Hot Hanoi - Part 6 (Final)

This is the last post on Hanoi...I shall end it with a few cave photos of Halong Bay. There are people in the pics, so you can roughly imagine the size of this Thien Cung cave. Read more about Halong Bay HERE.

Looks like this week will end with yet another sea shot from me ...sailing off to the horizon. Have a good weekend everyone!

Here are the recaps : -

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The frame of the cave leads to the frame of man. -Stephen Gardiner

Hot Hanoi - Part 5

Returning to my yet "unfinished" Hanoi posts, Part 5 highlights the food that was served on board while we were cruising along Halong Bay. Seafood as fresh as it can be, caught and immediately cooked in the tiny kitchen area of the boat.

A customer taking her pick over the window of the fresh fish just caught! Of course, that's if we wanted additional food, otherwise we already had a fixed menu for us.

The condiments that is given to each table. Slices of garlic, cut red chillies, seasoned salt and a half cut lime. The condiments play an important role as most dishes are served plain!

Squeeze the lime over the seasoned salt and together with the soya sauce, they make a wonderful dip for the fresh seafood served. I don't think I would even need to say how fresh the seafood was, I'm sure you can tell by the following photos - off the boat and onto the plate!

Grilled Prawns

Fried Fish, the only seafood dish that was served with some cooked sauce (carrots, onions & chives).

Blanched Lala

Baked Crabs

This is one of the most interesting meals served during my trip to Hanoi (of course, I ate my fair share of Pho Bo "Beef Noodles").



To be continued...

Hot Hanoi - Part 4

It's the weekend...actually half of the weekend is already gone. I had an extremely busy Saturday with it starting at 9.30 in the morning at Menara Star in Petaling Jaya. Hahaha...yes, your dear floggers have been chosen to go to Penang, the final round of The Star's Drive For Food. Yay! There will be four of us driving all the way from KL to Penang starting early next Saturday morning. Check in to this blog again after 4 Nov to find out the results.

So for now, here's Part 4 of Hot Hanoi (especially for SC of Food4Thot who'll be making a trip there soon). Have a good "what's left of a" weekend! ;o)

I had forgotten to post the above shot earlier. We were taken to visit a crafts factory where one could find all sorts of souvenirs. I was awed by the intricate work being done by the endless rows of these people, threading the canvas bit by bit to create a work of art; an art made of different coloured threads. These art pieces are also found in the city but prices will defer according to the quality of threads used.

We then started our journey after lunch to Halong Bay (a 3 hour bus journey), arriving there in the evening. It's pretty quiet here and there is really nothing much to do but to just enjoy the view outside my hotel window.

The view on my right

The view in front. It felt so peaceful as I looked out my window. As the night grew, I was only greeted by a canvas of darkness in front of me with some flickering lights now and then. With nothing else to do, we turned in early, looking forward to our cruise the next morning.

It was raining the next morning and as usual the moment we stepped out from the hotel, we will be surrounded by the locals; some beckoning and some pleading to us to buy something from them. As you can see, rain or shine, the selling never stops. What more if one could find an interested buyer even though she's already on the bus!!!

We arrived at the jetty shortly and the group of us made our way excitedly to our little "ship" that was already waiting for us. There were quite a number of smaller boats around the jetty area with some of the locals peddling their goods to us tourists or with some just beginning their day in trying to catch some fishes so that they can sell them to us for lunch later!

Once we were on board and the ship started its journey across the bay, we basically just sat back and enjoyed the lovely scenery (while of course some of us took photos). I'll leave you with some of the many photos I took.

To be continued...

Hot Hanoi - Part 3

Hanoi has its share of wonderful sights apart from its interesting street scene. For one, there are lots of lotus ponds around and they make nice picturesque shots.

At the One Pillar Pagoda

Pond at The Temple Of Literature founded back in 1070

The temple is also the ground for Vietnam's first university built back in 1076. Here are some photos of the vicinity.

Watching over each and every step you make!

We then went on to the Fine Arts Museum, where I only took a few shots before I was told that cameras weren't allowed on the grounds.

I ended taking a shot of the guard on duty standing along the corridors instead, she seemed amused!

Oh, as the group were making our way on foot on the streets, I came across a barber operating on the streets and wanted to take a pic. As I was going to take a photo, he showed me a cardboard sign "Photo - 1 USD". So, if you are taking photos in Vietnam, please be informed that some of the folks might just ask you for money. However, he was the only one who did but I was told that it's quite a normal practice. Anyway, I didn't have 1 USD and gave him 5,000 Vietnamese Dong instead (I think it's equivalent to RM1). He was still happy and I was happy that I got my photo.

To be continued ....

Hot Hanoi - Part 2

Before I start with Hanoi, I would like to pimp my nephew's blog. He has decided to follow his aunt's footsteps and has started blogging on food. Do go take a look/drop some comments....His blog is called Spare Change.

In Part 2, I'll post some street scene photos which I managed to candidly take as I made my way around Hanoi. I found the street scene fascinating!

Beef noodle stall by the five foot way...all the chairs of the five foot way stalls are of this height. Look at how the lady has to sit to enjoy her bowl of noodles???

Grilled skewered meats - catering to those on the move :o)

Deep fried spring roll....so close to the ground, I wondered if anyone ever walked straight into the wok! Ouch!

Open air pedicure - minimum fuss shop

Selling vegetables isn't restricted to markets - seems one can set up stall anywhere they like.

The trishaw and motorbike parting to make way for the the lady. We really have to walk/cross the streets in Hanoi with caution.

You have those traveling on foot, bicycle and motorbikes (lesser cars) on the streets. As you can see, crossing the road means a lot of zig-zag moments! Hahaha...

The main mode of transport will be motorbikes. Here the cop has to direct the traffic flow as parents/relative came to pick up the children after school ended. I was stuck here and had to wait for the motorbikes to clear before I could proceed with my journey on foot!

Crossing the road is definitely not a good idea for the young ones considering the heavy traffic. The kids here are waiting to be picked up.

Mostly everyone rides a bike, even this lady with stilettos and side splitting skirt (or is that a skirt pants???).


To be continued...

Hot Hanoi - Part 1

Well, I've become rather lethargic since coming back from Hanoi. It was extremely warm there, though the sun occasionally gets hidden by the clouds, the whole load of us definitely experienced heatwave! Well, time for me to post some scenic shots of my first day in Hanoi. Our first stop was around the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, visiting his office and quarters (we later went back on the fourth day to enter the Mausoleum itself, no cameras were allowed then). Do click on the highlighted words for more info.
The Vietnamese treats Ho Chi Minh with utmost respect but they decided to go against his wish to be cremated upon his death (he passed away on Sept 2, 1969). Ho Chi Minh was embalmed instead, and displayed so that all can pay him a visit at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

A guard seeking refuge from the scorching sun!

The Presidential Palace is next to the Mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh stayed here for awhile before moving to his house on stilts.

Ho Chi Minh's office exterior

The serene surroundings - I like the creepers
There were loads of pomelos growing in abundance up in the trees all around. Some of them were pretty large.

Ho Chi Minh's residence -House On Stilts

Yes, the Vietnamese is very proud of Ho Chi Minh and they have every reason to be, he was afterall their greatest leader.

To be continued ...