2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 5 - Hiking Dao Go Cave (Hang Đầu Gỗ)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

After departing from the floating village, we cruised through the waters for some time, admiring the lowering sun and its reflection from the churning wake of other passing vessels. Our next stop ahead was much more secure than the floating structures of our last stop, for it was a concrete pier built on a side of an island.

Cruise vessels amassed on the pier and the size of it allowed them to comfortably line beside each other, their captains and crews sharing light conversations and cigarettes before the return of the passengers. Upon disembarking from the ship, we followed our guide to begin our hike.

Window to the Sky

2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 4 - Floating Village

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

If we were just on board the ship and stared at the passing scenery for 6-hour, that would be a rather impersonal way to admire the natural appeal of Halong Bay. Fortunately for us, the trip included 2 highlights to dispel the monotony - a visit to the floating villages and a hike through the caves.

The UNESCO level beauty of Halong Bay hide an ugly past - caves of all sizes riddled the limestone karst islands scattered throughout the bay, lending pirates a haven after preying upon trading ships. With so many hiding places among the islands, it was a tough time for the authorities to wipe them out or to patrol the waters.

Hues of green

2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 3 - Halong Bay (Vịnh Hạ Long)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

Halong Bay is one of the most recognized name in the South East Asia, sharing its fame with the likes of Angkor Wat and Borobudur. Thousands of limestone karst islands of different size and geometry dotted the bay in the north east of Vietnam, attracting uncountable visitors near and far to cruise the waters every year, including us.

Most ships cast off at different times, depending on the speed of their passengers boarding. As the ship chugged away and cruised the waters, we just relaxed and enjoyed the moment while the captains enjoyed a slight competition in speed between different ships. Some enterprising businesses would power their boats close to each cruise and jumped aboard like a pirate, surprising unsuspecting passengers and peddling not death but fruits.

Land, sky and sea

2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 2 - Bai Chay Tourist Wharf (Cảng tàu khách Dl Bãi cháy)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

I was unfamiliar with my surroundings when I arrived, only trusting that we were not kidnapped to places unknown with the gathering of touristy faces disembarking various tour buses and vans. Even through my bleary eyes and stiff back resulting from the 3 hour long monotonous journey could I see that we were at a pier of some kind. Entering the squat building with its glass exterior, we waited for our guide to purchase tickets while stretching our sore muscles, glad for some exercise.

Our entrance ticket to Halong Bay, with the date stamped 1 Nov 2013 and a price tag of VND80,000 (~RM12).

2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 1 - Road to Halong Bay

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

I have been lazy in writing recently, and the trip to Halong Bay was nearly forgotten. I better starting completing the record of that journey now before such a joy fade into nothingness. This post is long overdue anyway.

One of the highlights of our Hanoi trip was a day trip to Halong Bay, which all Hanoi visitors would put onto their travel plans. After all who would want to miss a trip to one of UNESCO's World Heritage? However I found that there are certain things seldom highlighted about the journey from Hanoi to Halong Bay, so I decided to list down some points I found indispensable.

Guardian

2013 Hanoi Trip - Lý Thái Tổ Garden (Vườn hoa Lý Thái Tổ)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

It has been a hiatus from my last entry of our Hanoi trip, but I still vividly recall the little park lying off to a side in the vicinity of Hoan Kiem lake, the famous lake in Hanoi. We were visited by a heavy downpour on our first day of arrival, but fortune was on our side with the rain cut short to just an hour's drench.

Walking around the lake in the evening after the rain was refreshing despite the fact that exhausts spewing from all varieties of vehicles polluted the air as happened in any major cities. On our tour around the lake, we spotted this park tucked across the street facing the lake, a square with a majestic statue. Crossing the infamously unruly traffic of Vietnam, we reached Lý Thái Tổ garden, the focus of this entry.

Life after rain

2013 Hanoi Trip - Thang Long Water Puppet Theater (Nhà hát múa rối Thăng Long)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnamese: Nhà hát múa rối Thăng Long

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong


When I was planning our trip to Hanoi, I frequently encountered the comment that one of the city's highlight was to attend a cultural show in Thang Long Water Puppet Theater. We entered the theater with great anticipation to be enthralled, so maybe our expectation proved to be the reason we felt disappointed upon the end of the show.

Thang Long Water Puppet Theater proved to be an easy reach from Hoan Kiem Lake once we got over our phobia and crossed the relentless traffic to the other side of the road. As if in fear of not being noticed among the jumble of buildings, the narrow profile of the building's front was decorated with a column of puppets, and come dusk they were all lit up eerily, reminding me of killer dolls in horror movies.

The theater shows a traditional play but boasts a modern facade. Puppets decorating the narrow front profile of the theater will lit up come dusk, an eerie display reminding me of killer dolls of horror movies.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Thu Nga - Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong


I wouldn't have expected that Hanoi has a delicious and less well known dish which involved ice-cream. After getting our fair share of bún, phở and bánh cuốn in our 8 day trip, to find respite from the more conventional everyday meals was welcoming. We had our pleasant surprise at the successful food hunt for Kem Caramen at the Northern end of the Old Quarters, and our subsequent adventure to the south bagged us an encounter with Kem Xôi, an ice cream dessert with stick pandan rice and roasted coconut.

