Khaly and I were up early this morning, but not to run! Our flight to Hanoi was scheduled to leave at 7:30am so my plan was to wake up at 5:00am, finish packing and catch a taxi at 5:45. However, I was awoken at 5:30am by a noise, and panicked! I have no idea why my alarm didn’t go off, but I didn’t have the time to find out. I quickly rushed through my bathroom routine, tossed some stuff in my bag, shoveled food in my mouth, and was more or less ready by the time Khaly knocked on my door at 5:45am. We caught a cab and since there was no traffic we made it to the airport by 6:15am. Check-in was so easy (I think every one of my pockets had about 10oz of liquid, but hey, it’s Vietnam baby)! We flew Jetstar, a budget airline, and it sure felt it! As I sat down I wondered if maybe I had grown since the last time I flew. The seat in front of me was right in my lap! My knees were not too happy! I was hoping to sleep (and usually I can pass out) but not so much today. Khaly said she was laughing at me because I was tossing and turning! Oh well.
It took a little over 2 hours until we landed in Hanoi. I was excited because the hotel was picking us up so I got to look for my name on a sign! I felt so special! I have no idea who the man with the sign was..but next thing I knew we were in a car and off! It took about 40 minutes to get to the hotel and the woman at the front desk was so sweet. I picked the hotel..well first I should explain that I planned this trip. Khaly has been my handy translator for the past 3 weeks, so I said I would take care of the trip as a thank you. BUT she still has to translate for me. ALTHOUGH I am beginning to wonder WHY I brought her because when we got in the car and I heard the man talking I said, “What did he say?” and she said, “I don’t know, they have a different accent up here!” Ugh she is good for nothing!! Haha!
So anyway..I picked the hotel because it has rave reviews on trip advisor! It was reasonably priced, had free internet and free breakfast! I thought free breakfast would be good since we have to leave early for our Halong Bay tour and won’t have enough time to get to the know area well enough to find breakfast! When we arrived the front desk woman was so helpful (it is a family run hotel) and offered us breakfast! Woo hoo! We were both hungry so we had some breakfast and met the woman from the boat company to pay for the boat. Our room wasn’t going to be ready until 12:00 (we thought that is what she said..) so we went for a quick walk to explore. I was dying for an iced coffee (I do NOT want to become a coffee drinker..but have fallen in love with Vietnamese iced coffee) so I put Khaly to work to find me one! She came through..so I feel better about bringing her along since she was useful!
I think we both like Hanoi a bit better than Saigon. It is less busy, less hot, more trees, etc. Although, I think I am going to have a major problem when I come home. As we left the hotel, we both commented about how cold it was. But after finding out the temperature (I think around 70 degrees) I realized I had become used to the hot weather. It was SEVENTY and I was like, “Oh brrrrr where is my jacket!” Ugh I am in big trouble. If there is ONE thing I have learned on this trip..it’s that I LOVE warm weather and would MUCH rather be hot than cold. That doesn’t fare too well with the wonderful 6 months of New England winter. I think I love my family, boyfriend and friends too much to move away, but I am not going to lie, it is something that I think about. WHY does anyone choose to live in New England? Can you answer me that!? Luckily I did warm up and was able to go back to a t-shirt and shorts and be comfortable!
We got back to the hotel around 12:00 and she said our room still wasn’t ready (we found out later check OUT was at 12:00 so that makes sense). We were both hungry, so I found a restaurant in my Lonely Planet book called Bar 69. It was about a 10 minute walk (not too bad) and it was so cute! It was in an old building and had a lot of character! I got ANOTHER coffee (I was so very tired) and a fried rice vegetable meat dish, which was actually DELICIOUS! We left full and content and found our way back to the hotel. Our room was ready so we moved into our room which was BEAUTIFUL! I have to admit, I did a good job! Haha! The room is on the 3rd floor (but has a LOT of stairs). It has a queen bed and a twin bed, a closet, TV, mini refrigerator, COMPUTER and bathroom! It really is beautiful! We were both a bit sad we are only staying for one night because it is so nice!
I had done my best to research what we should do in Hanoi..and there wasn’t a lot! I had wanted to do a tour (I find it SO tiring to plan a trip..Mom I give you so much credit!) but since we were only free for half a day, most of the tours were too expensive and didn’t have everything we wanted. I found out what was open when and planned accordingly!
First stop was Ho Chi Minh Museum. I had written down three cab companies that were safe. Honestly, it is so annoying to have to wait for the RIGHT cab to avoid getting ripped off or worse!!! I asked the front desk if the cab companies seemed right and about how much it should cost to get to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. She was very sweet and said she would call a cab (one on my list) and said it should cost about 50,000VND (which is reasonable). Khaly and I hopped in the cab and we were off!
