****Day 4****
4th day in Hanoi and we finally get to tour the city! First stop -- Tran Quoc Pagoda. We called for Grab to pick us up from hotel and it costs us about RM5 for a trip. It wasn't too far of a distance but traffic is really bad in Hanoi. If you have the energy, some attraction places are actually walk-able.
Arrived at Tran Quoc Pagoda
Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi, dated back to the 6th century. It was originally located on banks of Red River and was relocated to an islet within West Lake in 1615 due to the river's encroachment. The main pagoda is made up of 11 levels and surrounded by an incense burning house and a museum housing historic relics.
Entrance: Free
Opening hour: 7.30am-6pm
Attire: Suggest to wear conservatively
A huge tree near the incense building
Next stop: Ho Chi Minh Museum
Tourist photo right in front of the museum =)
After exploring the pagoda, we took another Grab ride to Ho Chi Minh Museum. It is located in the Ho Chi Minh complex where you can visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Ba Dinh Square and the War Memorial all together. The museum is an elaborate description of Ho Chi Minh's life with collections of artifacts, miniatures and various gifts gathered nationally or internationally. The museum was huge and you might need to spend a morning here to really explore the history. We did not manage to read all in details but glanced through quickly in 1-2 hours.
Entrance Fee: VND 10,000 (~RM2)
Opening hours: Everyday except Mon and Fri - 8 - 11.30am and 2 - 4.30pm
Next: One Pillar Pagoda
This pagoda attracted me the most from its name. XD The pagoda rising from one pillar in the centre of a lotus pond and it is said to represent a lotus flower growing up out of the water. It was built between 1028-1054 during the Ly Dynasty. The little temple is constructed based on a single stone pillar crafted into the shape of a lotus blossom. The shrine inside the pagoda is dedicated to the Vietnamese Buddhist deity Quan Am.
Entrance Fee: FREE
Opening hour: Daily 8am-5pm
Next stop: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
This is the final resting place for Vietnamese Revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi. It is a large building located in the centre of the Ba Dinh Square. You can visit the mausoleum but we did not check it out as we were rushing to the market. And it was too tiring for grandma to walk around the HCM complex already.
Next Stop: Dong Xuan Market
Dong Xuen Market is the largest, four-storey Soviet-style, indoor market in Hanoi. Here you can find wholesale traders selling everything from clothes to food. Being a wholesale market, you need to bear in mind that it would be packed with people and you will be offered cheaper price when you buy in bulk. For us who are just checking things out, it is a little messy for us to shop. I would think it is much nicer to shop in Ben Thanh market in HCM.
Crowded market - the clothing area.
We managed to shop for some dried fruits and lotus seeds to bring home. Then we gave up jamming in the crowd and went out to check out interesting stuff.
Spotted a stall selling local dessert/snacks (looks like our Malaysia's kuih). I decided to buy 2 to try but totally can't understand what the lady tried to explain to me. I bought two which looks safer and I was trying to relate them to any of our kuih. Well, pretty much similar! Hoho.. But I guess the fillings wrongly. XD
Their bikes can sell everything! From desserts to flowers to pots. I was really amazed!
After getting kuih without understanding what we bought, we went to a fruit stall to check out if they have any local fruits. Amazingly, we bought a fruit that we are clueless but it costs RM12 for a piece. Wonder what is that? Continue reading this post and it will be shown towards the end!
After buying from the fruit stall, we were tired of having language barriers and our stomachs were growling. Lunch time! We took Grab to a restaurant that I found, which seems to be very popular among the tourists -- Quan An Ngon.
It is a restaurant with street-stall style within the garden courtyard and interior of an imposing French colonial villa. It serves authentic Vietnamese cuisines and we decided to order 5 dishes to try!
Spring Roll - is a must!
Banh Xeo Tom Thit - Fried pancake with pork and shrimp
Fried Rice and Pork Chop with rice
Chao Tom - Grilled shrimp on sugarcane
The whole meal costs us around RM120 for 4 persons. And we ordered fruit juices each! I would say it is cheap and nice!
