Charming Ha Noi

It was mid-winter when we visited Ha Noi. The cool crisp 16 °C air was a pleasant departure from the usual hot and humid Malaysia. Although the winter clouds cast a gloom to the city, it could not take away the vibrancy of street commercialism, the seductive architecture, the colourful culture, and of course, the din of thousands of motor scooters.


Take a leisurely stroll along the streets and side lanes of Han Noi and absorb the unmistakable old-world charm of the Old Quarter. Alternatively, call for a cyclo to chauffeur you around for a mere 50,000 dong an hour, or even cheaper. Once you step in a cyclo, you are the king of the streets, oblivious to the oncoming traffic, as you stop in the middle of the busy road or junction busy taking pictures.

The Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of the city in shades of grey of the evening winter sky.

Not to be missed is a mandatory visit to the water puppet ‘musical’ show at the Thang Long Puppet Theatre. Book your tickets early in the day. Entry ticket costs 60,000 dong (RM 14) per person. Each show consist of a 17 short stories, narrated and sung in the Vietnamese language. We could not understand a word, but the uniqueness of the music, the water puppets and the performance was nevertheless enjoyable. There are programme leaflets in English, French and German that to help you understand the theme of each story.

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is probably the single biggest tourist attraction in Ha Noi. Thousands of local and foreign visitors throng the mausoleum-museum-pagoda complex under tight security every day. We have not seen such a large crowd of tourists in a single destination before.

The peaceful and tree-lined streets ... the romantic and surprisingly well-preserved French architecture exudes a different kind of atmosphere in the French Quarter. Other well-known buildings with French/western influence architecture includes The Hanoi Opera House, Sofitel Metropole and the St. Joseph Cathedral.

A visit to northern Vietnam is incomplete without a trip to see Halong Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Book a guided tour in advance to see breathtaking limestone islets emerging from the surface of the sea... the place where the dragon descends. Visit the beautiful natural formations of the limestone caves, or merely enjoy the panoramic view of the bay from your junk. There are hundreds of travel agents in the Old Quarter to choose from. Take a day tour for a mere US$22, or stay overnight on board the junk for the romantic sunrise experience.

Another must-visit place in Northern Vietnam is SaPa Village, close to te border of China. But gave it a miss this time due to time constraints (you will need to take an overnight train to reach the nearest town, Lao Cai) and unfavourable weather conditions. High up in the hill, winter temperatures may drop to a minimum of 2 °C.

And of course, the north Vietnamese boys are cute, cute, cute!! No sinful activities though, but the eyes do get lots of exercise! I heart Ha Noi and the boys!

All That Matters

Love is supposed to be unconditional.
We should give our love, our care, our attention, our resources, our effort, without expecting anything in return.
So they say.

Love.
For our family … our soul mate … our friends.

Those little things to show that you loved and cared.
That you remembered.
That we matter.

Those little gifts, treats and favours in kind.
That offer to help out without any need for us to ask for one.
That simple phone-call just to say ‘hi-what’s up?’.
That caring gesture in times of need and sickness.
That shoulder to cry on.

Those words of encouragement.
That moral and emotional support.
That birthday wish.
That thank-you note.

Sometimes, it is never reciprocated.
Forgotten.
Are you that busy?
Is it that difficult to pick up the phone and make that call?
Or are you just too self-absorbed?

Or perhaps we didn't matter at all.

Love is supposed to be unconditional.
Or not?
We could never be so calculating, could we?

But, the truth is
It matters that we matter.

Else, we move on
To find that place where we matter.

Makan-makan @ Ha Noi

Okay, I'm not a food blogger like Jaslene or WMW, but I feel I should write a little bit about the "interesting" food that Evie and I had on our recent trip to Ha Noi.

Food served aboard Halong Bay Boat Ride

As the boat left the Bai Chay Tourist Wharf on mainland, we were served local Vietnamese food which was cooked in a small kitchen on the boat. I didn't get any details of the names of the food though. Such a lousy flogger aren't I? But I did take a few pics.

Taste a bit like fried popiah.

Layered fried eggs.

Tofu.

Fish.

Com Viet Restaurant
40, Ly Thai To Street
For dinner on our first day, we tried the restaurant recommended by Rachel, which serves a broad selection of local Vietnamese cuisine. It was fairly quiet when we arrived; there was an Australian couple dining. We ordered roasted pigeon, pork stew and stir fry vegetable (can’t remember the name). It wasn’t great, but I loved the ‘crispy’ roasted pigeon. Yummy!

