Our Around the World Trip!: Ha Noi

Ha Noi means “the hinterland between the rivers” and is a city which possesses a unique architecture of beautiful colonial villas and streets lined with old trees but at the same time is a growing city which is undergoing major changes such as the creation of wide avenues and highways, hotels and office buildings. Ha Noi contains 18 beautiful lakes which are the lungs of the city with their surrounding gardens and trees.

After the family members that had joined us on the day trip to Ha Noi departed, the rest of us departed from the restaurant to the Ngoc Mai Hotel, a 3 star hotel where Greg, Arlene, Nancy, Troy, Derek, Krista, Rav and I stayed.

Although, the hotel was spacious and clean, we found the people there to be dishonest. They would constantly be changing the prices on everything (air tickets for Greg and Arlene to Laos and Cambodia, train tickets for Nancy and Troy to Hue, and our room prices). So we left their establishment after two nights stay and found another hotel for half the price. We stayed at the Green City Hotel close to the old Quarters of Ha Noi. It was 190,000.00 dong ($15 CDN). The hotel was fine, clean and close to most things such as shopping, train station, markets, and some attractions.

Our Hotel

Feb 3rd was Rav’s birthday and we spent the first half of the day exploring the streets of Ha Noi with Derek, Krista, Troy and Nancy. We did a walking tour out of the Lonely Plant book and walked down some popular streets of Ha Noi and made our way to the Old Quarters of Ha Noi by the Hoan Kiem Lake which constitutes the core of Ha Noi. We walked around the lake enjoying the scenery and then made our way to the Water Puppet Theatre where we had the opportunity to watch a water puppet show. The show was very interesting and a first for some of us. The water puppets performed a number of different skits to live music that was being played and sung. It was difficult to take pictures but everyone seemed to enjoyed themselves.

Having some Beverages at a Local Coffee Shop – From Left to Right: Chris, Rav, Troy, Nancy, Krista and Derek

Statue of King Ly Thai To

Water Puppet Show

Later that evening after saying goodbye to Troy and Nancy who were on their way to catch a train to Hue, we celebrated the rest of Rav’s birthday by going to “The Club Opera Restaurant” for dinner, a high end Vietnamese cuisine restaurant, which Derek and Krista graciously paid for (it cost $115 US but we all agreed it was well worth every penny). The food was the best I had ever tasted of any Vietnamese cuisine (sorry mom). We took lots of photos and I am sure I will be trying my hand at some of these when I get home.