Day 3 Hanoi (2 February 2006)

View from my cabin

Time	Event
6.15am	Woke up early to savour the misty and tranquil atmosphere of Halong Bay. Lovely, peaceful and quiet.

Halong Bay early in the morning

7.30am

Had a fantastic breakfast. Stuffed my face with baguette, ham and cheese. I love Vietnam’s baguettes.

8.00am

Took a boat ride to Hang Luon or Luon cave. The cave was accessible via a boat. It’s only accessible during low tide. After accessing the cave, we realized that it was a lake on the other side, surrounded by islands with no outlet. Had we spent a few hours there until high tide, there would have been no way out until low tide the next day. Scary! “Luon” means “narrow”. Spotted some kayakers making their way through the cave. Also spotted 2 monkeys frolicking on the island. I wonder what they feed on. They probably feed on fish or are vegetarian.

Inside Hang Luon

Hang Luon

Kayakers at Halong Bay

8.50am	Returned to Huong Hai junk.
9.10am	Visited Man’s Head Island. Look at the “nose”!

Man's Head Island

11.00am	Early lunch: Vege soup Sweet potato chips Prawn spring roll (I love the stuff) Fried prawns Fried noodles (very very good, I still remember the taste) Stir fried cabbage Fried fish Honeydew melon
11.45am	Arrived at Bai Chay wharf. Bought a Vietnamese hat for myself and a tiny one for Claire (my niece). Headed back to Hanoi
2.00pm	Dropped by a shopping area. Didn’t see anything I liked. Mien got herself an ao dai though.

2.30pm	Dropped by another shopping place. This is where a lot of the citizens who were handicapped during the war produce handicrafts. I finally found my ao dai here! It wasn’t cheap, it cost me USD45 but it was very well made.
4.30pm	More shopping! Dropped by another shopping place. I am not a beer drinker, in fact I don’t like beer but I’d decided that I wanted to try some Vietnamese beer so I bought a can of Halida beer. I didn’t like the taste because it tasted like Anchor beer. Yucks!

Evidence of my beer drinking rampage

Cows grazing in the field

5.30pm

Arrived in Hanoi. Went to visit the Hanoi Opera House and St Joseph’s Cathedral.

Hanoi Opera House

St Joseph's Cathedral

Statue of Mary and baby Jesus outside St Joseph's

6.30pm

We went to Thang Loong for dinner. “Thang Loong” means ascending dragon.It’s a posh place and inside it looks like one of those old colonial houses with spiral staircase. Outside, it looks like a typical house in Hanoi. Decided to try some Bia Hanoi (beer).Bia Hanoi was really really good. For someone who’s not a beer drinker to say that it’s good, then it really IS good. It has a malt taste to it.

Me and Bia Hanoi

8.00pm	Sent our folks back to the hotel. Mien, Thomas and I decided to roam the streets of Hanoi since it was early. We walked down to Hoan Kiem Lake. Went on eating rampage. Decided to have some ice cream (Kem Sua – Kem means ice and sua means milk) at a place called Thuy Tai.
9.00pm	Dropped by a café called “Café Mocha”. Apparently this place is really famous and is mentioned in a travel book. The deco inside looks pretty much like one of those old Hainanese restaurants. Coffee here was pretty good, but it was more expensive than Highlands Coffee – about 18,000VND per cup.

Mien and I at Cafe Moca

10.30pm

Headed back to the hotel to zzzz..