See! See! The pigeon head!

As we were about to leave for the Water Puppet show, three girls all dressed up in traditional Vietnamese costume, started to perform a few traditional music instruments.


Cha Ca La Vong
14, Cha Cha Street
A must-eat local cuisine for every visitor to Ha Noi – the erroneously labeled “grilled” fish. It is actually pieces of tumeric coated fish fillet fried in groundnut oil (plenty of it) in a pan mounted on a little charcoal stove. You will then have to add a fairly significant amount of spring onions, coriander and basil leaves, and a bit of peanuts, into the pan with the fish and stir-fry. Instead of rice, you eat it with rice noodles. Costs RM20 per person! Rather pricey if you ask me!

Apparently, this place is listed under Patricia Shultz's "1000 places to see before you die". Indeed, an intriguing food experience that should not be missed when in Hanoi!


Quan An Ngan
Phan Boi Chau Street
This little food oasis is tucked in the shady corner of Phan Boi Chau St. We had never intended to come here in first place. We told our cyclo man to recommend a good roadside ‘pho bo’ or beef noodle. We had wanted to experience eating local noodles by the roadside, sitting on those tiny stools. Instead, he misunderstood us, and he brought us to this fairly classy “foodcourt”.

The entrepreneur had refurbished an old bungalow, and had nicely converted and done up the entire place into foodcourt with a tasteful design and concept. Customers mainly comprise smartly dressed office workers, rich to middle class locals, and of course, tourists. You get to choose a variety of local fare from more than 10 food counters.

I tried the Bun Oc Om Chuoi Dau (Braised Snails with banana & tofu served with rice noodle), while Eve tried Mien Mang Suon Moc (Bamboo cassava noodle soup with pork ribs and pork balls). We shared the desert, Xoi Vo (glutinous rice cooked with split peas).

I love my dish – a traditional local food in northern Vietnam – the snails were crunchy rather than chewy. The pieces of bananas in the soup were cooked with the skin and you were meant to eat all of it – I confirmed it with a Hanoian man seated next to me. Food prices were reasonable. We only spent a total of RM14 here!

Bamboo cassava noodle soup

Braised snail with banana & tofu

Glutinous rice cooked with split peas

Local Vietnamese coffee mamak
Next to St Joseph's Cathedral

As what Fable referred to as local 'mamak' in his sms, we decided to sit down by the sidewalk on those little chairs and have Vietnamese coffee and people-watch. It was indeed very relaxing with the cool temperature and watch the day pass by. I'm not much of a coffee person, but Evie loved the coffee so much, she decided to buy a few packets of Vietnamese instant coffee from a local convenience store.

Next post: The Charm of Ha Noi

Never Been Loved

If you are interested in someone, you should never mention that you have never been in a relationship before, Sindy advised.

Sook-Fun nodded, agreeing that it is a big no-no, and that she would never date anyone who has never been in a relationship before. I realized many people view this as undesirable.

Why? Because of lack of experience?

Perhaps people are afraid that if you’ve never been in any relationship before, if you’ve never been loved before, then there must something seriously wrong with you! They think that somewhere, somehow there is a potential problem ahead. So the easy way out is to stay clear and not find out?!

But on the other hand, perhaps undiscovered and untainted love is the purest form of love?

Perhaps the unloved individual has a warmer heart and even more love to give away than one who has had multiple failed relationships?

Is it such a liability to disclose our lack of past relationships?

Do you need a past relationship to make a new one?

Podium Comeback

Dressed up again in my fabulous Daniel Henry's KYLIE t-shirt, I made my second appearance at Marketplace Saturday nite with Jaslene, Tricia and Sook Fun. The dancefloor was empty when we arrived, so we were too shy to dance, but within 30 minutes it was packed! Can only jump up and down on the same spot! We stood too near the front bit of the dancefloor and the white smoky spray almost made us all suffocate. OMG! They kept spraying it.... that's when I said enough is enough! I emerged from the white mist and rose on the high podium (drama! drama!), scanned the dancefloor for a moment before proceeding with my performance! Yes, the former Liquid podium diva has made a comeback! Yeah! It feels good to be back on stage.... OMG! It's been 5 years since I stepped on stage!

Spotted Daniel Henry, Geri and Les, and also got to meet with Jaslene's "brothers", Jin and Queerrant. No one else from the brotherhood went that nite, but got intro to a few of the brothers: Apollo D, Bunny and Cheryl (she's not exactly a brother la) on New Year's Day at Midvalley with Faye.

Happy New Year!