Hanoi Part 4

"In Vietnam, every step feels like a discovery, and every moment becomes a cherished memory." - Unknown

Hanoi I’ve been hear 7 days and now a friend is joining me where we will doing segment 2 of my journey.

inset off with a friend to explore the local area. As it was Sunday the roads around the Hoan Kiem Lake where closed to traffic making it a great place to walk and watch families and there children enjoy the day. We visited the Ngoc Son Temple which sits in the middle of the lake

The architecture in Hanoi offers glimpses of times past during French reign many are overgrown due to the tropical climate equally many have layer’s of black mould on the brick work not sure that is too healthy for people to be sleeping in, we took an electric golf cart city tour so inexpensive for an hour just the 2 of use they had a recording in English but it was difficult to hear through the surrounding sound the drive did provide some information particularly where to eat Banh Mi and some other recommendations. We also did a tour through the Hang Da market which considering the late afternoon time was still buzzing with many people.

Some of the major tourist sites we visited were the Hanoi Lo prison where Vietnamese who fought for freedom from the French as well as American solders from the Vietnam war were incarcerated the conditions would have been terrible. The Vietnam women’s museum was really interesting had stories about the “warrior” women who fought some of these brave women were in their early teens they killed may soldier’s and were imprisoned and escaping many times to help Vietnam gain freedom. The women’s museum also displayed the various ethnic cultures that exist in the north of Vietnam they had a great display of the various traditional outfits these women wore.

We visited the temple of literature which was originally a university it is very tranquil to walk through sections are still a temple with other sections are a gallery/museum. Young couples also use it as a photo opportunity for their pre-wedding photo.

We took lunch at a social enterprise near the temple of literature it was called KOTO. It was started by a Vietnamese Australians Jimmy Pham who moved to Australia at a young age in 1972 the name is Know One Teach One aim is to provide vulnerable youth of Hanoi purpose in life providing hospitality training cooking and waiter training so they can find work many have moved to 5 star restaurants he works in collaboration with Box Hill TAFE he provides these youth with education and English training. The ambiance is very relaxing the food and service is fantastic. Check it out the web site www.koto.com.au and eat there next time your in Hanoi

We were close to the fine arts museum not what you except it has beautiful Buddha images and historical lacquer paintings you can walk room from room. many art students were doing pencil prints of some of the statues and some were very impressive

I think I had the best Banh Mi ever at a place call Banh Mi 25 recommended by the driver of the electric golf.. There were two seperate shops to eat in and across the road there were two kitchens where they did preparation one of these shops had long line of Grab drivers for collecting orders

Went to a Michelin. Restaurant Hanoi Gardens it was through arched gate into an open court yard tables and chairs were scattered around a large tree.. after much deliberation we made our order were told it was a 20 minute wait we assumed this was for our appetiser…..wrong everything was delivered in less than 20 minutes . The food was delicious as has all the food been in Vietnam

Last full day in Hanoi we deceived to do a day trip Ha Long Bay. They picked up early not a lot of traffic on the freeway so we arrived early. So we looked for coffee Vietnam is known for its great coffee. We found a cafe at the terminal selling Milano coffee so we ordered 2 cappuccino’s picked up the cups they were extremely light I took the lid off to discover only a shot of coffee no milk….. back to the counter asked for milk after a while it was understood I didn’t want condensed milk so off they went…..yes it sort of looked like a cappuccino but let’s say we both found a bin quickly. So still on the search for coffee with nearly two hour before the boat left we found another shop with what looked like a real coffee machine once again ordered cappuccino. I saw him make an espresso shot for someone hence I had high hopes but this started to change as his process didn’t seem quite right…… sadly we needed find another bin to place it in. So no coffee at the terminal in Ha Long Bay. Finally time to get on the boat many day trippers sadly due to the damage fro typhoon Yagi there was lots of polystyrene and other rubbish in the bay did I mention all the people. Not like I remember from 2015. It’s a long day we didn’t get back to Hanoi uNtil after 8pm

I’ve included some random photos for Hanoi coffee shops every where as are motorcycles and cocktails from our hotel