dude at 5:45am. He asked us to take our own taxi back to the hotel and not pay more than US$2 for the trip.

Ok... we did not have the hotel name card, nor did we have the address of the hotel written anyway, how to get any of the cab drivers to send us to the correct hotel? We went up to a cabby and said - Melia? He said Mah-lia... next...

2nd cabby, we said - Melia? He said - Mah-lia?

Okay... pen on palm I wrote - Melia... cabby sees it and says - Mah-lia... hahaha... toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe... we made it back to the hotel for US$3. :)

I took a shower and went to bed 'til about 8am. Three of us went out and had beef pho for breakfast just a block from the hotel.

Then started the search for propaganda posters for my colleague. Followed by a 70min foot massage at a place opposite the grouchy-lady sandwich shop.

A super light lunch was at a local fry-up at a street stall just to the side of the old church. It was a dish of fried shapes, in different sizes, with a plate of greens and 3 bowls of clear dipping sauce. It basically the same filling, but with different 'packaging'. Some in rolls, some wrapped in bread, some squares...

We planned to have dinner at Koto. Took the cab from the hotel and we ended up paying the cab driver 10x the cab fare :( stupid mistake = one very happy cab driver...

Anyhow, Koto was good. I had Bun Cha (pronounced: Boon Cha), a local street food, with small BBQ patties & BBQ pork slices, with cut noodles and a clear dipping sauce. All for a good cause. Run by an Australian NGO to take street kids off the street, & teach them a skill.

The water puppet show was next. The tickets were 60,000 dong each for the 1-hour show. Yes, absolute front seats are good... It is a must-see from a cultural point of view. :P good thing it was only about an hour long...

The evening was whiled away in the Illy Cafe, on the 5th floor of the KFC/seafood building. It's very pretty being high up above the traffic, though you're still exposed to the beeping horns, with a cup of coffee. :) There goes another day on Hanoi...

Sapa -> Hanoi, Vietnam - 25 Nov 2009, Wednesday

Victoria Hotel breakfast was alright... ended up with some beef pho to warm up before venturing out again. The hotel's main building is pretty with many fireplaces. Very cozy and comfortable.

We had to check out before the trek but we could use the facilities before leaving for the overnight train back to Hanoi.

An old army jeep, very spartan, drove us down to the 2+km of concrete road we were supposed to walk down from Sapa town to the path to the Black H'mong tribe, stopping along way to snap beautiful shots of the terraced rice fields.

As we got off our jeep, Ha said to speak Mandarin in light of the groups of Black H'mong women just outside the vehicle. There were so many, Ha had to ask them to move back to just open the jeep door. :P

Ha was right! A smattering of Mandarin ensured no touts followed you more then 3 meters.

Walking down a bumpy path, lined (often on both sides) all sorts of poo... buffalo poo, piggy poo, doggy poo, chicken poo, ducky poo... lots of poo... Then Ha told us about this plant that grows from pig poo, how appropriate...

We were also showed a plant & leaf which was used for making indigo dye, and if you look around some locals indeed had blue stained hands. There were also a houses which were drying freshly dyed fabric.

At the first school we came across, there was a bright red banner welcoming 'Pasir Ris Secondary School', a school in Singapore. And to think that only a half hour earlier, Ha said that he had a cancelled trip with a group of 40 students from Singapore, who wanted a whole BBQ black pig for their homestay in Sapa, but they had cancelled with him.

It was very interesting to see how the local people lived, that black h'mong village was home to about 3,000 people (according to Ha). The 2nd village was the Tay (pronounced: tzai).

Lunch was at a homestay, where Ha said he was going to cook. It felt that we got there really early, 'cos he had us sit in the bedroom-kitchen area (where the homestay owners lived, the main larger area was for homestayers) to watch Vietnamese dubbed televisions programs.

Note: up to 20 bed spaces, only one bathroom and only one toilet. Sounds like half of Kaleebso, but Sapa weather at this time of the year feels like in the low to mid 20 celsius in the day, dropping to maybe 10 celsius or lower in the night. The homestays do not appear to have any heating, just lots and lots of blankets :)

Ha carried the stuff for lunch in his backpack, little plastic bags of sliced carrots, sliced lemongrass, cut tomatoes, sliced chicken, sliced pork... Food was in the form of 4 steaming hot home-cooked Vietnamese dishes. :)

Chatted with an American couple, the guy is originally from Colorado, and the couple were staying in Penang for work. They also referred to Fransipans as Fancy-Pants! hahaha...

