Lions Vietnam Charity Trip- Day 1 At Hanoi

It has been awhile since me and Max did a trip together alone without Ace.

I think if I am not wrong, our last trip together was when I insisted that he bring me to a trip before we went over to Dubai... and it was to Lijiang... (Lijiang Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |Day 4 | Day 5) And that was in 2011!

I still remember that Ace was so impressed with our trip, when he was planning to marry his "love", Xu Ai, he even planned for a honeymoon to Vietnam! LOL!

When our Lions Club was organizing a charity trip over to Vietnam, I jumped at the chance to have some time alone with Max and told him that I wanted to go too.

It meant though, Ace has to go live in Popo or Nainai's house and he chose to live in nainai's house cos he says it is closer to his school and easier to get to and fro shool..

This trip, we were going to Hanoi and HCM.... Both places we have been to before. I had very fond memories of our Hanoi trip which we did alone to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

Here are the photos we took the last time!:)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/verityy/15b2S0

HCM we went during Shushu and Shenshen's wedding...

Leaving the house early in the morning at 6am.....

Reached the airport and saw so many Pokemons! MUST TAKE PICTURE!!!!!

We even took a goodbye video to send to Ace:) hahahahaa...

Then after checking in, still had some time... so went to find things to eat lah.. went to to foodcourt and had to try order our food from a machine... first time.. karang kabok.. hahahaha

So apparently, you order liao... pay.. and then wait for your number to be called to collect your food. I prefer order direct from Aunty and Uncle cos difficult to customize using the machine.

Went to duty free to help pple buy things and saw this... I think hor, these warnings are not really very useful lah.. everyone knows this but still smoke anyway mah..

After a short flight, finally arrived in Hanoi! Woohoo!



We were greeted in Hanoi by our Lions counterparts and it was time to head to our hotel.... Many thanks to our big brother, Lion Sunny for arranging everything lor...

Saw some beautiful roses at entrance hotel.. hope it is the start of a sweet romantic trip:)

Our room....

Take a short rest...

Then we met up again for lunch. Because our Taiwanese counterparts are vegetarian, everyone thought better to find a vegetarian restaurant and turns out, we found one near our hotel!:)

As we walked over, we were exploring the streets of Hanoi.. it is a different feel this time cos the weather is cold at 16 degrees.... the last time I came, it was summer and somewhat warm like Singapore.

I joked that this time in Hanoi, everyday take picture also same outfit one.... cos we were perpetually wearing our jackets and scarfs:) LOL

THe familiar bikes that can carry anything scene in hanoi!

Reckee..... nearly got massage place!

Quaint little vegetarian restaurant.. tat served both veg and non veg food.. they actually had a separate kitchen for their veg food... and how do we know? We know cos one of our taiwanese counterparts had very very very sensitive body deposition towards meet so if the pot tat is used to cook the veg has ever cooked meat before, she will have violent physical reaction to it and throughout our trip, this was the only place that served food that she could eat without feeling sick.. She ended up eating cup noodles very much in her room afterwards cos so many other places that were supposedly vegetarian here also served non veg food and probably cooked in same kitchen using same utensils.

Sunny said that the Cha ca la vong is famous and that we should find time to eat it one of these meals we were going to have... too bad though in the end, not enough stomach! 

The man of my choice and the beer of our choice for the next two days... Hanoi Special:)

Since Sunny is the foody, I told him I will have whatever he is having!:) This is called Bun Cha.. apparently Obama also ate this when he came here...

Food there is not bad and this deep fried spring roll is one of Max's favourite...

After lunch, we head out to the streets to jalan jalan lah...

This whole place near the lake area is still pretty much the same;)

Our friend Ina hasnt learnt how to cross the roads of Vietnam (you need to just cheong and cannot be frightened or hesitate one.. cos they will stop or siam you.. if you stand there and hesitate.. they will heck care you and still continue to move in front of you) so the ever gentleman, Max went back to guide her over:) hahahahaha

Taking a photo of highlands coffee.. last time we visited Hanoi, I think we had coffee with there once:)

Though the place looks the same, it does feel different in winter!:)

Both me and Max were joking this gate is 左青龙，右白虎...

Year of the rooster so have rooster design.. but why are they using christmas flower when it is already FEB:) hahahaha

Bz buzzy bees...

Ai ai ai, I'm a little butterfly..

We walked and walked and finally came to the portion where all the different streets are for diff trades.. this is the shoe street..

Noticed that the balloon sellers are still everywhere:)

So are the street vendors:)

And the many shops that sold art pieces too. We saw many similar paintings to the ones we bought on our last trip:)

No prizes for guessing what Max is searching for... :)

We walked past this and wondered if it is the Tamarind Cafe we loved and visited again and again the last time we were here..  after walking around.. We think this IS the place and that the cafe must have closed down..

I just did a quick google search and I think I am right... cos they share the same address and Tamarind has closed down...

So one ticked off our to do list while there....

Next, Max's tick off list consisted of some craft beer time... and we finally found this place with craft beer and sat down for a drink....

