I am back from my little vacation to Vietnam with the girls, tired and a bit tanned. I haven’t slept well in what seems like weeks (although it’s probably just been 6 days). Vietnam was hot and underwhelming. South East Asian squalor doesn’t interest me anymore -maybe I am going to the wrong places, I don’t know. I feel I need to make sure that I am utterly dazzled when I travel someplace next. My socks knocked off, my eyes wide with barely contained excitement, my heart pounding noisily in my chest – that should be me on my next trip. The world awaits me – the wonders of Egypt, the magnificence of Japan, the majesty of Switzerland, the colours of Brazil, the tehzeeb of Turkey.
But I, being poor have only my dreams. And Tiger Airways – and I can go only as far as it takes me.
Nonetheless, the trip did have some good moments, that I feel the urgent need to put on record before it’s too late, and this experience becomes another insipid thread in the giant spool that is my past.
So my 5-day vacation took me to Hanoi and Halong Bay, and while it was so hot I wanted to die, I did like some things about our trip:
- Where we stayed: We were staying in the heart of Hanoi: at Hotel Imperial right next to the Hoan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter, The hotel is quite nice, our room was spacious and comfortable, the breakfast pretty decent, and the people warm and friendly. And all this for a reasonable price of 33 USD a night. There are a bunch of cafes located right opposite the hotel, and the lake and the famous puppet theatre are just a stone’s throw away. I was pleased as hell with our choice of location
- The museums: I will admit, I am not a big fan of museums, and after having seen one too many in my Europe travels, I am even less of a fan now. But visits to the Museum of Ethnology and the Ho Chi Minh Museum were effective ways of ensuring we got a peek into the 2 things that Vietnam takes great pride in: the diversity of its peoples, and its great leader. There are a couple of war museums too that will help you delve deeper into Vietnam’s political past, but we didn’t get the time to visit them
- The Halong Bay Cruise: Almost everyone that visits Hanoi does the Halong Bay cruise, thus ensuring that there are literally dozens of cruises to choose from. But most of these cruises have very similar itineraries, leaving you with 2 important elimination criteria: the duration of the cruise (choose between 2 days 1 night and 3 days 2 nights) and the cost (ranges from 60 USD to over 300 USD). We chose the one that was 109 USD for a 2 days 1 night cruise (be warned not to go too cheap, or the food will suck, and the junk will probably have a leak, and you will most likely perish at sea or something) But there’s one all-important, ultra-critical, super –urgent point that is totally not in your control that can potentially make or break your cruise experience – the people you meet on the cruise. We had a group of utterly delightful cruise companions, thus making it a grand success
- The food: Vietnamese food doesn’t hold much attraction for me, mostly because it’s not spicy, curry-based and rich as hell (Mera Bharat Mahan and all that). But there’s one restaurant called Quan An Ngon that I will highly recommend you visit when you find yourself in Hanoi, just for their scrumptious to-die-for seafood mango salad, and the experience of seeing what I thought was the world’s largest fricking seating capacity for a restaurant. Go there, OK?
- The bars: Now, Hanoi is not the place you want to find yourself in if you have drunken revelry on your mind. But do wander off to the Ta Hien area which has streets lined with small bars where you can spend an evening with friends or friendly strangers.
Other than the above, I felt the “famous” water puppet theatre was overrated, the Ca Tru music was nothing to write home about, and the Hoan Kiem Lake was much smaller than I had expected. The spa experience was good, but for the price I paid, I’ve had far superior experiences elsewhere in South East Asia.
There were a bunch of other things on our agenda that we never got around to due to lack of time and/or inclination : like doing a city tour on the cyclo, visiting the war time prison, checking out the famous pagoda on West Lake, and trying Vietnamese paan.
As an end note, I would like to mention that my camera tripod is turning out to be a good investment and I have nailed the perfect settings for all kinds of light for my Nikon L110. Boo yah.