It didn’t take long to get there..and I was surprised when the meter read 27,000VND and we were there! I got out 30,000VND and handed it to him as he shut off the meter. He shook his head no as he said, “50,000VND”. I told him that the meter said 27,000VND (although now it was blank as he had turned it off..) and he again said, “50,000VND”. I looked at Khaly with a face that said, “We are getting ripped off..let’s GO!” So I said again, “The meter said 27,000VND..thank you!” as we shut the door. NOBODY messes with Julie Bulie..right Daddy!? I was actually REALLY mad about the situation (Vietnam has this effect on me that little “cultural” things REALLY make me angry). He was trying to rip us off..AND I think the hotel lady was in on it!!! Maybe not, but she did tell us 50,000VND. The guy knew he was trying to get us because he just shook his head and let us leave. I was glad I had looked at the meter and I don’t know if it is because I have been abroad for a few months now or what, but I feel like I get agitated easily (another story to follow later) and I don’t like it!
I was actually scared the guy was going to follow us and kill us, so we quickly moved to the museum. We had about five things to see..three of which closed at 4:00pm and two that closed at 5:00pm and it was almost 2:45pm. We quickly walked through the museum and were NOT impressed. Granted we really didn’t STOP to see anything, but I think even if we HAD I wouldn’t have been impressed! We left and made our way to the One Pillar Pagoda, but almost missed it because it was SO small! We then moved to the “stilt house” and this is again when I was frustrated. We walked through security and the man pointed us over to the ticket counter. But everyone in front of us was walking right through. So I explained we just wanted to take pictures (we didn’t want to go IN anything) and she held up the ticket. “But everyone else is walking through” I replied. Maybe if the taxi man hadn’t already ATTEMPTED to rip us off I wouldn’t have cared, but I didn’t understand why WE had to pay! Khaly sensed this was one of my MOMENTS (she has them too..like when we were buying strollers..haha!) and just paid so we could go! I wasn’t even THAT impressed! Oh well..I need to work on not getting frustrated with the culture. But the things I once found “different..interesting..funny” are now annoying and wearisome!
We continued on to find a cab (which took a while to find a GOOD one) and made our way to the Temple of Literature. However, there was no sign that said, Temple of Literature. We found some other tourists and they said we were in the right place, so onward we went! It was beautiful, but I have to say NOTHING compares to the Temple’s of China (such a travel snob!) After that we made our way to the Museum of Fine Arts. I wasn’t too keen on it..but Khaly was excited so we spent some time walking around. I think at that point I was also exhausted!
As we were leaving..I REALLY wanted to take a cyclo! I knew I wanted to do this before I left Vietnam, and it is much cleaner and prettier here than in Saigon. So Khaly and I looked for one to take us to the lake (the last stop for our day) but no such luck! We took a cab instead (not nearly as fun) and walked around the lake which was beautiful! We then stopped for dinner (we were both SO tired..but thought maybe we were hungry as well). Dinner was fine (nothing too special) but we decided to treat ourselves to dessert at Highlands Coffee (hey we are on vacation!!) Highlands is nice because it is very “western” with big comfy chairs! I got a chocolate brownie and ice cream and Khaly got carrot cake and a white chocolate drink. It was SO good! We both agreed that chocolate makes us feel better (can you tell why we get along so well?)
We decided it might be too expensive to try and take a cyclo back to the hotel (and it may have taken 3 days..which we definitely didn’t have!) We decided to go around the lake! I was willing to pay 20,000VND each..but Khaly thought we should pay 20,000VND together (haven’t I made her into a great bargainer?) We spoke to the first guy who started with 60,000VND. It took a while but we got him down to 20,000VND (we made sure to confirm this was TOGETHER) and off we went! Khaly said he swore or something..but he obviously wouldn’t take us if he was losing money. It was fun, but going around the lake was enough! It was very bumpy and it was getting a bit cooler so we were fine when it ended. Another driver yelled something about us being cheap..but I can’t say my feelings were hurt! We then took a cab to come back!
I got ANOTHER massage tonight! Ugh I know, I know, I shouldn’t! But my Dad just loves me SO much I know he will put a little extra in my bank account!!!! I was SO sore today (I have NO idea why) and after a long day I had read GREAT reviews about a place literally 1 minute away from the hotel. So off I went..and it was BEAUTIFUL! Even better than some spa’s in the U.S.! It was so Zen like and the massage room was clean, dimly lit and had waterfall music playing. I couldn’t get over how nice it was! Good thing I am only here for one day or else I would want more!
The massage wasn’t bad, although I got a Thai one and it was a little too much..moving for me. I don’t really like when they step on your back, and she was moving me all around in ways I just don’t move. Overall, it was GREAT and while it wasn’t the most relaxing it felt good!
Also..I have updated videos on the website! Check them out soon because I am going to have to delete them to upload more!
Hugs and kisses from Hanoi!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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