Introducing another Vietnamese treasure - a dessert known locally as Kem Xôi, where vanilla ice-cream complements the pandan sticky rice covered underneath. A heaven sent after a hot walk under the sun.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnamese: Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh (Lăng Chủ is Vietnamese for 'Mausoleum', tịch for President)

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

A landmark is the beacon which tourists invariably flock towards upon visiting a location. Without such prominent markers of a location, a nation or city would lose its identity in the mind of tourists. In the South-East Asian countries, such landmarks are numerous, ranging from the historic Angkor Wat and Ayutthaya to the modern Marina Bay Sands and Petronas Twin Towers.

Visitors to Hanoi would be hard pressed not to seek out Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum regardless of their ideology. This is where the body of the nation's founder, President Ho Chi Minh, lies embalmed. And this is also the landmark of Hanoi, one which immediately reminds people of the city despite its relative youth in the millennial city.

A squad of honor guards on the front of the mausoleum.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Vietnamese Dong

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong


When I first held my stacks of 100,000 Vietnamese Dong bills, I thought to myself, "I am a millionaire". I have 30 pieces of the notes (that's 3 million VND). For a short moment I started imagining myself as a rich man before my high spirited fantasy was broken by the realization that those 3 million VND was equivalent to only RM480, a far cry from a millionaire status. Oh well, at least I get to still validly claim that "I am a millionaire" even though it is not in RM.

My first experience of handling VND is one of confusion. The numerical is at such a high amount that it lulled me into a false sense of overspending. When I lowered my sense of alarm at overspending, a conversion at the end of the day would show that I did overspend on certain indulgences. Some food items were more expensive than back home, much as the souvenirs did. 

VND10,000, with offshore platform on the reverse. The note is yellowish green in color (image from Banknote Museum).

2013 Hanoi Trip - Dương Hoa Kem Caramen

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

Look up for must-try food in Hanoi, and one would not get any explicit recommendation to try kem caramen. It would hardly exist in any of those list, or at least I couldn't see one which it did. Personally though, I would say that one should at least make an effort to try the one in Dương Hoa, for you would not be disappointed at all.

For this successful food hunt, there is my friend and his trusty guidebook to thank for. Chuah Chin Yee, this post is dedicated to you! :)

Kem Caramen (VND6,000, about RM1.00) is really a tasty dessert that one should not miss. Bombard your senses with the fragrance of caramel and relish the silky smooth texture of the custard.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

It is surprising how we compare foreign food experience with what is familiar back home. Similarity can, more often than not, allow us to resonate with a dish which we may not know how to pronounce yet remember the taste as good as if we have tasted it daily. Such is the case for bánh cuốn. And we tasted the best yet in Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền.

And in case you wonder how to read it, bánh cuốn, is pronounced close to "baan guan".

Bánh cuốn preparation in progress...

2013 Hanoi Trip - One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnamese: Chùa Một Cột (Chùa is Vietnamese for 'Pagoda')

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong


The Old Quarters of Hanoi, with all the backpacker hostels congregated along the claustrophobic streets, held our baggage, but it was the area to its west which captured our attention. Leaving the quarters, the cab steered from the narrow streets into wider boulevards, revealing the iconic cubic architecture of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. We had arrived in Ba Đình area, where most of Hanoi's famous attractions and must-sees were located.

The area is unavoidable to most travelers as within it held a few locales which resonated with most visitors, local and foreign alike. One of those which reflected the long history of Vietnam as well as representing a structure as true to its medieval architecture as possible, would be the One Pillar Pagoda, locally known as Chùa Một Cột, but historically called Diên Hựu tự (延祐寺) or Liên Hoa Đài (蓮花臺). And in an area where nearly every entrance demanded a fee, this was one of those which required none.

One Pillar Pagoda against the mid morning sun.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Sketch Coffee (Sketch Cà Phê)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

Sometimes stumbling blindly around during a backpack trip can be a bad idea, but there lies an equal chance of being pleasantly surprised as well. In the hours before our session of water puppet show began on the first day of our trip, we were tired from a day long walk around the Old Quarter. A cursory glance above our heads revealed a cafe in one of the neighboring buildings of Thang Long Water Puppet, except that we couldn't find the way to go up.

Sketch Coffee, a cafe located on the second floor on a neighboring building around Thang Long Water Puppet

2013 Hanoi Trip - New Day Restaurant (một ngày mới)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnamese: một ngày mới

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

The trouble with traveling to a new location where the culture is vastly different and alien to you is the choice of dining spot. Choices were abundant when it came to lunch time in Hanoi, but therein lied the problem. Too many choices created an inability to choose from, and as if anticipating our thoughts, our hostel reception recommended New Day Restaurant as a possible choice. With the location marked on our map, off we went to explore our first Vietnamese fare. And not a bad recommendation it was.

A rainy lunch day in Hanoi. For foreigners unfamiliar with Vietnamese fare, especially their way of sitting on very low stool for food, dining at New Day Restaurant would be a good choice.

2013 Hanoi Trip - St Joseph's Cathedral (Nhà thờ Lớn Hà Nội)

Location: Hanoi, Northern Vietnam.

Vietnamese: Nhà thờ Lớn Hà Nội (Nhà thờ is Vietnamese for 'church')

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

It was hard to not be captivated by the neo-Gothic facade which greeted us after we stumbled out of the maze of crowded streets into the expanse of a small plaza. If not for the ever busy street filled with endless motorcycles and dark complexions, we would have thought we arrived in France instead of Vietnam. Digging up the name of the building from my memories of local attractions was relatively easy, for there are no Catholic church in Hanoi more famous or enduring than St Joseph Cathedral.

St Joseph Cathedral in an afternoon, with schoolkids enjoying themselves in the small plaza in front of the church.