We chose to sit by the roadside like the others...

I so bored...he drink beer and I not drinking... he keep looking at phone cos he is working... and I got no wifi.. so... TAKE PHOTO lor:) hahahaha

I took this photo...because I want to remind myself of this.. that we found out later that there IS free wifi here... and the password here is BEERISBETTERTHANWATER.... LOL

Took photo of other people's coffee...

But cold day.. I think will be quite nice to drink a hot drink too.. too bad i dun drink coffee one..

After tat, went to jalan jalan somemore..

Young man selling lighters....

Diam diam zoh gang.. so I people watch...

 Saw this guy... in long trench coat.. got so cold meh... LOL

The whole world there is in those light puffy coats... and the reason is the whole street is selling those jackets lor:) hahahaha

 I remember making a stamp for Ace.. dunno where he throw it now...

 Master at work!

 Wah, there is even Ace's favourite restaurant here:)

Night time, we decided to go out for dinner and head out to pasar malam to see see look look...

 So cold that Max boh pian have to wear is beanie.. BUT that is a problem for me! I can't find him easily in the crowd cos beanie is grey! It is much easier to spot his shiny botak head!

 We went back to the former Tamarind cafe as they also sell veg food... And they are even selling my fav mushroom steak that we ate the last time we were here:)

But leh, after so many years, chef different liao.. food also diff.. food no longer as tasty..

 

 Apparently, the corn here is very sweet.. I din eat lah.. is other pple who ate told me one.

After dinner we realized that they have closed the roads... and so you can walk freely on the roads and there is alot of performances going on...

 Got people singing lah..

 Got people dancing lah...

 All the aunty uncle wear nice nice come and dance.. BUT... I dunno why this kind of dance is play this kind of music... like tak match.. BUT they look happy and I guess that is most important:)

 Got food truck also...

  This group was performing outside the cultural association... so they are some cultural group.. and it turned out they were performing a song that I had just heard called Katyusha... It is a russian military type of song... But it is a sad love story type of song about forlorn love.... And interestingly, I heard it in some chinese singing program :)


I asked Max to guess what country this song is from and he guessed correctly:)

 I keep seeing this thing called EGG COFFEE... and I was thinking whether to we will have a chance to try:)

 I must say night time view of all these buildings also very nice:)

Then Ina said she wanted to go toilet so we went to the nearest hotel to find toilet.. wah.. the toilet sibeh nice!

 Then hor, someone suggested going drinking... Sunny's local friend Van, suggested a place called SWING... so us 5 singaporeans decided to head to SWING and check out the local entertainment spot...

While walking over.. saw this cute little boy...

 New year over so long liao they still celebrating.. LOL

 Alot of pple selling fruits on the street..

 Saw pikachu!


Asked for a photo with Pikachu..

 but the strange thing is we also saw alot of pple eating ice cream on the streets.. found out later it is cos there is a ice cream factory along that road... hahaha and lots of vendors selling ice cream...

Oh, we were also told the Pizza 4P is very good and the best pizza in Hanoi.. too bad no stomach to try:) Even my SIL who is vietnamese tells me it is very good!:)

 

 Finally we are here...

 Saw alot of these pretty boy posters...and wonder why... is cafe right.. why like the erm.. you know wat...

 THe layout hor... is like our min ge can ting... like Mu Chuan... so there is a stage.. and there are musicians.. and then the chairs are arranged in rows and everyone sit quietly and drink and listen to mustic...

 

 So bored why they want to come here leh? LOL

 Cheers!

 I drink gin tonic:)

 Me and Ina were bio-ing this guitarist... side view so handsome.. but when he turned around to face us... CUI... heartbreak... LOL

 This picture deserves a special mention!

THis guy came out.. and then so many pple cheering.. and i suddenly realized there are more women than men in the group.. and all the cameras come out lah... I was like.. so popular meh?

 Singing was so so... LOoks.. to be honest also so so.. but too and very korean idol look lah.. maybe that is why popular...


 Found a video of him singing taken by the cafe on that day..... you be the judge..

 

 Someone taking video of his singing...

 On way back.. was taking photos of all the posters...

 THen I realized we saw his photo while coming in wor!:) hahahaha

Anyway, I think though he did not sing very well.. he did not sing too badly also lah.. I just wonder how hard he has to work to maintain himself and why he chose to sing here instead of venture further...

 The reason why everyone is eating ice cream... the ice cream factory I was talking about.

 That is hell of a big remote control car!

 Cos the roads are closed, people gather to sit around.. and these young people are playing Capteh (Kickshuttle).

 Lots of toy cars for rent as well... those tat children can sit in and drive around..

 On way back to hotel.. passed by this POLITE PUB... we joked and said only polite people can go.. LOL..but hor, in the end when Sunny went, he told us the pple there very rude! wat an irony! hahahaha.. It is very popular though cos the next day when we tried to arrange to meet there, we decided to pass cos too crowded and too long a queue...

And that put an end to our first day in Hanoi ;)

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