Hanoi, Vietnam: My trip summary (Part 2)

Continuing on from my previous post, so the first two days I was sick and felt really down because imagine a foodie like me actually said NO to more food!

Sad, just sad...

But after we checked out from our hotel and continued our journey for a short detour to the mountain by the weekend, my husband was the one came back feeling more sick. And that was because the drivers we got for the 5-hours journey to the mountains in Vietnam were quite reckless! I felt like my heart stopped for few times when the drivers overtaking lanes with oncoming cars just directly in front. My weak heart... The driver drove like 100km/h on a winding mountain roads and that did not help when we were sitting in the back row of a 7-seater van. Once the 2D1N detour was over, he came back vomiting, feeling even more sick than me.

Poor boy.. At least the mountain views were really spectacular. The different shades of greens in the mountains gave me that overwhelming sense of peace and marvelled about the wonderful creation. The landscape was so different from what I was used to in Melbourne or even in Malaysia, in a good way and I loved it.

After we were back from the mountain, we had another 3 days in Hanoi before we continued on to Halong Bay and our final leg in Sapa. With my husband feeling sick, I ended up running solo, meaning I actually visited few places on my own. He had to get some food so I had to venture out by myself.

How about, visiting night market ALONE?

On Sunday, he was still pretty sick but I figured it would be such a pity if I missed out the market that only held during weekend! So I went out by myself with google map ready to explore the area.

Cute right!! Got this from the night market and sort of 'force' him to wear it during our trip haha. 

You can view the video above for my sad-solo-market-trip haha.
Anyway, here is the food list for all of you foodies! My record was I managed to try 7 out of the 10 food listed there and my absolute favourite were: Bun Cha (BBQ pork) and Cha Ca (Grilled Fish). The grilled fish was really simple when they made it but I did not realize dill and tumeric went so well with fish! It was so good that I just cannot stop eating. Both dishes that I like had fish sauce which was almost indispensable with all the food in Hanoi. The secrets really lie in the fish sauce!


The next day, my husband felt much better and we signed up for a local free tour. You can go to this site for Hanoi free tours and the company will send you an email afterwards to confirm the tour. (We booked just a day earlier at 7pm for a tour the next day and they replied afterwards to confirm on the same day! Talk about efficient..) It is a tour site that connected with university student who will then become the tour guide to bring you around the city.

Is it really freee??

Well, I speak for my own experience that it is FREE. The only fees that you do need to pay are the tickets fees for the student and the taxi fare. We had a university student who was in her third year in tourism and she spoke fluent English to bring us around and brief us about the history in Hanoi. I find that I appreciate more on the locals' culture and history with her around and she was very kind and friendly. At the end, she brought us to one of the local restaurants that she enjoyed and we had a very good dinner too! We did give her some tips at the end but it is more on a voluntary basis rather than compulsory. However, with 3 of us in the tour, I still think that the tip is quite justifiable for the hours that she spent with us and it did work out to be more value for money with other paid tours. Highly recommended! She brought us to the following places, with explanation on the history of the places:

Hoa Lo Prison. The original prison built by France for the political prisoners in Vietnam. Quite upsetting to see how they were treated back then but it does remind me to appreciate the freedom that we had. It did not come by easy, but with sweats, tears and blood of all these revolutionist who stood up for the country and fought for independence.

Temple of Literature. It was used as a university long time ago when China was still in rule and during the Vietnam Dynasty. I remembered we were discussing how Chinese characters and influence slowly faded after this. The Chinese influence was pretty evident back then (even the pillars were all in Mandarin and I can read them!) but once the France took over, they slowly lost the language too. 

Final stop : West Lake. We were here for sunset but as you can see, where was the sun?? Which explained my not-so-voluntary smile in the picture. 

Ended our tour with Vietnamese Pancake and Rice Paper Roll (They called it spring roll here by the way! And a question for you: why do they call it spring roll?) Very sumptuous dinner brought by the guide, although the price was a bit expensive. Still, quite a treat as I had never seen such big pancake before haha

We bid our farewell to Hanoi then. Finally, my trip summary in Hanoi is completed! I know that it is not so much of a summary but a long essay haha. Since I spent the most times in Hanoi, I think Hanoi does feel quite unique as its own. I felt pretty safe when walking by myself at night although the traffic has to go a long way for improvement. You have to learn the art of crossing traffic in Hanoi because traffic light just does not work. Green? You cross. Red? You cross too. Because the cars will just come non-stop at you, whether green or red.

But the highlight of this trip for me, is still the mountain drive and the time we spent on the mountain with local pastors and community. The unobstructed view of mountains, clouds, lake in every driving scene stood witness to God's amazing creation and I remembered myself zoned out at that moment, just relishing the goodness of the nature.

And the joy. The joy that I know we all shared when we visited the local pastors deep in the mountain or in local churches. Even though we spoke different language and had different circumstances in life, God is working in His own way. Whether we have more or less in life, especially money, it does not matter because it truly is not what defines us. The local people that we met had very little, they were not from a privileged and wealthy country. However, the joy that I feel, together with all the local Vietnamese people, who sing, praise and thank God the same way I do, make me feel connected, knowing that God will always be with us, no matter where we are. They too, had the same hope and joy because of the same God. So, it will still be the trip that I look forward to go every year. And hopefully I will be able to visit them and continue to encourage them in their walk with God, to persevere and to stand strong in their faith.

Well, I think I always come back learning much more about myself instead ;)

Till then Vietnam, hopefully I will see you again one day!