It was another short walk out of the valley to our jeep, and the same 'dancing road' back to Victoria Hotel. We used the hotel's shower at their heated pool & sauna room at the top of a hill.

Cleaned up, Ha took us to the Wild Orchid in Sapa Town to buy silk cushion covers. :P Be careful what you buy where, 'cos the same silk purses I bought the day before (14 for US$20) were also there for US$3 each :P but we didn't see the US$5 silk cushion covers anywhere else. But, if we walked around a bit more I'm sure we would've found them...

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Mountain View cafe. If only the sun was out like the day before, it was all foggy... We said out thank-yous and good-byes back at the Global Sapa cafe to Ha. With our tip, he left with a smile that went ear-to-ear. :)

Dinner was not great, again... oh well, need to fill up for the overnight train back to Hanoi...

The drive back to the Cao Lai station was in a packed medium-size bus filled with lots of very tall Europeans & Australians... good thing is wasn't a long drive :P

With over 2 hours to waste Pea and I sat at one of the local drinks stalls with a hot sandwich from a street stall.

On the train we met a pair of American ladies, one from Chicago and the other from Texas. They recommended the Water Puppet show, front seats are best. And we should try the Orient Express :)

The rest of the trip back to Hanoi was restful, no dining cabin to hang out in :P

I wonder how the 40+ students in Sapa did in the wintery cold...

Sapa, Vietnam - 24 Nov 2009, Tuesday

We rolled into the station at Lao Cai Town at about 6am? Was drowsy and it was chilly & foggy... Ha, (hahatrekking@gmail.com) our Sapa tour guide, met us with a smile.

We rolled over to a beef pho breakfast with Vietnamese tea (a strong green tea) at a local cafe.

After, Ha located our driver & van, we drove to Coc Ly (pronounced: cock-lee) Market of the Flower H'Mong tribe. It was super crowded with lots of people. There was even a small buffalo market on the side. Ha even gave us a quick lesson in selecting buffalo. He said to look at the lick on the buffalo's head, I think he means where the swirly part of the fur. If the lick in in the middle, the buffalo is naughty, not a good worker. And the hooves, the two nails should bend inwards, towards each other, so that the buffalo will have better grip in soft soil & not slip = better worker :) a young buffalo could cost US$150 & up. A mature one, maybe US$700? Anyone wants a buffalo? He also joked that 10 buffaloes = 1 car? :P The trip to Coc Ly was fun, but it only on Tuesdays. There are markets almost everyday of the week, but I heard that the largest one is on Sunday.

At the market, Ha bought ground nuts. Dry ones and steamed ones, he said that they were for the boat ride later. Amidst the commotion it was easy to spot a guy carrying to bags of peanuts. Pea said that it like how some tour guides will carry a flag or an umbrella. our guide was carrying 2 bags of nuts! :P

A short drive from Coc Ly Market, was a ride down a beautiful river in a metal long-tail boat, just, Pea, me, Ha & the boatman. But the tramps down to the boat was a bit far and a wee bit steep. (I'm so out of shape!) The scenery was gorgeous... high slopes with... slow meandering river...

Along the boat ride we stop for a quick village walkabout. We saw people drying corn and casava. Casava, Ha said was some kind of root / tube. Which is fed to buffalo, & the stuff make the animals high... :P so that the buffalo will know their way home. On the way to the boat, Ha bout steamed corn. He said in the village it's 10,000 dong for 5 cobs, in Sapa town it's 1 cob for the same price, and he really likes the stuff.

A piping hot local lunch was at a street side restaurant at the end of the boat ride. Followed by the drive up to Sapa to check into Victoria Hotel, Sapa. The room we had was on the ground floor, with a view of the internal garden. Ha said that he used to work for Victoria Hotel, and it showed. Most people he passed said 'hi'. He said that he had worked his way up to department head, but he left for better prospects elsewhere.

