"Good Morning Vietnam!"

There are many beautiful places to explore in Vietnam—Saigon, Hanoi, Hoi An, Na Trang, Hue, Danang – to name but a few! But with limited time to spare, we took a shot at going for Hanoi and Halong Bay holiday.


View of the Halong Bay



I have been to Vietnam quite a few times and mostly stayed in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City, but I prefer to call it by its old name). It was a work-related trip so time was always too short  to properly explore the city.

Hanoi is seated at the north of the narrow but elongated terrain of Vietnam. We visited in late March and the weather was chilly and slightly rainy.

My sister found a boutique hotel- the Rising Dragon Villa Hotel smack in the center of Hanoi. If you are a low-maintenance person, you ought to try this gem of a hotel when in Hanoi instead of the usual 5-star accomodations. We got two rooms for a 5-days trip and the price is unbelievably cheap and even comes with a buffet breakfast! The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful for tourists like us. They gave a run-down of places to see, foodie places to go to around Hanoi and they can also arrange for day tours to Halong Bay.

The boutique hotels around Hanoi area are a gem of a find.
Makes you wonder how they are able to pack quite a space despite the narrow strip.

The location of this hotel makes it easy to stroll around the city by foot and you get to really feel the vibe of the Old Quarter. All foodie places and souvenir shops are easily accessible from where we stayed.  The Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem lake, has the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi. It leads to various street and each street then had merchants and households specialized in a particular trade, such as silk traders, jewellery, lacquer crafts, hand woven bags, even stainless steel household wares. We bought a few good lacquared wall frames and trinkets.

Enjoying authentic Vietnamese Pho noodles

Main gate of the Temple of Literature

Hoan Kiem Lake at early afternoon




Interesting visit at the Army Museum where various war trophies are on display.
This is an actual French bombet jet captured in Vietnam.

 On our second day, we went for a day tour of the Halong Bay. It was a cloudy day so the pictures by the bay were less brilliant than it would have been on a cloudless and sunny day. But nonetheless, the rock formation around the bay was a sight to behold. We took a boat ride that passes through an underwater cave while being towed across the serene bay. Part of the tour was trek at stalactite and stalagmite caves which has been converted into a tourist attraction.



Even under a cloudy day, Halong Bay is still a beauty





Boat ride around the bay



Stalactite and Stalagmite Caves converted into a tourist attraction

For the rest of the week, we went around the city- visited the Army Museum, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, scoured all the souvenir shops and places and one rainy night walked for probably 5km (am probably exaggerating, but it felt like a 5km walk) from the hotel to the posh French colonial period arcitecture Opera house.

Somehow, Vietnam is one of those countries that moved me like no other. Like a soul city, so to speak. The only other city that got me feeling this way was Shanghai, way back in 2005. As we strolled around the city of Hanoi, you can feel the optimism and gentility of its people weaving through the old and the new.



The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum at the capital



ps. You must be a true 80s kid to understand the title!