Day 8 : Last Day!!

Another Late start for our last few hours in Hanoi, Vietnam. Come to think of it, it was a relative relaxing holiday in a long time (~2year) and I enjoy travelling alot and Hanoi though not in the like of big cities like HK or China or Korea still not too bad. It's a different experience to travel to a country where the lifestyle is like 40-50 year back in time compare to Singapore....

We wake up super late as usual as most of the places of interest we have either conquer or not enough time to really make it on the last day....we didn't want our last day to be a rush rush eventful day...just want to sit around and enjoy the beautiful scenery that Hanoi has to offer. We actually have our in KFC again...seating at the outside....watching the cars below...

Watching this ...

While enjoying our Lunch...of Chicken....nothing special with Hanoi's KFC, just that they have "chicken Rice" and their collection counter is located on a different floor....and there is numerous floor in the building where people can chill-out..

Chicken soup, but it's filled with MSG.... yikes...

We actually sat @ KFC area talking "cock", mainly discussing about Mr H's interesting life during his Cineplex days.....and how he met all his love...lol...YES, he got lot of loves..le...till 3PM....yup....it's a long time....

We starting walking around the lake area at around 3pm....also to look out for last minutes souvenirs.

I am actually short of some fridge magnet which I manage to get it here @ USD$1 per magnet....CHEAP!!

While walking around Hanoi, there seem to be alot of these sign being display on lamp-Post and banners stating 2-9, 1945-2009..is this the 64 Birthday of Vietnam, Yup, Vietnam's National day is on 2-Sep....they probably celebrate for the whole month, thus the sign are still on display

We later shop around the shopping center " " near the lake and settle down again at Highland coffee.

It's something in the range of Starbucks or Coffee-bean, but I suppose this is their local brand....Ordered...Vietnam coffee...I notice that Vietnam coffee are usually not filled to the brine....something I don quite understand, consider it some 33,000VND and I only got a half-filled cup. (Yes, this is how it look like when it arrived...Am i suppose to wait for the ice to melt?)

Mr H seriously think that this local brand got nothing much to offer..."like that only"

I finish mine fast as there is so little.... (A short note...We actually saw our Train-cabin mates walking along the Shop's Corridor...Hanoi is so small..lol)

We left the place and headed back to our hotel for our cab to the Airport. As We are departing by Tiger TR302 on the 905pm Flight, we need to be at the airport for check-in at 7pm. That leave us with a comfortable time to settle dinner there...@ the airport. We estimate the travelling time to the Airport to be around an hour. So 6pm to set-off....

We were really happy with the hotel's staff who not only provided us with good rooms and services, including letting us use a customer's room to clean-up, coming up to our room to repair the bath-heater....and advising us on places to visits, Tours. We manage to get our photos taken with the lady who make our day!!

Me with the lady who serve us on the first day and the last as well..

It was a rather busy road to the Airport....lots of Horning along the way, but we manage to reach there on time @ around 7.05pm. In time to check-in

Counters were already line-up with passenger checking in...

Hanoi's International Airport though not in the league of Singapore's Changi Airport is still relatively busy with tourist and locals as well...

This is the Corridor where we first Entered into the Airport @ the Departure hall....you may want to refer to my Early post for the Arrival Hall Photos.

We mistaken this section to be our Departure immigration area, This is actually the local domestic immigration clearance area.

It's already dark when we reach the Airport @ 7.05pm

Our plan this time to arrive within 2hrs time-limit given us enough time to have dinner at a reasonable pace with "slow" service added in just in case...There seem to be only 1 cafe in this airport "SKY"...BIG Business for them...since they have exclusive rights..here..lol

Order Cabonara....tasty...though I think they did the "dryer" version of this Italian dish (USD$6)

Half-Filled Vietnam Coffee again....(USD$3)

The Cafe was showing cable TV of EPL matches...so it wasn't so boring though

We waited at the Departure Lounge @ around 8.30pm. Mr H kept warning me that our flight will definitely be delay as this is the typical practice of Tiger Airways. I wasn't in full believe..

Until I saw the queue still at the counter ....waiting....and it's a very long queue...@ 9pm. The Flight is @ 9.05pm. How can they Ferry so much people onto the flight within 5mins? I wonder what's wrong with the Flight, Is there Engine problem?(I hope not), or lazy staff...who took their own sweet time cleaning up the flight and forgotten that there is a long line outside....

Mr H super tired from all the eating, Walking and waiting....