10 minutes to get to our room & freshen up, Ha took us to buy a pair of shoes for me. The pair of 4/5 year-old Salomon boots had part of the base already slipping off, (no amount of elastic bands will keep that part of the sole to the boot) and Ha said that they will not last the walking the next day. After about 20 minutes of hopping shop to shop, with no luck, we also failed at locating the shoe-repair-person. When all seemed lost, Ha took us to Fransipans Hotel to rent a pair of Asics runner for US$2 for a day.

Crisis averted, we were led down another short cut to the lake in Sapa Town. Beautiful, plus we were really lucky to have the sun out with a luxurious blue sky. I felt like I was somewhere in northern Europe. Nice :)

Ha told us about the Fransipans (the tallest mountain in Sapa), he said that the champion did the return route in 1h5m, he did it once in 9 hours with 1 hour of rest in the middle, regular fit people will take 20 hours, but I will take 40 hours... hhhmmm... not impressed... He also said that ChauLong Hotel's really good too, and way less pricey as Victoria Hotel.

With the lay of the land in mind, Ha left us to our own devices. Pea & I wandered around and ended up at one of the cafes along the lake. Then we strolled around the town and I bought 14 silk purses (flat, about hand length with zip) for US$20. Those purses are meant for most of the women in my life :P

We also walked around the few streets and the center market of local tribal-ware. The sun was out so we had great views of the surrounding moutains. Really pretty...

Dinner was at Sapa Global Hotel ('cos our Sapa-based tour was arranged with out Hanoi co-ordinator Minh Tien [Michael]. Not great, but the soup was hot and the rice was hot. :) Ha gave us the rundown of the group trek the next day, we were supposed to walk a total of 12km, starting at 730am and finishing at 430pm.

Uh... I don't think so... We opted to pay him an extra US$40 to drive us part of the way there and back, and trek easy routes to visit 2 tribes (instead of 3). The black h'mong and the tay tribes.

Back at out hotel, we turned in early 'cos we didn't much sleep on the train & we were supposed to start our stroll at 9am.

Before I forget to mention this, Ha was learning Mandarin, so we used bits of it with him, it was fun. PLUS! he said when approached by tribes-people selling their wares, just speak Mandarin, they will back off 'cos they don't understand the language. Ha said that most tribes-people can speak fluent French and English, so Mandarin was our line of defense :) We saw tourists swarmed by 6-8 people at a time and we didn't want to get caught in such a situation.

Hanoi -> Sapa, Vietnam - 23 Nov 2009, Monday

Our Hanoi tour agent got us from the Melia hotel lobby at 7:30pm, plonked us into a cab and headed for the train station. We were so early, the Victoria Train staff weren't even there yet, the train was at 9:50pm, but we had to be there an hour ahead to collect the tickets. But! we were there at 7:50pm :P

We were handed over to another guy at the train station who had pointed to a couple of seats, and said 'don't go anywhere', he was supposed to tell us when the Victoria Train was ready. Good thing Pea and I are quite good at doing nothing, so the couple of hours went by quite quickly.

The time came for our overnight train to Sapa, and the train station guy lead us out of the waiting area, across several train tracks and down a long platform in the chilly night. The Victoria Train is actually just different cabins hooked on the existing train line. There were 2 bed cabins and 1 dining cabin.

We took full advantage of the dining cabin 'cos we already know that the trip back will not have a dining cabin. :) It was all very pretty, the menu prices were similar to Green Tangerine & Five. We sat there for as long as we could keep our eyes open.

As the train pulled out of the station, Fata and I were SMS'ing each other. Then Fata calls asking if we were already on the train and if the train had set off. Just then he said he was looking at the train, & for about 5secs, Pea and I saw Fata standing below the train line, north of the Dong Xuan Market, on the phone and waving. So romantic... :P

We shared out 4-room cabin with newlyweds, the bunk was so tiny, but managed to squeeze a large-frame (I think he us Australian from his accent), and a small-to-medium-frame (I'm certain she is Vietnemese cos she had no problems communicating with the local train staff) into one bunk! :P

The night was restless 'cos I couldn't get over the clickety-clack of the rails... oh well... at least the loo was spacious and clean :)

Hanoi, Vietnam - 23 Nov 2009, Monday

The day started slowly. Heard lots of good thing of the Green Tangerine at 48 Hang Be. Got there an hour before they opened, so we walked around the Old Quarters. That one hour left like an entire afternoon... it was the noise and the exhaust fumes that really got to us :(

Anyhow, Green Tangerine was cozy quiet alcove away from the consistently honking traffic. Highly recommended by TripAdvisor.com and a friend, we had high hopes for this pretty french restaurant.

