We planned to do a day trip to Sapa, by ourselves. That’s mean we needed to buy the train tickets to Lao Cai, the gateway city to Sapa. The problem was we were unable to buy the tickets ourselves. I visited Vietnam Railways website, there is no way to buy the train tickets online. Before we departed, I emailed a few travel cafes and tour agents in Hanoi, and they quoted me some prices that ranging from USD $3 commission to USD $20 for one soft sleeper train ticket to Lao Cai. I think it’s quite expensive.
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Vietnam
Backpacking in northern part of Vietnam – Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa.
Booked Halong Bay Tour
We booked a 2 days 1 night tour to Halong Bay with the Thanh Vinh Tourist Hotel that we stayed. The Thanh Vinh Tourist Hotel receptionist Luc quoted us USD $25, and no matter how hard we bargained, he just insisted didn’t want to reduce the price, and guaranteed us that the price we got would be the cheapest of all. I believed him, until I reached the junk.
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Sinh To Trai Cay Fruit Shake
We walked past To Tich street. There are a few stalls selling Sinh To. Sinh To actually mean fruit shake with milk added, but in Hanoi, most of them is pure fruit shake, with ice added. We tasted Sinh To Trai Cay for VND 7,000. Sinh To Trai Cay consists of fresh strawberry, pineapple, coconut, avocado, jack fruit, durian or mung bean shake blended with ice and sweetened condensed milk. The staff there actually told us it’s ‘fruit salad’. Ate there was a nice experience as there were no proper table. We simply sat on the street on a stool.
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First Taste of Vietnamese Food – Bun Thang
Bun Thang, also called Hanoi Chicken Soup or “Ladder” soft noodle soup, is a kind of rice vermicelli dish. Bun Thang includes lean pork paste, thin fried egg, salted shredded shrimp, chicken, onion, shrimps paste, and a little Belostomatid essence. Especially, Bun Thang bouillon, soup made from not less than 20 ingredients, and shrimps and meat must be very sweet and pure. The best place to taste Bun Thang is in Hanoi, and I was glad that we ‘accidentally’ tasted it on the first night we reached Hanoi.
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Thanh Vinh Tourist Hotel
We were introduced to Thanh Vinh Tourist Hotel when the hotel that we initially went to was fully booked. It’s located at 10A1 Yen Thai of Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi, inside small alley which accessible from Hang Manh street or opposite the Hang Da market. Actually I didn’t know the name of the hotel until I looked at the name card of the hotel, as the sign board only prominently displayed Sinh Cafe and Open Tour.
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Minibus to Hanoi
We met Alan and his 4 friends, all NUS students in Noi Boi airport. It was the third time he been to Vietnam. They previously came to Hanoi Vietnam for a community project. We decided to follow him to Old Quarter to look for hotel. We were taking minibus to St. Joseph’s Cathedral to meet their friend Robin that reached Hanoi earlier. This avoided us the scam that the mini bus driver drops the passengers at the hotels that they can earn some commission.
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Hanoi NoiBai Airport
We finally reached Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport after 3 hours of flying. NoiBai airport is a small airport. But to my surprise, immigration and custom clearance is a fast, albeit long queue. And they did open up more counters when the queue got longer. Moreover, the immigration officers were very helpful. I tried to ask how to get to Old Quarter, but they simply didn’t understand what’s Old Quarter. Worse still, I couldn’t read Hoan Kiem Lake properly. After showing them the map, they’re so helpful to write me the Vietnamese of Hoan Kiem Lake, and told me that I can get there by taking bus no. 7 from outside of airport and then transfer to bus no. 9. They were simply so friendly and helpful. But we didn’t go to Old Quarter by public bus, we went by mini bus instead.
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Some Arguments with Adeline
We’re not yet on the Tiger Airways plane but I already had some arguments with Adeline. I don’t know why, but it seemed that every minor things and even non an issue can become a thing that made her impatient and got angry. This kind of incidents occasionally happened during the rest of our trip. Anyway, well, let’s hope that things get better, and I will try to suit her as far as possible.
Tiger Airways Check-In and Boarding
Checked in Tiger Airways was fast and easy. Just providing the reservation number and it’s all done. We were issued with boarding pass straight away. There was no seat number as Tiger Airways has ‘free seating’ policy, meaning you can choose wherever you want to sit, provided it’s not yet taken. One minor negative point is that checked baggage and luggage allowance of only 15 kg, and additional 1 piece of unchecked or hand baggage plus a hand bag or laptop not exceeding 7 kg, 58cm x 38cm x 23cm in dimensions. Adeline needed to checked in her luggage as it’s exceeded 7 kg. If exceeding 15 kg, prepares some money for excess baggage charge. Beside, officially it’s not outside food and drink allowed, but they never enforced the rule.
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Heavy Backpack Caused Delay
My Tatonka backpack was heavier than I expected. Just didn’t know why I packed so many things till the backpack filled up. It weighed about 11 kg when I weighed it at Changi Airport. The heavy backpack delayed me for a while before leaving home, as I figured out how to reduce some weigh. Finally I decided to leave home my tripod. Due to this delay, I reached Changi airport only at about 2.30 pm instead of 2.00 pm initially planned.