This is very much the conclusion on our trip to Hanoi, with a little tips here and there.
Shopping
1. Dong Xuan Market.
It was not really a shop till drop kind of Vietnam travel, unlike many of us who have only one intention when going to Vietnam. But we did a little bit of shopping still.
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| Dong Xuan market: well-known anything goes market. |
One of the place you can get silk for bargain is at Dong Xuan market. The market is located right at the end of Hang Dao street, where our hotel is located. Yes of course just walking will do. Everywhere in old quarter is walking distance, remember.
Ask any lady they will say Vietnam silk is always attractive. We didn't buy extremely a lot, but some of our relative can expect to get one.
Don't forget to haggle, rough estimation; half the displayed price. But we were told that the outlet is for wholesale items, so it is not possible to reduce the price. But it is still attractive price.
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| Many many cheap silk akak. |
2. Helmet
We cannot ignore the fact that motorbike rider helmets are sold everywhere, and most of them are rather cute. Some design and shape are quite unique. We intended to just appreciate the varieties of these helmets but we ended up buying two pieces. Do we ride motorbike? We don't. Somebody back home will surely got to own these.
Foods
1. Indian Cuisine
We imagined that there would be some difficulties on finding acceptable place for eating knowing that the majority of foods are sold right on the walkway. We were concerned about hygience, so we wandered a bit till we find an Indian restaurant.
The foods sold here are mostly Indian rice and bread, so we settled with the fried rice and capati.
2. Halong Bay
Things are working out quite well for us at Halong Bay though. We were served with plenty of seafood in any form of cuisine. Take a look at the variations.
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| Looking for the right fish. |
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| Such a nice backdrop. |
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| Boat docked at fishermen village during lunch. |
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| Crabs as a start. |
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| Followed by mussel. |
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| Fish and rice. |
I can hardly wait to start.
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| Mixed vegi as well. |
We couldn't complain about the foods on the boat. The problem is we have a mountain to climb immediately after this.
3. Trung Nguyen Coffee
Having coffee in Hanoi is rather special. We went to a place called Trung Nguyen Coffee and were served with half complete coffee. It must be the style here.
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| This is what you get for ordering coffee. Can you see the bean? |
We were not experienced enough to know what to do, so we called up a waiter and he reluctantly showed us how to do the mixing.
Seriously I couldn't figure out how, but my wife seemed to master it in a short time.
On how different it taste? Ask my wife.......
Aside
As this is the conclusion of our Hanoi tour, I have a few tips to share with you;
1. Take taxi outside of the airport.
On the left of the picture above, you can see a tourist information booth. I was there just to ask about where to get the taxi to the city. They end up offering us a taxi which is US$10 more than if you go right to the taxi stand outside the airport. Instead of $20 they charged us $30.
Why they have to write 'Tourist Information Centre'?
2. If you think you want to wear leather shoes, think again.
But I chosed to wear leather shoes, what's wrong with that. This guy started looking at my shoes, oo dear. That's nothing wrong with my shoes so I allowed him to check.
To my astonishment, he thinks my shoes required repair and I was only in Hanoi less than one hour and this is what happened?
Ye right, I know I should have said no, but major overhaul already started what.
I know I will get ripped off, so I have to 'ask my wife'.
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| The guy working diligently on my shoes. |
After that tense moment, he bluntly asked for 600,000 Dong. I quickly converted that to RM equivalent to RM100. OMG that's impossible.
My wife took over and quarrel here and there and she just dumb him one-third of the amount he asked for and we walked away. Bravo lady. Of course I got my shoes back.
What an experience.
