Exploring Hanoi Vietnam

Vietnam was never part of my bucketlist, because I thought there’s not much to see there, parang Pinas lang so bat pa ako pupunta dun? hehe   plus I’ve heard of so much scam and terrible experiences with Taxi drivers, dishonest vendors and etc etc , so it never captured my interest.

But when my friends asked me to travel out of the country, I didn’t hesitate, but where to? We opted for a tour package with less hassle and no visa requirement needed, --and to somewhere I never been yet. So, we chose Hanoi Vietnam. I believed that despite my negative impression, Vietnam has something to offer.

It was the quickest international trip I had, that my passport stamp entry in Vietnam was Aug 25, and exit Aug 26. We arrived past midnight of August 25, so technically, 25 was also our Day 1. We were 4 in this travel, my two friends/officemates and my Aunt. We looked for money changer upon arrival in Noi Bai International Airport,  exchanging PHP to Dong is too low, luckily I had about 340USD. We divided this cash in 4, so approximately tig Php4500+ lang kami-- that was our only pocket money. We didn’t need more cash anyway because our Hotel, transportation, tours, breakfast and lunch were already paid via Royal Kites travel for almost 18Keach. We really had to avail that, para iwas scam.

Airport transfer is included in our Tour package. Travel time from Airport to our Hotel is almost an hour, we reached the Hotel at around 2am, Vietnam time (1 hour behind from Phil), maybe I just slept for less than 3hours that night.

Day 1 Halong Bay

The trip was 3.5 hours from Hanoi to Halong Bay, yes, that was a long ride. Good thing was, we were comfortable with our coach, it has spacious legroom and wide windows. I’m such a lover of-- Window seat and an earphone with my favorite baduy playlist, masaya na ako, lakas makafeeling nag mumusic video..haha it didn't bore me. 

Upon arrival in Halong, we needed to wait at this area, dito nagpaparegister at sumasakay ng boat for Halong Bay tour. There are lots of tourist here, and the humidity was nerve wracking! Ang init. Kaya siguro ganto yung etsura ko , photobomber lang ako dito.haha

Photos in Halong Bay

The view was beautiful, but the water isn't that clear. I think our very own Palawan could parallel this  or even surpass it. And there were times during the cruise, I found myself wishing we could go back to our Hotel and sleep na , that's because of that maalisangang pakiramdam, dahil sa sobrang init  (arte) at kulang sa tulog.. haha..  August is not really the ideal month to visit Vietnam, confirmed by our Tour guide as well, sobrang mainit daw.

This cave

The rock formulations resemble to our Palawan underground river. This is the view outside  the cave.

After hiking and cruising for about 4hours with that temperature, I can say that one of the best feeling that day was boarding back to our airconditioned Van, and just site seeing thru my window. I didn't want to sleep for another almost 4hour drive, kahit antok na antok ako, di talaga ako natutulog sa byahe, I really love to see the place, yung ricefield nila na walang kalabaw (bakit nga ba wala akong nakitang kalabaw dun? haha, bakit dapat ba may kalabaw? haha), the house/ buildings are standing narrowly, the locals cycling wearing those traditional conical hat, the Vietnam feels...

Back to our Hotel at around 8:30pm.

Day 2

Preparing for our Hanoi City Tour . Waiting for our Tour guide. 

Our first stop. Forgot the name of the places we went to, hirap kase bigkasin. Our tour guide says a lot about Hanoi, ang dami nyang kwento , minsan napipilitan makinig, baka may paExam hahaha. Was a little guilty, maybe we are being rude for not being attentive. See?

Temple of Literature

Our next stop was at this shop.. These guys were busy with handmade artworks using egg shells

Then we had stroll going Ho chin Min museum (pero sarado).

Then here to  what they called  One Pilar Pagoda.

Lunch at this place. 

Ceramic making...….. 

This is really what you get in availing a tour package, dadaan kayo sa kung saan saang shop.. (di ka naman bibili, aanhin mo naman tong mga banga..? hehe) pero at least you've learned how they're made, dagdag knowledge din naman.

Pagoda again.. PAGODa na rin talaga. haha.. 

Hoan Kiem Lake

That was our last stop for our day tour. We saw some stalls selling Northface bags, we needed to purchase something, sayang din naman yung dalawang milyong Dong ko kung wala akong mabibili (4,500php lang pala value nun hehe). So we asked our tour guide if we can separate ways from there. I think that area is the famous "Old Quarter". Good thing our Hotel is just one kilometer away lang,  go straight to there ____ lang daw. So Ayun nga nagwaldas nga kami ng milyones, then umuwi na. As instructed, straight lang daw sabi ni Kuya Tour Guide yung way pauwi,  but as we go along, ang daming intersection na hindi naman straight (tingin ko gumaganti si Kuya tour guide kase di kami nakikinig sa mga kwentong Hanoi nya)! wahhh, maliligaw ba kami? No google map since we didn't have internet connection. We did ask, but the locals couldn't understand us. Taking the taxi was not an option, salbahe daw kase mga taxi drivers dun haha (naggeneralized naman ako, sorry na, nag iingat lang) . We passed by into a hotel, sabi ko magtatanong ako, my friend told me that she wanted to stop me so I can fix my magulong hair muna, baka daw di maniwala saken yung receptionist haha..  Good thing the receptionist was accommodating despite our language barrier, she searched the Internet to locate our Hotel and gave us vicinity map. That was a big help, without the map she gave us, baka nasa Vietnam pa rin kami ngayon haha. chos!

We paid for another suite room just to rest for few hours and freshen up before we head to Airport. Our driver fetched us 9pm of August 26. We literally just stayed 48hours in Vietnam.

Overall, it wasn't a perfect trip but I don't regret being there. I'll treasure the experience. It may not be my favorite travel but still, it made me happy (char! oo kaya) haha..