Last Wednesday, after a couple of days returning to Malaysia after spending 10 months in Melbourne, I was back on a plane with the family at six in the morning heading towards Hanoi, Vietnam. Three hours later, we arrived at the airport.
We were picked up there and brought to the Platinum Hotel in the “old city” of Hanoi, which was in the midst of many other narrow shoplots.
First impression of Hanoi? Wow, there sure are a lot of motorbikes here. Second impression? WOW, they sure love honking their way through the roads (even when there’s no reason for it at all or when they’re not moving). It was sure difficult to cross the road over to our hotel.
After checking in, Amy, a friend of mine from Trinity met us at the hotel before bringing us to the Ho-Chi Minh Mausoleum, which closed at 10am. == So we just took a couple of pictures on the outside.
After that, Amy brought us to a temple which name I can’t remember.
Once again, a number of shots here and there.

With the family in front of a pond there.
Then we went to the Temple of Literature, which was the first university in Vietnam.
According to Amy, this is where students usually come to pray before sitting for their exams.
We were then brought to Cha Ca La Vong, a.k.a. the Fish Restaurant.
That’s its name cause that’s the only dish they have - grilled fish. But it looks more like fish being deep fried in a hot wok doesn’t it? xD Or maybe that’s just cause Vietnamese grilling involves more oil. Aight I just made that up.
But it was pretty cool. There were bowls of fresh herbs which you dump into the hot wok and stir around with the fish to wilt em. Think the guy refilled our bowls thrice during the meal. It was really that good! Had the fish and herbs/vege with some noodles.
After lunch, we visited West Lake, the largest lake in Hanoi. There’s also another one called the Hoan Kiem Lake, which translates into the “Lake of the Changing of Swords”.
A tall pagoda.
This is a “prawn-like” bridge.
And this is a preserved turtle/tortoise(?) on display at Hoan Kiem Lake. Apparently there still are many of these ancient creatures lurking at the bottom of the lake and whenever one surfaces, it’d be in the newspapers. If I’m not mistaken, the last time that happened was in December 2007.
Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel. And well, as you can see, the traffic jams in KL are nothing compared to the ones in Hanoi, where the cars, motorbikes, and bicycles are just all over the place!
So the family stayed in the hotel to rest whereas Amy and I joined Sunari and Vizu (also from Trinity), who were waiting at the hotel for us.
Took a cab to the Vincom City Towers, which was in the more modern part of Hanoi. It’s an office building slash shopping mall.
Vizu, Amy, and Sunari.
After hanging out at a newly opened arcade there, they brought me to Highlands Coffee, Vietnam’s equivalent of Starbucks, which isn’t present there.
I had the hazelnut something something. It was pretty good.
Myself, Sunari, Amy, and Vizu.
So after chilling at Highlands Coffee, once again, they brought me to this board game shop which was.. somewhere in Hanoi. Guess the concepts similar to the one of My Cube Cafe on Lygon in Melbourne, only difference is that the interior of this place was really warm and cozy.
We played some fast-paced card game, Bluff, and this monkey-falling-sticks game. Let’s just say besides having fun, we got hit on the head by each other really often.
Vizu, Sunari, Amy, and myself, plus those hammer things we hit each other with. xD
Later that night, we went to Quan An Ngon for dinner. The place was packed mostly with international tourists as it serves a wide variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes.
As you can see here. Haha the food was definitely awesome, and the variety was also great. Who said Vietnamese food’s all about spring rolls and beef noodles? Okay no one actually said that. That’s just what I thought before this. xD
Another shot of the four of us at the restaurant before heading back.

Hang Than street, where the hotel’s located. Only thing is, I don’t have all the Vietnamese characters on my keyboard. They’ve got so many symbols like Han Yu Pin Yin.

Final group shot at the hotel lobby before the three of em had to go back home.
So that was the first day spent in Hanoi, which is also one of the more interesting days. Remember to leave a comment and stay tuned for the posts on the other days! Till then.