I will explain but i have to warn you that it’s a long story on the next few post to come :P…
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EatAllYouCanShung and i had always wanted to travel by ourselves ala backpacker lifestyle without a tour guide or anything like that. Tour packages are dead boring. They rush you to places that are uninteresting. They bring you to crafts stores selling junks that will cost you both arm and leg. Well… aunties enjoys it… not us. You won’t even have enough time to capture nice photos before being shuffled to the next destination.

It was a dream come true when we got cheap flight tickets from AirAsia. We were going to Hanoi, Vietnam free and easy style. Nevermind that this is only the second official trip we ever had. Nevermind that we have no idea how to go on planning the trip. Kenny and Nicole had done it. How hard would it be right?

We couldn’t be more wrong *muahahaha!

Anyways, we had few months to plan on the trip… but on the day before our trip our result was still:-

25/1/08 – Arrive at Hanoi
26/1/08 – Halong Bay Cruise
27/1/08 – Still at Halong Bay
28/1/08 – Have no idea. Will plan when we get there
29/1/08 – Same as above… evening catch flight back to Malaysia.

MUST DO: At all cost, consume every yummy food we encounter in Hanoi!

We already booked into a budget guesthouse. We had also reserved a room on board of Lagoon Explorer junk for a 2D 1N stay on Halong Bay. We were all set for the coming adventure.
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25th January 2008
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We arrived at LCCT at about 4.30am. It was a mistake booking the early flight. I didn’t not count in the time it takes to travel to LCCT plus i forgot that we have to check in at least 1 or 2 hour earlier. *i will never repeat this mistake again, i will never repeat this mistake again, i will never repeat this mistake again, …… i will never repeat this mistake again

Me at LCCT’s McD having breakfast at 4.30am…yawn…

I thought at least i could watch the sunrise from the plane but WTF lor. It was too misty. I couldn’t even see the clouds. It was a tiring flight coz it took about 3 hours to arrive at Vietnam’s Noi Bai Airport. Their time in Hanoi is late by 1 hour so it was already 10.30 in the morning Malaysian time.

I had no idea that Vietnam has 4 seasons until that day. Apparently the north part of Vietnam including Hanoi has 4 seasons. Its winter now and it’s darn cold. I guessed that it was at most 12°C only that morning. *die hard lor… i only brought sleeveless Tshirts and a Forever 21 jacket which is not thick at all!



Bus no. 17 to Old Quarters – Locals are wearing think jackets and scarfs.

Here is when things got interesting. The staff from our guesthouse was already waiting for us outside the airport. It was hilarious! We were expecting a car or van or at least a taxi to pick us up but there we were walking down to the bus stop in front of the airport and boarding a mini bus that cost 5,000 VND per ticket. *LOL. I was like -_-” tiu lor… it’s damn cold and i have to naik mini bus so many hours to Old Quarters!

In the bus on the way to Old Quarters

However, it turned out that taking bus no. 17 to Old Quarters wasn’t that bad after all. It was a pretty great way to start our trip. Besides having a chance to mingle with the local passenger, we get to see the countryside because the bus took the alternate route to Old Quarters.

Besides stretches of paddy fields, there are flower and fruit orchards everywhere. I saw even fields full of ‘sakura’ or what we Chinese called ‘mui fa’ and ‘kat jai’ which is the Chinese mini mandarin oranges.



Paddy field comes in abundance in Vietnam

Although it was quite a long trip (1hour plus), we were ooohhhh-ahhhh-ing the first few 10 minutes of the ride. *like some jakun keluar kampung -_-”. You won’t see all these if you were taking the highway route. Fortunately the locals on the bus weren’t even bothered. We found out later that locals in Hanoi just don’t bother about tourists… period. They don’t give a hoot who you are or where you’re from *I like them already!



Almost there… see the bridge behind? It’s darn long .

View from our room

Our tiny guesthouse, WildLotus Hotel is located at Luong Ngoc Quyen Street. It’s pretty near the entrance to Old Quarters in a nice neighborhood on one of the quieter street in town (quieter but still noisy like hell so you could imagine what’s it like on another street).

Wildlotus small bedroom

When i say tiny i mean REAL tiny. Tiny like hell. Tiny shit. T.I.N.Y.

The staircase was so narrow that it will only fit one person at a time. Due to that i got my very first present in Hanoi…. I got a swollen eye -_-”.

Super narrow stairs

As EatAllYouCanShung head up the staircase towards our room, i follow suit. I have no idea what had gotten into him when he suddenly decided to practice a Bruce Lee back-kick. Needless to say, i ended up the victim. He back-kicked right into my right eye. My right eye swelled up and my glasses needs repairing now.

And that marked the start of our 5 days stay in Old Quarters -_-”

Ps:// Dear i’m not mad at you so stop getting all guilty about it… i just hope that you have mastered your Bruce Lee attack on my expense *muahahahaha!

See how tiny the room is?

Looking down from the window

To be continued at:-
Busiest Town On Earth
Lost In Old Movie Like Town
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.