Cooling Sunny Hanoi at MyTwentyFive.com

After coming back from Hanoi trip on 11th Nov, I’ve managed to complete the post-processing of pictures on the following day. However, last week only I’ve uploaded them to my Flickr, each picture with a relevant title. Now, I better post up my travelogue before the fresh memory goes into my “archive” due to insufficient space :p

Hanoi has always been one of the traveling destinations in my wish-list, mainly because of its picturesque attractions seen on blogs and Flickr. Last year, Hanoi was beaten by Krabi for company trip. This year, due to budget constraint for Guilin, Hanoi has finally been realized as the destination for company trip 2008.

Hanoi Flooded; Should The Trip be Rescheduled?

Our departure was scheduled on 8th Nov. However, a week before our departure, we were stumbled with news headlines like “Hanoi Flooded”, “Hanoi Flood Toll Rises”, “Hanoi Still Under Water”, “Hanoi Hit by The Worst Flood in 20 Years”, and etc. Situation was getting worse when these negative news and related pictures were excessively circulating within the company, and yet without anyone of us knowing the real situation. (You know la.. a lot of times, news are relevant but not exactly precise) Soon, directors raised security concerns, and the organizing committee must look into alternative options.

Rescheduling of flight was financially infeasible, as we need to absorb 100% lost of AirAsia tickets. Luckily, we have a tour agency (Holiday Tours) to manage our groud tour. With our agent’s help, by liaising with Hanoi counterpart, we have got confirmation that the flood was only affecting the new developing areas in Hanoi, not the Old Quarter and French Quarter, where Hanoi attractions are located. The tour agent in Hanoi has also sent us a number of pictures captured from Hanoi Old Quarter on 5th Nov morning. Gladly, scenes shown in the pictures given were very promising.

Besides, I have also managed to find a news article, which exactly critized the way that Hanoi flood incident was reported by most news channels. All were hoo-haa-ing on the flood, but none was highlighting that the tourist attraction centralized areas were not affected. In addition, blog posts from a couple traveling in Hanoi, were also not suggesting any sign of depressing tourism situation in Hanoi.

Witnessed how “precise” the reported news were.

So, we were blessed to have booked our accommodation at Vietnam Trade Union Hotel, which is located in between of Old Quarter and French Quarter. We were told that it is one of the highest altitude in Hanoi town.

Watching Sunrise from Airplane

As we were flying with 6.30am flight, I’ve purposely chosen seats on the right side, so that I’ll be facing the east. I must say, watching sunrise from airplane is an amazing experience!

Greeted with Sunny Hanoi

When we arrived at Noi Bai International Airport on 8th Nov at 9.15am, it was a sunny, breezy and cooling morning. Temperature was 25C.

Collected baggages, met our Vietnamese tour guide Jackie Chan Lee, and boarded to a bus heading to Trade Union Hotel Hanoi.

Vietnam Trade Union Hotel

I was glad that all of us were arranged for early hotel check-in, without needed to wait till 2pm. Looking at the hotel building and lobby, was already enough to deliver sense of satisfaction. In contrast to most of the hotels found in Old Quarter, Vietnam Trade Union Hotel has a building of its own, about 10 floors high. Due to costly and limited commercial land, most other 3-star hotels in Hanoi town are “slim” building of 3 to 5 floors rising up in between of shop lots.

I was very satisfied with the twin sharing room too - spacious, clean and well-equipped. All mugs were sparkling white, and properly wrapped. All toiletries were provided too, including tooth brush, comb, shower cap, soap and cotton buds; the only missing piece was tooth paste. An electronic safe was also provided.

The view from my room in 7th floor.

The Definition of Sound Pollution

The most common description that everyone has for Hanoi, is probably its noisy environment. There were simply too many motorbikes and scooters in the bustling towns. Not just that, horning seems to happen more frequently than pressing brake and clutch for every motorist. As a result, you get to witness a really noisy traffic. Horning is Hanoian’s way of signaling “watch out! I’m coming” on the road.

As a foreigner, you might feel that no one seems to bother about your presence on the road. However, freak not, the rule of thumb for road crossing in Hanoi is - “don’t care, just blindly walk across, and be optimistic that all motorists will make their way for you”.

To many people, it seems to be a life threatening moment when doing road crossing in Hanoi. However, to me, road crossing was actually something I enjoyed in Hanoi :p I found it something fun to do, don’t really feel my life being threaten though, as the motorists were generally skillful in avoiding pedestrians.

Many people were also felt mentally disturbed by the high-pitch noise of motorbike horns, but not so much for me though. My tolerance for noise is actually very high, so don’t use me as benchmark hehe. I can even easily concentrate myself in noisy environment. But I do agree that, Hanoi is really a place to define noise pollution!

Vietnamese Dong

One of the challenges that await us in Hanoi, was getting used to counting the notes of Vietnamese Dong, and converting the value to Ringgit Malaysia. At the rate of RM1 to 4100 Dong, counting in big notes wasn’t something that we had grown up with.

Scenes in Hanoi

If you’ve not seen a scene like this when you were in Hanoi, then I doubt if you were really in Hanoi :p This was how mobile their hawkers were. Many women were walking around in Old Quarter with baskets lifted by bamboo on shoulder, selling fruits.

St Joseph Cathedral

This was one of the most prominent landmarks in Hanoi Old Quarter, located at the north tip of Hoan Kiem Lake. Each floor was occupied by different cafe / bar - Legend Beer, Highlands Coffee, Hoa Long, City View Cafe. I was at the highest floor - City View Cafe, for Black Arabica Coffee.

The City View Cafe was also a good place to witness the chaotic traffic in Hanoi, especially during rush hours.

Hoan Kiem Lake

This tree at Hoan Kiem Lake must have been caught into hundreds of thousand of shots from visitors around the world.

The wooden red-painted Huc Bridge (The Huc, meaning Morning Sunlight Bridge) is connecting Jade Island (at the northern side of Hoan Kiem Lake) to the shore.

Gateway to the Huc Bridge

At the end of the Huc Bridge, is where the gateway to Jade Island located. This gateway, named 得月樓 in Chinese, means tower to catch moon view.

And really, as we were there at dusk, I’ve caught a picture of the moon rising from west.

On Jade Island, there’s a temple named Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple). The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honors the 13-century military leader Tran Hung Dao who distinguished himself in the fight against the Yuan Dynasty, Van Xuong, a scholar, and Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master and famous writer in charge of repairs made to the temple in 1864.