Set lunch was US$8.90, including 1 main course and 1 dessert. Pea had the beef cheeks, which came out warm and tasting like homely stew. My duck reached me less-than-tepid :( so i had asked for it to be heated up. We then shared a creme brulee & a mango cake dessert. Pea like the creme brulee, but I wasn't a fan of the chilled yougart. The mango rolled in cake was soaked, so it was soggy... (but I think it was meant to be soggy).

The service was good, and the food was okay, but the portions were dismal. What we had wasn't even to fill 2 small girly-tummies :P

After lunch, we decided to walk towards the Revolution Museum and the Vietnam History Museum. Sad to neither was inviting enough to wander into :P But we did walk through a 'nineteen 11' restaurant, with a large al fresco area, just behind an opera house. Prices are steep, about 45,000 for a latte, but it looked like a good place to while away a slow afternoon :) there was a set lunch menu for about US$9.50 too, will try it out if we're in that area again.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for ice-cream, & are now napping / blogging before venturing out for a street food dinner, and buying back sandwiches for tonight's train trip to Sapa :)

---- Update ----

Found that yummy french bread sandwich store with the grouchy lady, which was a short walk from the cathedral near Melia Hotel. This time, after the grouchy lady had served a local, she caught sight of Pea & I, turned around and started mucking around with the meat slicer at the back of the machine. :( lame...

So another lady, who was way nicer, got up from a nearby table and got up our sandwiches for the Sapa train later tonight :)

Dinner was at Pepperoni's, a pizza & pasta place just a few doors (on the same side of the street) as the sandwich shop. We shall pho-on on Thursday after we get back :P

Hanoi, Vietnam - 22 Nov 2009, Sunday

Fata, Pea & I took Singapore Airlines flight SQ 176 from Singapore to Hanoi, 10:05am. Fata was in business class so he was way more comfortable then Pea or I who had separate seats in economy :P

Landing in Hanoi, we had problems locating my name on the sea of cards at the arrival area. Spotted it in the hands of a half-hearted tall, think young man who looked like he didn't want to be there.

The drive from the airport to Hanoi was done by another guy, who was consistently on the phone... actually... on 2 phones! But we made it ok to the Old Quarters where we met our Hanoi co-ordinator at his inn to re-confirm and pay for our Sapa tours (ex-Sapa) and Halong Bay overnight cruise on Phoenix Cruises.

It was uncomfortable when we were told that we had to change cars for the rest of the drive to Melia Hanoi. Switched from a private car to a cab. Still don't way we had to change cars... hhhmmm...

Anyway, Fata's room at Melia Hanoi is comfy. While he had to sort out some work for the conference organizers, Pea and I walked to Hoan Kiem Lake, passing Fanny Ice-Cream Parlour. Looking for pho, we left a cafe 'cos they hadn't any local food.

Strolling along the lake, we saw the red bridge and the little gazebo in the middle of the lake. Then we caught sight of Pho 24 cafe, there we had our very first Vietnamese beef pho :) we also bought some back for Fata. Good thing there was a guy at Pho 24 who spoke English, 'cos we couldn't get any of the helpful staff to understand that we wanted to take-away :P

When Fata was done with his work, we walked out towards the Old Quarters. Passed a pretty old church during Sunday mass. Pass the church was a yummy sandwich shop which had a straight-faced young lady running the counter. We had pate with 3 different types of ham in a crunchy/crispy french baguette for 35,000 dong. Yummy!

We walked to Dong Xuan market after reading online reviews that it was a good, cheap place to get stuff. We walked through the bustling market and walk right out, didn't get a thing! hahaha... we wanted to get lacquer Tin Tin pictures for a friend, but the prices quoted there were double the shops outside :(

Evening traffic was challenging, if the pedestrian crossing are not controlled, you just need to look straight and walk forward. All the traffic will navigate around you. It was harrowing the first few times, but I think we have gotten the hang of things now.

Based on Trip Advisor, we headed to Five restaurant at 5 Hang Be. Honestly, it was not what we were looking for. When in Vietnam, we wanted to eat Vietnamese! Oh well, we had a Vietnamese street food sampler, a few drinks and headed to the street. The 'Flu Buster' drink was good with the honey and ginger and lime...

