25th January 2008
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You’ll never believe how many street stalls are in Old Quarters. These ‘mobile’ business women and men are everywhere. Just one minute ago she’s hard selling her merchandise to us then the next minute she’s on another corner of another street making do her business.

Really fresh fruits!

Mobile business woman

It’s interesting how the food peddlers here maneuver around the town armed with just a mobile stove-like thingy. Just stop them and they’ll fix you a bowl of superb noodle just right then and there. Before they move on to another street, just hand over the empty bowl and of course your payment.

Motorcycle anyone?

It gets pretty confusing in the small town. All the streets looked the same. Some of the streets (mostly small alleys or streets) are not even listed in the Lonely Planet map. It happened that the street, Hang Dong where Tropical Sails (our Halong Bay tour agency) is located is not in the map. So if you’re traveling without a guide, it’s easy to get lost on the first attempt.

So guess what? We got lost… yeah we did. We got lost in the middle of a tiny little Old Quarter on the very first day we arrived. *way to go -_-” So much for our heroic start…

Cua O Quan Chong (“Old East Gate”) – see the no car sign? yeah right…

However, i must say that getting lost (no pun intended) wasn’t such a bad experience after all. From our guesthouse, we went in circles. After 1 or 2 hours, we were back at square 1, at the Old Quarter’s Old East Gate which by the way is the last remnants of the city walls. Take a photo or two while you’re there.

Under the wall

I gather that people in Hanoi loves to eat… and really good at making business. Even the space beneath the historical Cua O Quan Chong (“Old East Gate”) is not spared from food stalls. *wakaka!

Raining in Old Quarter

Accidentally wandering into some of the unpopular back alleys or small streets gave us a new insight on the lives of the locals. While the more popular streets are utterly buzzing with locals and tourists buying or selling merchandises, the smaller streets are equally busy with mostly locals trading everyday necessity and fresh produce among themselves.

Old newspaper… old newspaper… old news papeeeerrr!

Although the alleys were quite dirty, damp (from the rain) and narrow, it was quiet and ii was good to get away from the non-stop honking of vehicles.

Siapa mau cepat beli!

Even the narrow streets in Old Quarter were packed with food stalls and food peddlers.

Steamy hot potato

There were road signs at every end of the streets. We just had to walk to the end of every street and figure out which end was it. After a while it got easier.

Thanks god we found the tour agency on time coz i think the locals got tired of watching 2 clowns repeatedly walking up and down the streets.

Tropical Sails Co. Ltd at Hang Dong Street

By the time we got back on the right track, we were already starving.

Food is everywhere

The sight and smell of food on every nook and corner of the town made our tummy growl.

At first we were torn between having our meal at the local street stalls or at restaurants nearby. We opted for the second coz it’s safer. We didn’t want to end up with a tummy ache and diarrhea on the first day. So off we went searching for Little Hanoi.

Little Hanoi

Read all about the food at Little Hanoi HERE.

First dinner … more like supper.. on bed.

It was really late by the time we got back to our room. The guesthouse owner was nice enough to go all the way out and get us dinner… more like supper. He even delivered it to our room.

Read all about dinner on bed HERE.

Very high tech air con in my room.

Here’s a tip. If you’re traveling during the winter season, the first thing to check when you check-into your hotel or guest room is the heater. Never ever forget that. NEVER!

We made a mistake of not checking. We assumed that everything was in place…

Cold cold night in Hanoi… *sob sob

We spent our first night freezing with no heater (the heater rosak liao), no water heater (also rosak liao so we had to shower with icy cold water) and damn thin blankets (don’t have comforter ler). *boo hoo

To be continued at:-
Braving the Cold on Scenic Seascape
Natural or Man-Made Beach?

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Note:
All photos are taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8.