Journey. Light.: Vietnam Trip Day 8: Hanoi

0630 Hrs:

Woke up, bathed and packed my stuff for the trip.

0710 Hrs:

Went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I like their french loaf. Sedap sedap sedap.

A cloudy morning. Seems like it would rain today.

0735 Hrs:

Walked over to Prince 57 Hotel.

Passed by the wet market I went to yesterday. This section sells fresh flowers.

0745 Hrs:

Reached Prince 57 Hotel. Asked the receptionist and she told me the vehicle would come to pick us up from 0800 – 0830 Hrs.

Sat at the small restaurant inside the hotel. There were some other people sitting around too. Not sure if they are going on the same trip with me as the hotel organizes trips to other places too.

0800 Hrs:

A guy came in calling for those who are going to Perfume Pagoda to follow him. I followed him up a minibus and there were already two other people waiting inside.

The minibus went on to pick up some other people also going to Perfume Pagoda but had arranged for the minibus to pick them up at other places.

The man was the tour guide and speaks reasonably ok English. He gave us the itinerary of today and also a brief description of Perfume Pagoda.

It is a cluster of temples built in the mountain Huong Tich. It was the place where one of the first temples in the country were built. It is the most sacred place of worship for Buddhists in Vietnam. He mentioned if we had arrived around two weeks earlier, there would be a lot of people as it was the lunar first month. There were lots of people from around the country who came here to pray for a good year ahead and good health.

We would need to travel in the minibus to a small town by the riverside. Following that, we need to travel by small boats up stream to the foot of the mountain. The boat ride would take about 1 hour. To go up the mountain, one can choose either to track up or to take the cable car. He told us we would take the cable car. Once we are up the mountain, we would visit one temple. Next would be lunch and we would visit a second temple before returning to Hanoi the same way. By the time we arrive at Hanoi, it would be around late afternoon.

0905 Hrs:

Stopped over for a break.

They sell lots of souvenirs.

And snacks.

Making of handicraft by the staff.

The end product.

0915 Hrs:

Continued with our journey.

0950 Hrs:

Reached the town of My Tuc.

At the border of the town, there were people trying to sell offerings to the tourists.

The minibus travelled for another ten minutes and we came to the jetty.

Walking towards the place to board the boats.

Hundreds of boats were moored at the river side.

The boats stretches down the river.

The ticket office. The tour guide helped us to purchase the boat tickets.

This is located near the jetty. When the people came to offer prayers, they would make some offerings here first before proceeding to take the boat ride upstream.

Very nice scenery.

The tour guide (in blue raincoat) with another guy in the tour. It was drizzling lightly. The lady sitting in fron of me did not use a rain coat but used an umbrella. It blocked a lot of my view ahead. Sigh .....

Approaching the foot of the mountain.

1115 Hrs:

We arrived at the bank.

We had to walk up a long slope to get to the cable car station. The path was quite steep. Having rained in the morning made it slippery. Really need to have a good pair of tracking shoes to come here.

We quickly boarded the cable car to go up the mountain. One single trip costs 30,000 VND.

View from inside the cable car.

At one of the intermediate stations, there were lots of paper money laying on the ground. Think somebody accidently dropped them. Initially I thought they were real money and wondered why nobody picked them up! Hahaha .....

The pathway (covered by the canopy) for walking up the mountain.

Walking your way up would need to take you around one hour. Having the cable car saves you lots of time.

The cable car ride took about 5 - 10 minutes. After we reached the end station, we still have to walk up further.

Such stalls selling offering items could be found all the way up. Each of us bought a small packet of incense to offer to the Goddess of Mercy in the temple.

The temple is located inside this cave. It is called Chua Thien Tru (pagoda leading to heaven).

The altar at the opening of the cave.

The long stairs that took us down here.

There were lots of people sitting around chit-chatting. Seems more like a gathering area.

Walking inside we could see more altars.

Deeper inside the cave. People were kneeling down praying. Think this is the main hall of the temple.

Reaching out the hands hoping that you are lucky enough to catch the water droplets coming from the top of the cave.

