Wednesday, December 04, 2013

hanoi and its randomness. love!

i am loving hanoi.....it is such a random place of everything. and did i mention how cooling the weather is??? it is not as cold as genting highlands at night and the weather is really mild. the haze is here though and you do get a feeling that you are sucking in all the dust and your clothes are gathering them as you walk through the narrow streets, but it won't bother you. many motorcyclists put on their masks....but i am still doing ok.

but this trip did not start that well though. one of our travelling companions were stranded at the airport because his passport had less than 6 months validity on it. it expired in march and he was barred from boarding. what a nightmare. this is his second trip overseas and he has never been one to know all about travelling stuff. and we also did not bother to ask him....i mean, who would have thought of this. i myself almost got into trouble too. my passport expires on 2 june 2014.....that is exactly 6 months' time. the check-in counter assistant had to shout out to her supervisor when she saw my passport and once the supervisor gave the nod...i was relieved. i think i have checked before that about 6 months on the passport was all right. i had no problem clearing the custom here in hanoi obviously. i was keeping my fingers crossed throughout the flight.

so now my friend has renewed his passport, bought another flight ticket, and he will be arriving the next day. he had learnt a very expensive lesson this time. pray hard that he won't get lost in the airport ya.

and once we got into the aircraft....there was another commotion at the back of the plane before they could take off. a passenger was scolding a flight stewardess because apparently, the stewardess opened the door of the toilet while the passenger was doing her business in it. now, whose fault was it? was it the fault of the person who did not lock the toilet door properly or the person outside who saw the sign 'unoccupied' and opened the door to do cleaning work?? so the passenger was scolding the stewardess so loudly about how her modesty was violated and blah blah blah. the stewardess only kept quiet. poor thing. well, i think it was the passenger's fault and not the stewardess'. kudos to the stewardess for being calm and not breaking into tears. she even offered a bottle of mineral water to the woman and her husband once the woman got back into her seat.

luckily everything went well soon after that. i managed to get some sleep in the aircraft and it was a smooth flight.
we arrived in hanoi right on the scheduled time and the weather was bright and a cool 14 degree celcius. i thought it was going to be freezing at 14 but their 14 here was mild. i only needed a light thin jacket. woohoo......so much for bringing those extra thick jackets. chaik....extra weight and bulge in the luggage.

we had arranged for pick-up with the hotel and we were brought to our hotel in the old quarters of hanoi. it is really an interesting district to stay in. i have no regret at all booking this place despite all the hustle and bustle in the streets outside. this place is really vibrant!
our hotel room.

not too big but just right.

we had a rest and explored at lunch time to the streets in the old quarter.

one of the wider streets....and this was a quiet scene ok. imagine honking every few seconds, motors whizzing pass you and you keeping your eyes on all directions of the streets because vehicles can come left, right, front and back. yeah....welcome to the streets where no traffic rules apply.

the widest crossroads we had encountered so far. it was right in front of lake hoan kiem.

we just took our sweet time walking and taking in everything. i mean, everything was just so charming and lovely and exciting. with a map provided by the hotel, we could make head and tail of where we were at.

the lovely st joseph cathedral. i love this area very much. there were many eateries here but most of all, this place was really serene despite all the traffic on the other streets. i could have a book and a cup of coffee and just sit here and read the whole day. too bad, we could not go in to explore the cathedral.

many old trees along the streets.

a typical lot in a row of shops.....their shops are narrow too.

another common sight on the streets of hanoi....people sitting by the side of the road on pavements on small stools. they could be drinking beverages there, eating, chatting, playing chess or doing business transactions. ouch...imagine people with knee problem. all the squatting and bending are going to kill those knees right. well, there are not many fat people here. in fact, i don't think i have seen one fat one today.
view of the hoan kiem lake and there is a temple in the middle of the lake.

ngoc son temple.

one of the more affluent plazas or building in hanoi i think. time to spend your money here....louis vuitton, versace, ralph lauren, kenzo, salvatore ferragamo, christian dior, calvin klein, mango, gap and a few other international brands are all here in this building. and i believe the prices here are comparable to those in malaysia and some are even slightly cheaper.  nope, i did not get anything ok.

our walk also brought us here:
the stock exchange is just opposite hanoi's opera house.

that is the opera house on the left and hilton hotel on the right. this opera house is believed to have been built after paris opera house. another big crossroads in front of it.

plastic snowflakes hanging on the trees in this area....but i did not hear any christmas song playing anywhere. this area is quite affluent as well and you will see big international stores  such as mont blanc, cartier and gucci. gosh, they have 2 cartier stores in hanoi alone.....which is more than what we have in kuala lumpur.

lots of trishaws on the streets waiting for tourists.

entered museum of history. the entrance was cheap..only 20,000 vietnam dong...which is rm3.20.

some stone artifacts in the garden of the museum.

all sorts of interesting things one can find on the street and this is one of them. this place is really a haven for photographers.

the sky got dark about 5.30p.m. local time here.......

see....those small stools waiting for customers.

stall selling snacks in the old quarter.

kitchen of stalls all outside the shops. we did not dare to try any street food yet......the fear of getting food poisoning is there.

talking about food.....you would be asking....where are all the photos of food??!!! well, i will leave it in the next post ya.

time to sleep now. i had walked till i could feel the pain in my injured knee and thank god there were not many stairs to take except those in the museum. phew!

going to the suburb tomorrow....so it is going to be another long day.

don't think i wll be updating tomorrow. so take a rest ya. ;)

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