Can't wait to get home as I am still working tomorrow...so don delay for too long...

We are finally allowed to broad the plane 15mins later...I was thinking to myself..I will definetely reach home in the wee hours like 2am...cos, Departure time is 9.05pm, but there are boarding passenger 15mins later, add in all the normal checks and passenger looking for seats, I expect us departing around 1hrs late....

Looking at the Pilot cabin...It's appear that they are still unprepared....

The Flight finally took off ~ 1005pm. Reach Changi around 2am+, Home 2.40am...Sleep 3am+....there goes my work efficiency.....

Hanoi Day 7 : Starting late on a relaxing day

We arrived back to Hanoi at around 5.30am. It has been a relative good night on the train for me...all the sleep I have, thought the journey was bit short as I am still relatively tired. The Sky was still dark, so taking this photo is challenging..

(I was told by Mr H, that the guy we met on the train...went up to the bed of his wife....to sleep together)

A Flash is needed when Mr H is handling the Camera as he can't handle the camera under these conditions...lol (his hands not steady enough).....my photo don have the "environmental" lighting lo...(sianz)

The Green Train, does not equate eco-friendly....it's relative smelly here in the station, filled with fuel smell....

This is the front section of the train.....this is where the motor is I suppose.

Having to re-take my photos so many time ....really make me tired....at least this one appear good though still is taken with flash...(And I took tired..lol)

The Hanoi Train Station....We were told to only get on white cabs...as they goes by "meter" and are more reliable. (tip from hotel)

We took a cab back to your hotel. Mr H actually ask the cabby about interesting pubs and places to visit at night...and the cabby actually thought we are looking for "Sleazy" places....the cab ride to hotel cost us around S$8. It took a while to reach as the cabby actually couldn't find the way to the hotel....he seem to be not too long on the job.

(Tip : to get to know night life in a country....check with the cab drives - Mr H)

It's unusual how Mr H is always falling asleep during the trip to Hanoi, back in the Taiwan trip, I was always the one falling asleep everywhere...while Mr H keep waking me up...lol

MR H got his rest.....a loud (less noisy than SAPA's ones) one though and got himself ready by 12pm+.

Mr H decided to re-try out the Vietnam Western food which we did not get to taste it properly when we departed for SAPA the other time round. It's seem like language is probably the cause of why we think the beef is not up to our standard....we didn't know how to tell them to make it medium rare....the Beef is tough and hard..lol

After Lunch, Mr H wanted to go massage again!!....think this is probably one of his best past-time in Bangkok and that's why he keep wanting to go massage like "everyday". Another reason I think is that massage in Hanoi is cheap, only about USD $7 - $10

I didn't want to ...so i just took a 90mins foot massage while he went for the 2hrs body massage so that he can snooze again.

I actually finish my massage earlier so I waste no time in getting all the "food stuff" for my friend and colleagues back home

Here are some of the stuffs I got from the provisional store just behind our hotel.....I even show them photos asking them to help look for the stuff for me (those photos are from Chicken's web lo)

(3-in-1 Coffee pack, from G7 Trung Nguyen, It's very common in Vietnam here)

The Pure Coffee powder, I hope I can achieve what the store here serve...they usually serve their coffee in a mixer with drip...and looking at their mixer, there is coffee powder in it..These coffee powder ranges from 1-5 where the higher the number, the deeper is the taste...more bitter i suppose

Another type of Coffee series.....this one is Cappuccino with Hazelnut favor. They have other favors as well, such as mocha and Irish.

The coffee cost around 25,000 VND to 32,000VND with the Coffee-powder being the most expensive...I actually brought a few packs of every series here....

This is the coffee-mixer I was talking about......it's everywhere in Vietnam. This cost about 22,000VND (S$2.20)

These are the collections that I have gotten from the provisional store....probably spend around 300,000VND on these stuff alone for colleagues and friends.

I waited for Mr H at the hotel as he is still snoozing from all the massage at the shop......after which we approach the hotel's staff to check out how to go to Temple of literature.

We actually tried to walk around town a little to to try to walk our way there.....we came upon The Cathedral St-Joseph, it actually quite near our hotel....but after seeing how hot the temperature is and it's only about $3 to get to the Temple of Literature...we decided to ask the hotel's staff to get us a cab

Some of Hanoi cab even have LCD TV on board.....something new....seldom see it in Singapore..lol

The most prominent structure when we arrive @ the Temple of Literature is this "temple-like" structure acting as an door-way to the place. Cost around 10,000 VND to enter....(S$1)

The landmark was founded in 1070 as a Confucian temple. Only parts of the Văn Miếu complex date back to the earliest period, although much of the architecture dates to the Lý (1010 – 1225) and Trần (1225 – 1400) Dynasties. Look like China's history plays a part here in Hanoi

Walking in to the middle of the park, aka the first courtyard, we came upon this structure. This place was basically a Temple for Confucius, devoted in memory of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism.

