Day 3: Halong-Hanoi

Our third day of the trip was a long day. It was very sunny and high humidity level. That morning we went to the wharf after breakfast.

Our local tour guide rented a cruise for our group and only our group boarded the cruise. This kind of cruise is only for a day-trip purposes. As for us, it was a 4-hour ride only.

There are tourists who actually stayed a few nights on a cruise. I was recommended by a friend that it's best to stay 2 days 1 night at on a cruise as the views of sunset and sunrise are magnificent at Halong Bay.

We stopped at Thien Cung Cave. It is also known as the cave of the heavenly place that is famous for its stalagmites and stalactites.

The weather was really hot so upon reaching the entrance of this cave, it was a bit cooling. However, when you were inside the cave, you sweat non-stop. It may not be stuffy inside the cave but due to high humidity level, we sweat a lot.

Halong Bay is a unique UNESCO World Heritage Site that is a popular place for tourists but it is good to know that large parts of Ha Long Bay are officially protected from development. The islands vary greatly in size and shape as well as structure. Ha Long Bay is also one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

After the cruise ride, we went to Era Café Museum. Vietnam is famous for its coffee and therefore, that was where we bought all our coffee.

We then departed to go back to Hanoi. When we reached Hanoi, we saw this bridge, Long Bien Bridge. This is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two parts of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge. The bridge was built in 1903 by the architects of Daydé & Pillé, a French company. Only bicyclists and motorcyclists are allowed to use the bridge.

Since the traffic was quite jammed as it was a weekend, there were a lot of motorcycles on the road. We saw interesting and unique Vietnamese motorcyclists on the roads.

After dinner, we were sent back to the hotel and that was the end of the whole trip. Since I had made my own research and was not satisfied with having local food through this tour, I decided to make my own trip to a famous local restaurant in town, KOTO. The food was amazing though it was a bit pricey. I had bun cha that night and it was really good.

KOTO is known as Know One, Teach One. Every six months KOTO recruits up to 30 street or disadvantaged youth aged16-22 coming from difficult life circumstances. These include poverty, abandonment, orphans, abuse, youth involved in exploitative employment, neglect, conflict with the law, parents with addictions, parents with mental health problems and a range of other troubled backgrounds. KOTO taps into a wide network of sources to identify target youth and the trainee recruitment process usually takes up to three months depending on the number of applications received.

The next day was mostly spent at the airport and flights. To be honest, this whole trip was not worth the money we paid. I will definitely want to go back to Vietnam again but that would be Ho Chi Minh.

Day 2: Hanoi-Halong

It was a Friday on our second in Hanoi, the day which we would be doing a bit of sightseeing before we left for Ha Long. The hotel’s breakfast was great – we had a variety of choices and the food tasted good. And since we were not coming back to the hotel to get our things, we checked-out really early that day.

Our first destination was Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. This is the final resting place of Vietnamese great father or uncle Ho President Ho Chi Minh's stilt house. Since it was a Friday, the place was closed. This place is closed on Mondays and Fridays only. Also, it will be closed in October and November. The day was really hot and sunny. Glad that the place was closed and that we do not have to join the queue to enter the mausoleum.

Instead, we went to visit Ho Chi Minh's Vestige in the Presidential Palace Area. This relic complex has become vital memories connecting to President Ho Chi Minh's 15 years of living and working from December 1954 to September 1969. Visitors will see the presidential palace, fishpond, orchard, cars, the house of 1954 and especially the historic house-on-stilts of Ho Chi Minh which symbolizes his living way of simplicity, modesty, gentleness and dedication for the nation and the people.

Our last sight-seeing before lunchtime was Temple of Literature. This temple is the oldest university in Vietnam, constructed in 1076. There are five courtyards include beautiful gardens, walls inscribed with the names of scholars, several altars and a small museum. The place was packed with local Vietnamese graduates that day. I guess there was a graduation going on and the students came here celebrating their graduation.

After lunch at Lion City, our journey to Halong started. It took us one afternoon to reach our destination though we made a short stop in between for a break. We were relieved that we are not staying at Golden Ha Long Hotel as we read a lot of negative reviews on that hotel. Instead, we stayed a night at New Star Ha Long Hotel, a new hotel in town.

After our dinner at a local restaurant, some of us went for a Vietnamese massage and man, I prefer Thai Massage a lot more. Since there was no activities after, the boyfriend, his friend and I, as usual, took a walk around the hotel in search for local food. We had roti kebab and seafood by the roadside before we called it a day.

Day 1: Hanoi

Another year had passed and this time the boyfriend’s company had arranged a company trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. Compared to last year, those that are coming from Penang will not have to take a night bus to Kuala Lumpur. We took flights instead.

We landed Hanoi about noon time and after we met up with our local tour guide, we were sent to our hotel. The traffic in Hanoi is nowhere better from what I had imagined. Very jammed and crowded, dominated by motorcyclists. It took us more than an hour to reach our hotel.

Checked-in at Demantoid Hotel, we had a few hours to spare before our first activity. Since we had not taken our lunch, I wanted to go all out – to try the local food at a local restaurant. However, the boyfriend’s friend had already made his order at KFC so, sadly to say, our first meal in Hanoi was KFC.

After lunch, we decided to take a walk around for a bit, also in search to buy a few sim cards before we went back to our own rooms. We were supposed to gather and meet the local tour guide at the hotel’s lobby at 4.30pm. We had our dinner at the local restaurant at five before we went to watch an hour water puppetry show at Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

Unfortunately after the show, we were sent back to the hotel to call it a day. Of course the boyfriend and I were not satisfied. We decided to walk around the streets to find some local food. We found Classic Motor Coffee – the guys had coffee while I had a beer.

We continued walked around and we found a restaurant, Pho G, super close to our hotel. Should have come here in the first place. They serve local fried beef noodles and it was good. Unfortunately we were stuffed from what we had at Classic Motor Coffee. Therefore, we ordered one plate and shared it among ourselves.

Seeing the night was still early, we walked a bit further and found this dessert shop, Lan Kwai Fong. We had a few smoothies and the smoothies were rich! Not the cheap watery ones.

Since our stomachs were stuffed with all the local food, we were fulfilled and willingly to call it a day finally!