Was too bored waiting for the driver and mom decided to take a photo of me at the restaurant's front gate XD
Next Stop: Temple of Literature
After lunch, we proceeded to Temple of Literature (文庙), the temple of Confucius. This temple hosts the Vietnam's first national university -- Imperial Academy. The compound is huge and surrounded by greenery. It is definitely a nice place to study. When we reached there, there were lots of people taking graduation photos. It is a good experience for us to observe how they dress for graduation.
They even have a garden at the side where we spent time strolling around and parents practiced their qigong there! Fresh air ~
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 8.30-11.30am; 1.30-4.30pm
Entrance fee: VND 10,000
After that, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest before the water puppet show. Out of curiosity, we decided to open up the Vietnamese desserts that we bought from the market.
The one in front taste pretty much like our rice dumpling, whereas the one at the back is salty with chewy texture. Not something too special for our taste buds. =P
We booked the Thang Long Water Puppet show ticket via the hotel reception -- VND 100,000 per ticket. It is the most popular tourist attractions and I thought my family would enjoy it.
The stage
Selfie before the show
There are 17 short sketches about ancient village life, agricultural harvests and dances of mythical creatures. They were performed in Vietnamese language and what we can do is to read the synopsis of each sketch and try to understand from the play. I got a little confused initially and parents commented that they were lost and felt like leaving the hall halfway XD Maybe it is not something must-do for every tourist.
But I felt that it was a good experience to explore their culture and I was amazed by how they control the puppets. Pretty hard job as the people controlling behind have to soak in the water whole day.
After the show, we had a stroll back to the hotel. Grabbed some pies from a random French pastry house to bring back hotel as "dinner".
Remember about the fruits that I mentioned? This is how it looks like!
It has sandy texture and its sweet. Can't relate it to any fruits that we had tried in our life and give it a name. So it is still name-less in my dictionary. Any kind soul could help me with this??
****Day 5****
Last day in Hanoi! Time passed really fast.
We woke up around 8.30am and had our breakfast in the hotel, as usual. I enjoyed the breakfast a lot! The cafe in the hotel was quite small but they served many types of food and their service was excellent! After that, we walked out to explore the St Joseph's Cathedral. It was just a 3 minutes walk from our hotel and we kept it for the last!
This is the oldest church in Hanoi and was one of the first structures built by the French colonial government in Indochina when it opened in December 1886. The architectural style was described as resembling Notre Dame de Paris. It is a late 19th- century Gothic Revival style church that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic.
After that, we walked to Hoan Kiem Lake for its morning view and randomly check out the streets.
Trying to capture street photography but think I need to practice more haha
Hoan Kiem Lake in the morning
Bikes all over the place
Before we headed back to the hotel to check out to airport, we dropped by Banh Mi 25 to pack our lunch. This stall is highly recommended by tourists and I shall give it a try.
And this is how the Hanoi trip ended. With the typical street food -Banh Mi! And it was really good! Love it!
I can't deny the fact that I am in love with Vietnamese food! I am sure I will explore Vietnam again, Da Nang for my next Vietnam trip perhaps?
Here's a summary of my spending (per pax):
Flight: RM408 (include meals and shared luggage)
Hotel: RM260 (3 nights in Hanoi)
V'Spirit Cruise (2D1N): ~RM580
Transportation: RM50 (include airport transfer in private car)
Food and shopping: RM300 (or lesser... I lost count!)
Entrance fee: RM30
Total: RM1628
I think my flight ticket was consider cheap as usually what I found was around 600++. If you could grab cheaper flight, perhaps you could enjoy Hanoi in a cheaper price! I would think this price is very reasonable with a 2D1N cruise trip. The cruise that we stayed wasn't the very fancy type. So the price may hike if you chose a nicer cruise. But I am sure you would have a better experience in a classy cruise!
What's next? My Japan Trip Itinerary would be up soon! =D
Very nice blog post. Thank you for sharing.
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