On the way out, we could see people keep on rubbing two stone pillars. Looking closer, they seem to be holding on to dollar notes and rubbing the pillars using the notes. As explained by the tour guide, one pillar represents gold while the other silver. Using money to rub against the pillars will bring good luck and fortune to you. Well, as I am already there, might as well join the crowd. However, I used neither Vietnam Dong nor Singapore Dollar but USD. Hahaha ..... must be kiasu a bit mah. Make sure get the highest return back. Hahahaha .....

1200 Hrs:

Now is makan time but we need to get back down by cable car first.

Inside the cable car station.

View of the way to the temple from the cable car station.

The cable car station from inside the car.

A french gentleman inside our tour. He is already 70 years old and was touring Vietnam for the past one month.

Our tour guide.

The restaurant at the mountain foot. The food they cook is great man! Plus, all of us were real hungry after the climbing.

A stall next to the restaurant. Errrh ..... dont ask.

After lunch, we went to visit Chua Huong Tich (pagoda of the perfumed vestige).

On our way back to the jetty.

Stalls selling different items can be found the whole way up the mountian.

A bakery selling french loaf. Notice the wood fire they use to make the bread in the background.

This is the beginning of the slope up the mountain. The jetty is just beside.

Vendors selling drinks and fruits along the riverside.

Another bakery selling french loaf.

Fresh out from the oven. The loaves smell real nice.

1330 Hrs:

Left for the mainland.

All the boats at the riverside.

The jetty.

The way back is all the way down the river.

1430 Hrs:

Reached the mainland. The old lady tried to ask us for tips. I did not give. Normally, if people were to directly ask me for tips, I would refuse to give.

1445 Hrs:

Our bus left for Hanoi.

Was very bored along the journey so played with my camera.

1700 Hrs:

We arrived back at Hanoi. After I got down the minibus near Prince 57 Hotel, I went to the wet market to have a look.

Pig trotters anyone?

Guess what's inside the basins? .....

..... Softshell crabs .....

..... they land up here. See the plate of meshed paste on the lower right corner.

Yum yum.

The wet market is not necessary only meant for selling food. Sitting down for a round of chess is not a bad idea too.

Went back to the hotel to rest and watched TV.

1930 Hrs:

Went out for dinner. Tonight is my last night in Vietnam, therefore decided to eat more to enjoy myself. If I could find a pub that I like then I may got for a drink too. Kekeke .....

This noodle stall was somewhere near the hotel.

Did not understand what the signboard says. Could not communicate with them as they did not speak English. Only could use hand signals to order the noodle.

And it works yah. Hahaha .....

Right beside the noodle stall was the bike shop. So you eat your noodles with all the dust flying around you.

After finish the bowl of noodles was exploration time again!

I came across this pub called Cong Nhan. It brews its own beer. We could see all the big big cylinders in the pub. Just reminds me of Brewerks at Clarke Quay.

Cong Nhan.

Nice cosy ambience.

Belgium Red Beer.

15 reasons why a beer is better than a woman. Read finish can laugh till flip .....

They do not sell Bia Ha Noi but their specialities include Belgium Red Beer and German Prisner Langer.

Belgium Red Beer: 16,000 VND Small (330ml) 30,000 VND Large (650ml)

German Red Langer: 12,000 VND Small (330ml) 22,000 VND Large (650ml)

Cheap or not? You decide yourself.

I continued walking around after the beer. Now, I saw this.

They are selling beer at 2,000 VND per cup. WTF! It is like SGD$0.20 per cup! No wonder there are so many people. Nevermind the place is not able to compare to those proper pubs, the price of the beer is able to compensate for all.

Taking a short break.

There are also many shops selling VCD and DVD. From the packaging, you could tell that they are the "friendly" type. They have one big shop with all the discs displayed on the shelves. There are so much different VCD and DVD that you did not know where to start. The interesting part is when I was leaving and did not want to buy anything, they handed me their shop's name card and asked me to come again in the future. Got card somemore siah .....

2200 Hrs:

My main aim beside roaming around tonight was to go to the night market. To buy food! Hahahaha .....

It is still open now.