Many of the local food stalls have low tables and even lower stools. Good thing Fata found one pho store with regular height tables and stools :) yummy! :)

Then we had glutinous rice balls stuffed with coconut & ginger, in a steaming ginger broth, dotted with chopped nuts. Yummy!

Heading back to the Old Quarters for a walk. It was Sunday so the streets were closed and lined with lots of stalls selling all sorts of things. We just walked and soaked up the atmosphere. Even found a food street in the middle of it all. And there was a hot plate street stall that took up an entire street corner. And it looked yummy, we tourists said that it was! :) Will try when we are in that area again.

The street market was long stretch, the fatigue of travel was getting to us, so at the end of it, we took a cab to Fanny Ice-Cream Parlour for 50,000 dong. Fata said that the ice-cream was like Haagen Daz, & Pea said that it was 'quite good'.

Back to the hotel, we're googling for Hanoi's best breakfast & lunch! hahaha... already thinking about the next meal :) Kumxia Pea & Fata for a fun first day in Hanoi :)

My Credit Card Bank Messed Up

This little pretty MasterCard was the first credit card I have ever had, and 12 years later the issuing bank messed up.

I called very late Thursday night to block the card due to a dubious transaction [which I have since cleared up :(], & the lady from the bank had told me on the phone that they can rush a replacement card to me Friday afternoon [yesterday] between 2:30pm and 6:30pm at my work address.

Reasons are that this is my PayPal card & my only MasterCard card, I was hoping to re-set PayPal and bring it with me to Hanoi tomorrow [Sunday].

Work was a blur yesterday [Friday] 'cos I was rushing through the day so I don't have to go in today [Saturday] (need to do laundry for the trip), I didn't realize that the card didn't arrive 'til well into dinner time.

The call over last night's dessert was that the speedpost service had only collected the card at 5:05pm, and there was no delivery advice, meaning the card was still with the postal service... :( and the earliest delivery will be Monday :( when I'm already out of the country :(

This morning I called the bank again asking if the old card can be reinstated and they said the block is permanent :( no solution pre-Hanoi :( they messed up :( this is the 2nd local bank that has disappointed me the last few months :( no happy...

BBW - Warm Vanila Sugar

Kumxia Fata for the lovely bottle of Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Body Lotion. :) Used it to the very last drop :)

Saved Chopsticks #3, #4 & #5

#3 was last Thursday at a Japanese restaurant.

#4 was last Saturday at the Bedok hawker center.

#5 was just last night at a Taiwanese/Japanese restaurant.

MH - Pre-7-hour Maintenance!

Doing a little 'back-up' before the whopper of a maintenance starts in MH in 19 minutes! :P

A Yummy Dinner From So Far Away

Fata went to Siem Reap for work earlier today, and his mom (who lives with us) went to visit relatives in Indonesia yesterday, so I'm on my own for a couple of days.

When I got home from work, I had a nice surprise in the fridge. Actually, a few surprises in the fridge. Fata got me some food from a yummy Italian restaurant. Yummy! :)

So nice... :) thank you, Fata :)

MH - bye bye Ronza :)

Ronza left early this morning...
Come back again soon!

MH - 1st Dragon

First time in Dracano with my shiny new Ice Maiden trap! hahaha... first ever catch with it on the Tribal Base & Inferno Havarti was a 1 oz. Whelpling. The Dragon came with the 4th piece of Inferno :)

MH - 2nd Acolyte Mouse!

Oh my goodness! Went into the Acolyte Realm about 8 hours ago, thinking that I'll be here for days before I'd catch one, but on the 25th piece of Runic (using ABT/Tiki) I got the first one, and now on the 32nd piece of Runic, here is the 2nd! :)

This second Mysterious Box contained 30 Runes!

MH - 1st Acolyte Mouse!

I got my very first Acolyte Mouse! On the 25th piece of Runic Cheese using the Ancient Box Trap & Tribal Base. Had previously (before the ABT was available) used the Acro Trap with over 110 Runic Cheese and garnered 2 or 3 Acolyte misses. Happiness...

The Acolyte Mouse came with a Frozen Scroll & a Mysterious Box. The Mysterious Box contained 12 Fire Salt :)