It was a random decision to go Hanoi with my family and surprisingly we managed to grab cheap tickets even though it is kind of last minute! It usually cost around RM600 for AirAsia but I managed to book it at around RM380+. Great deal 😉 So, it was a 5D4N short and sweet getaway with parents and grandma to Vietnam. Seriously, I miss the scenery and Vietnam coffee now!
****Day 1****
We took a noon flight to Hanoi and it was close to 3pm when we arrived. Not a great timing as we spent most of the day waiting and traveling. Too exhaustive. Suggest to book an earlier flight so that we could rest and have more time to explore the town.
I know this is repetitive. But I really love the cotton candy-like clouds. They are so cute!
Upon arrival at the airport, we went to a travel agency to book our transport to the hotel at Old Quarters. They quoted us USD 41 for return trip and we decided to take it. To be honest, I didn't do much research before the trip and have no clue how much it should cost. But less than RM200 for airport transfer for 4 pax, I think that's fair enough. And, we got a huge van! It is so comfy. =)
It took us about an hour to reach the hotel. As I booked with rather cheap price, I don't have high expectation and from outside, it looks really small. HOWEVER, the room was huge and the service was superb! Never judge a book by its cover. So I would strongly recommend you if you are looking for a comfortable place, but don't have to be classy, this hotel could be your choice. I booked a family room at RM360 per night and it includes breakfast! The staffs were very nice to us and helped us to book restaurants/tickets which resolved our problems of language barrier. Oops... I haven't mention the name of the hotel ---Golden Legend Diamond Hotel Hanoi. There are a lot of hotels in Hanoi with similar names, which makes us confused when we arrived as there is one called Golden Legend Hotel just down the road. XD
Our family room! I literally enjoy my sleep here as the bed is so my type!
We settled down and quickly went out to hunt for food. We only had breakfast for the day. Felt so guilty for being such a bad planner.
We went to this famous Bun Cha stall for our first meal -- Bun Cha Dac Kim.
We were clueless on how to order and how to eat actually. I just simply ordered 4 sets of meats with some fried spring rolls.
This is our first meal! I think my parents and grandma were a little shocked with the amount of vegetables that they served. The bowl of meat was seriously a big one and I like those lean ones. It took me a while to digest them. But the spring roll here was too oily, which is not my liking.
After dinner, we walked to the Hoan Kiem Lake for night view and also to check out the walking street. They blocked the roads during weekend evening to allow for people to walk around Hoan Kiem Lake and also the night market. I felt so safe to walk here as compared to the rest of the days which I have to risk my life to cross the street.
Me being a tourist, as usual.
It was about 16 degree celsius that time. I really enjoy the weather there.
Note to self: travel to Vietnam end of the year
After walking around the lake, I brought my family, forcefully, to try out egg coffee with me at an old cafe -- Giang Cafe.It was about a 10 minutes walk from the lake. It was founded in 1946! According to their website, egg coffee was found in the days when milk was scarce in Vietnam, where they use egg yolks to replace milk. However, the current recipe includes egg yolk, coffee powder, sweetened condensed milk, butter and cheese.
The egg coffees! They were served in a bowl of hot water to keep its temperature.
The taste was really special where you can taste the egg and the strong Vietnamese coffee as background taste. Love it! Worth having insomnia after drinking -- but in fact I slept like as if I was coma that night. =P
The seats were rather cute!
After that we went to check out the walking street a.k.a night market
There are a lot of bars and eateries around.
Look at the crowd!
We were full and hence just walked around and decided to rest early for the Halong Bay tour the next day.
****Day 2****
I booked a 2D1N Halong Bay Tour with V'Spirit Cruise 1-2 months before my trip. I wanted to book other cruise initially but they were all sold out! If you want to book those famous cruises, I would suggest you to book it 3-4 months before. I chose this cruise because I randomly saw my friend posted about it on Instagram and the price was rather cheap. It costs about RM580 per pax for a 2D1N tour, which includes pick up from hotel, tour guide, meals and of course the room on the cruise. I find it very worthy, although the cruise was not fancy.
At the port. Was really excited to check out Halong Bay! It is my dream place and it will still be 💗
We had to take a small boat to board the cruise, which I don't get quite understand as we could walked from the port and reach the cruise as well. But anyway, looks more fancy, maybe?
We got two connecting double rooms.
When you are on cruise and got nothing to do, try out Halong Beer XD
Chilling with stunning view of Halong Bay.
Too bad it was cloudy. If not I believe it would be more beautiful.
Halong Bay cruise is not just about staying on the cruise for a night.. They will stop by a few stops for us to go down and explore. The first stop was my favorite spot -- Sung Sot Cave aka Surprise Cave.
It was a long climb before you reach the cave and it was really challenging for granny. The stairs was quite steep and I was really amazed by grandma's stamina. But it was all worth it when we reached the cave. You will know why in a second.
The first glance into the cave....
Really a surprise
With daddy
Loving the colorful limestones
Then we were sent back to the cruise and those who were keen to go for the second stop were invited to board the small boat after 10 minutes rest. Second stop was Titov island where you can climb up for a panoramic view of halong bay and also have a swim at the beach. However, when we reached there around 4.30pm, it was about sunset as it was winter. We only managed to climb half of it to snap a few photos of the bay and then waited for the boat to fetch us back.
This is my best photo of the bay, unfortunately. It was too cloudy plus sunset.
While waiting for the boat to fetch us back. It was so windy and there was no place for us to hide except a statue XD
After that, we had dinner on the cruise and they gave us some board game to play with. We also had chance to try to fish squid! It was so windy and it really needs patience. None of us got squid but managed to pull up a plastic bag. Haha! Helped to clean the ocean.
****Day 3****
I tried waking up early to catch the sunrise but it was raining in the morning. :( It was really disappointing! So hard to get up from bed early in the morning!
After breakfast, they have a kayak session but it was raining. I opted out as I didn't want to be wet and can't enjoy the view much anyway. So we chilled on the cruise until check out time at 1pm. Then we took another 3.5 hours in the car to reach back Hanoi.
Initially I was planning to go 4P's for pizza but the hotel staff recommended me to try the restaurant right in front of the hotel -- Madame Hien. It is a fusion restaurant and the environment is really nice. Romantic I would say. We randomly picked some recommended dishes to share and ordered two glasses of white.
The Vietnamese style Chee Cheong Fun
Our dishes of the night with romantic lighting.
After dinner, we walked around the town and headed for dessert because I wanted to try. xP sorry for being demanding. It was quite a distance from our hotel and luckily Google map didn't fail me. The dessert shop is really a hidden gem and it looks really traditional. The desserts they served were really special to me as they served shaved ice separately which is different from our usual ice kacang back in Malaysia.
I personally prefer the banana coconut milk dessert, which is the one on the right of this photo
It was really tiring as we had too much traveling in the day though not much physical activity. We rested early and stay tuned for Day 4 & 5 details! :D
