Monthly Archives: November 2012

Hanoi – first day

We were picked up at 9 am by the guy from advisor hotel and moved there. Time for first tourist stuff. Took a taxi to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and when we arrived a big queue told us “it takes a while” but anyway we are here to see Uncle Ho. Faster than we were thought we stood in front of the big mausoleum and soldiers in white uniforms watched about everybody (“obey the rules…”) Neither pictures nor speech allowed inside but I took a photo while waiting in front of the entrance.

Uncle Ho

Afterwards we went down the streets searching for the temple literature which is the oldest university in Vietnam founded in 1070. Even Konfizuis taught here. And for sure there is a shrine to honor him. But today students get their degrees and especially young ladies were dressed in Ao Deis (traditional vietnamese clothes) and they looked beautiful. I asked friendly if I can take a picture and here it is…

vietnamese baeuties

Next stop was a cafe we had a fantastic iced coffee and a fresh yoghurt. Yammi stuff. That was enough for today went back to Advisor hotel and had a rest for few hours. I´m on vacation :) Room is good with a private balcony above old quarter and I´m sitting here while writing this post. 5 pm we started for Bia Hanoi which means get a beer for 5.000 dong. Or 2 or 3 and have chat with other traveller. So we did and met Stephan from Scotland and talked about Asia and while Hanoi is so amazing. Having a Pho Bo for dinner and went back to our hotel.
Schedule for next days is Halong Bay cruise and we found an offer for a one cabin boat which means just only to of us will go to Halong Bay for 3 days. Great. Don´t like the idea hanging around with 10 other guys. Too old for that shit :)
I guess we´ll go down now and have one more beer…. cheers.

Hanoi – first impressions

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Flight duration 2 hrs from HKG. Waiting for our luggage 1 hour. Immigration is easy if you have already have a visa. Visa on arrival is possible as well but better it´s already in your passport. Booking the hotel for right date – good idea. We were waiting for the guy who should pick us up at the airport but nobody was there. Later at the booked hotel we recognized that hotel was booked for 18th NOV and not for 17th. Friendly guy from the advisor hotel brought us to another small hotel just for one night. So we had a walk around and found a lot of food stalls on the street which is really great and we missed that in Hong Kong. Dinner for two of us including beer 5 Euro. A single package Marlboro less than one Euro. Draught beer in a beer bar 5000 dong which is around 30 Euro cents. I love this :) And billions of motocyclos. And each of them use the horn permanently. What a big noise.
So day starts with coffee and this post, we´ll move to the advisor hotel later on and will have a walk through Hanoi. Pics follow soon…..

Hong Kong – Hanoi

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After a busy week in Hong Kong it´s time to start vacation. And even not everything is crystal clear at home (means work) I´m excited to see Vietnam. Had a vietnamese dinner last night with my HK buddy to get myself in the right mood for Vietnam. Flight is scheduled at 1:30 pm and I agreed to have a private car for pick up at Hanoi airport. It´s more expensive than a normal taxi but I like the idea that somebody raises a piece of paper with me name on it. Seems I´m at the stage of luxury backpacking :)
How to know that you´re not a HK residential ? You don´t use escalators at all the time :)

Hong Kong – city of lights

Hong Kong is waiting