Hanoi Trip (25 till 29 October 2015) Part 4

I didn't have a good sleep on the boat but Susan did because it was a quite noisy at night. I heard many "tic-toc tic-toc" sound which people walking on planks middle of the night and the oil tanker gave a big bang early in the morning to refuel the boat! And only after that, I had a good sleep but it was a short sleeping time for me because it was time to get up for breakfast! After having a quick breakfast, we headed to Halong Pearl Museum for our last destination before heading back to Hanoi city!

Halong Pearl Museum, it's purely a tourist hot spot! Even a simple small pearl would cost more than USD 30.. No cash no worries, they accept credit cards! =)

Other than selling pearls incorporate into various jewelries, they even demonstrated how they breed the oysters to produce high quality pearls!

Multi-purpose tour guide who can explain every details at the Pearl Museum..

Time to say good bye to Pearl Museum =)

And lastly, this was our boat which we spent a night! Dragon Gold Cruise, by AP Travel... Thanks AP Travel and time to head back to Hanoi city for dinner

As usual, we took our map and followed the recommendations by the hotel receptionist for dinner. Everything that we had were at affordable price range (equivalent to about MYR 10 per bowl of noodle). 

Pho 10 for beef noodle.. A famous shop for both tourists and locals.. Service was superb and even the noodle was "super good"!

It was quite a big bowl and we thought of trying out some other things after this, so we shared 1 bowl for 2!

Roasted beef noodle (dinner #2) at a local restaurant.. If you want to have a more meaty broth, you would like this more than the first one.. But the bad part was we couldn't communicate with each other, so I just pay VND 50,000 with no balance and he gave me what he can offer with that price!

Tadaa.. But it turned out great! Looks like the Korean beef bone soup (which you need to adjust the taste with pepper and salt to suit you) but this broth doesn't need any adjustment except if you want it to be more spicy!

When we left that place around 8pm, the crowd was still queuing up! 

Just to make sure that we stuffed our stomach 100% before we go back to our hotel, we stopped by at this road side stall to enjoy street food!

Dinner #3 a.k.a supper, rice rolls with meat loaf (VND 60,000).. Freshly prepared and everything was good! Goes well with a cup of sugar cane drink with lime! =)

And our 3rd night ended here! It was a Tuesday on this busy street though it was about 10pm at night..

To be continued...

Hanoi Trip (25 till 29 October 2015) Part 3

As for the second day, we headed to Halong Bay to stay a night there. As for Halong Bay tour, there is a number of class for you to choose from. From the luxurious one to the standard class, we chose the middle class which was about USD 100 per person. And I would recommend you to book all this in advance to ensure your trip goes smoothly as most of the locals couldn't communicate in English except those who works in the tourism! 

We departed quite early from the hotel because it was a very long journey to Halong Bay which took us more than 3 hours. Luckily we had a funny English speaking tour guide to joke with us all the way there! Upon arrival, we were just in time for lunch when we got on the boat. 

Early English breakfast before heading to Halong Bay =)

At the harbor to board on the ?ship or ?boat

After checking in and had lunch on the boat, we were transferred into a smaller boat to go around Halong Bay for some other activities. First, we were given one hour to enjoy kayaking on the calm waters of Halong Bay. Next, we explored the hidden caves in Halong Bay for about an hour as well and lastly, we hiked up to the highest point to have an aerial view of Halong Bay. Though it was quite tiring to hike up the 400 steps but everything was fantastic up there! If you have the chance, you may enjoy sunset up at the peak as well!

Time for kayaking after a heavy lunch!

We can't resist to selfie though we were on the kayak =p

Time to explore some hidden caves

Sunset while travelling to the next island

Fantastic aerial view from the peak

Right before we were allowed to clean up to dinner, we had a short sunset a.k.a moon rise party at the top deck. We had some wine to go along with dragon fruit. Ha-ha.. And just before the dinner, there was a "popiah" making session. So everyone gets to wrap their own "popiah" as one of the dish for dinner! =) And so after the dinner, it was our own free time thereafter until bedtime! 

Sunset a.k.a moon rise party =)

Working hard to make her best "popiah"..

After spending the long night at the upper deck, it was bedtime after that! =) Just wondering why holiday passes so fast and this ended our second day for our trip! =(

To be continued...

Hanoi Trip (25 till 29 October 2015) Part 2

After a tiring half day tour around Hanoi, we went for a very late lunch (included in the tour package) at around 5 pm near our hotel! Every dish that they served were in small portions but there were many varieties which stuffed you up! I have no idea how to pronounce the name of the shop but it's located right opposite of Hanoi Guesthouse which located on Ma May St.

According to the receptionist at our hotel, this is one of the place which serves the best local food in town! We noticed many locals and tourists came here for lunch or dinner!

Our very late lunch served with local beers and carbonated drinks! =) 
The fried rice roll was the best dish on the table.. Besides, there were also grilled chicken wings and pork cubes, sweet sour pork ribs and sweet and sour beancurd.. All dry food go well with the fish sauce which they served!

If you have difficulties in interpreting Vietnamese language for food, it's best that you have all the translations and its meaning on a piece of paper before you leave the hotel! =)  

 Dinner # 1.. Banh Mi (Baguette with meat).. Not as good as what I expected! Perhaps the gravy was too "liquefied"

Walked around Hoan Kiem Lake with beautiful lightings.. 

Dinner # 2.. Pho (Soup Noodle).. Tasty soup noodle with slices of pork or beef.. It comes with a plate of raw vegetables and lime.. Put whatever which suits your taste bud!

Busy streets around Hoan Kiam Lake, Hanoi.. 

Spotted young couples taking wedding photos on the busy streets of Hanoi!

Ngoc Son Temple.. Temple on Hoan Kiam Lake which connected by a bridge.. Entrance is located right opposite the theater for water puppet show.. 

 Spending some time here is a good decision! =)

And lastly, night market to end our day!

Every spot around Hoan Kiem Lake was within walking distance as long as you have a very good map to guide you and we did skipped the water puppet show because we prefer to spend more time to hunt for good food! =) And one more thing, be brave to cross the busy streets! =)

To be continued...