Hanoi 1 - A Brief Start

Greetings from Hanoi :) The long-awaited trip was finally here. The flight from Singapore to Hanoi was about 3.5 hours. Beware of the time difference between Singapore and Vietnam, in which Vietnam time is one hour slower. It is not surprising that the arrival time was according to the local time and thus giving a wrong impression that the flight duration is only 2.5 hours.

Things to take note:

Currency
20000vnd = 1usd

Simcard
- Can be purchased at the airport.
- 3G simcard (1.5Gb + 10 mins local calls) costs 200000vnd

Time
- One hour slower than Singapore/Malaysia time zone

We checked in at Hanoi Sky Blue Hotel 2 at Hang Ga street in Old Quarter. This area is simply popular among the backpackers. The reason for choosing hotel instead of hostel is because of the cheap price offered by hotel. It only costed us  18 usd for a double room per night. Staying in backpacker hostel only helps to save few dollars, so we decided to spend a bit more for more comfortable stay.

The hotel condition was much much better than what we expected. The room was clean and spacious. The only problem for our room was the spoilt toilet door that could not be closed. But we managed to keep the door closed using the dustbin. >.<

We met our Hanoi friend, Tiff at night. I got to know her during my summer program in Taiwan. Ah, those good days in Taiwan. She brought us to eat the famous pho (Vietnamese noodles). To be more precise, it's Pho Ga, Ga means chicken in Vietnamese. We tried both the soup and the dry pho. Personally I prefer the dry one because the sauce was really good and flavourful. However, the soup one was not bad also! The portion was rather big for one person, I think that two girls sharing one bowl is good enough.

After that, we went to eat dessert called che at the roadside. I always believe that we should blend into the local culture when we visit a foreign country. And having street food is one of the easiest way to experience the local lifestyle. It's actually my first time sitting on a low stool, enjoying my food at the roadside. The cars and motorcycles were really just inches away from us! What an experience! We ordered Thach Tran Chau, the mixed flavour, with lychee jellies, green beans, lotus seeds and red beans as toppings. I absolutely loved this, a very refreshing dessert for a hot humid night.

Then we decided to take a walk in the beer street , the place in Hanoi where most foreigners gather at night. It was really crowded! We joined the crowd for some snacks and beer. Cheese sticks and popcorn chickens, the best match with the cold beers. While we were enjoying our food and drinks, suddenly we heard people shouting and our chairs were taken and kept by the waiter. We were so shocked, especially when we saw the police. I thought we were having illegal drinking activity there but it turned out to be the spot we sat was blocking the street. And thus we ended up holding the our tray at the roadside and it was another new experience, haha.

There were also street performances in every corner of the Old Quarter. =) It doesn't matter whether you prefer to be indulged in traditional Vietnamese musical performance or live band performance or talent show because you could find everything here. =)

And the day we arrived was Sunday, therefore we managed to catch the night market! Night market is only available from Friday to Sunday. Personally I feel that there is nothing much in the night market and it is alright to miss it. 

That's all for my first night in Vietnam !