In 1076 Vietnam's first university, the Quốc Tử Giám (國子監) or Imperial Academy, was established within the temple to educate Vietnam'sbureaucrats, nobles, royalty and other members of the elite. The university functioned from 1076 to 1779.

It's extremely difficult to pass the Doctor Laureate exams in this university and those that make it have their names on the stone stele every year, records 2,313 students graduating as doctor laureats.

These stone stele can be found in the 3rd Courtyard, Entrance to the third courtyard is through the dominating Khuê Văn Các (constellation of literature), a large pavilion built in 1802. Central to this courtyard is the Thien Quang Tinh ("Well Of Heavenly Clarity"), either side of which stand two great halls which house the true treasures of the temple. These are 82 stones steles. Another 34 are believed to have been lost over the years.

They sit upon stone turtles and are inscribed with the names and birth places of 1306 men who were awarded doctorates from the triennial examinations held here at the Quốc Tử Giám ("Imperial Academy") between 1484 and 1780, after which the capital was moved to Huế.

This is the 3rd Courtyard. On either side, we can see those stones tortoise where the graduate names who make it through the exam are engrave on it.

While visiting the compound, we notice quite a number of professional photographers holding on to SLRs on the like of Nikon/Canon shotting shots of beautiful ladies believe to be students....this is probably some University photography club outdoor activities...

A married couple was also in the area taking their wedding photos...and they become these student central of attraction for creative photo-shots....I must say...it's rather cute....the guy...have so many loves....

A shot of the steps toward the "pond" in the 3rd Courtyard..Thien Quang Tinh ("Well Of Heavenly Clarity")

Me at the 2nd Courtyard....behind me is the dominating Khuê Văn Các (constellation of literature), a large pavilion built in 1802

At the 3rd Courtyard, with the Thien Quang Tinh ("Well Of Heavenly Clarity") behind me. It's already evening time now with the sun shinning low...

We entered the main hall, where the temple of Confucian is. According to history, this place use to contain altars of 72 of Confucius' greatest students but now contain offices, a gift shop and a small museum displaying ink wells, pens, books and personal artifacts belonging to some of the students that studied here through the years

The time of visit was not crowded probably due to the weekday agenda. We only saw the photography clubs people and a few tourists, also the timing of visit plays a part as the place closes at around 6pm

Incense offered to Confucian. Common sight as this is a Temple after all.

While we were there, there is a TV crew inside the main hall, probably there shooting a documentary.

I thought the red doors provide an interesting photo-point...but the sun-ray is giving the photo mix results..

A photos of the door-way where we come into the temple...

We left the Temple of literature at around 5.30pm. Our next Agenda --> Shopping

Looking at the research I have done for our trip, we actually ask the Hotel's staff to help guide us to the shopping center around the region and how to get there. 2 were recommended as they are nearer and one of them is opened recently (From the list above, item 1 & 2, Trang Tien Plaza & Vincom City Towers)

We took a cab to Vincom City Tower, this place known to be the larger shopping center in the region....looking around the region, it seems like we have enter into a mid-class level part of Hanoi.

By Singapore's standard, this place look like our town center's shopping mall like Northpoint or sunshine plaza..

We actually saw a branch of BATA here...

And Best Denki, they call it "Best Carings" here..

There are actually 2 towers here, one with the shopping , the other one with the Cineplex. There is even a game-center here, similar to timezone in Singapore

We went to visit the cineplex located on the top floor of the shopping center...their theaters are huge...didn't expect to see this kind of cineplex here in Hanoi, ticket at at 75,000VND make it expensive for locals, bit I can still see alot of youngster here...

The ticketing counter.. similar to GV or Cathay in Singapore right?

We actually brought the pop-corn combo consisting of 2 drinks and a medium size pop-corn for S$11, expensive by local standard....honestly speaking, their pop-corn tasted bland...

If u have not know, Mr H used to work in a cinema...and I think he still misses all the good old days back there..then..he now left and work for an "investment" company...

A dessert @ Sweet recipe closes the long but relaxing day...in Hanoi.