Hanoi, Vietnam (Part 1)

We had initially wanted to incorporate Hanoi into our trip to Cambodia last year but decided against it when it appaered to be too taxing to being doing it all in the 1 week. Plus, it would have meant no Halong Bay in that trip. So this time, given the choice to decide, he has chosen Hanoi as the destination for a 5 day trip, and I managed to weasel my way into an overnight stay in Halong Bay too! :)

We stayed in the Old Quarters after speaking to a friend who's been there recently. It took the boy a while to decide which ones to choose from as he was sssoo tempted by Sofitel Metropole. While the place is gorgeous, the price is definitely not something we were prepared to pay. Plus, it wasn't like I was going to be staying in the room all day anyway. But for those who are willing to splurge, it definitely is a very pretty hotel.

Anyway, we stayed in Maison De Hanoi Hanova Hotel which was, I felt, also a pretty decent hotel. It was comfortable, and it was convenient being only 2 minutes walk to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is the centre of town. The staffs were also extremely helpful.

Hotel lobby

Our room

The rooms are pretty compact I have to say. There wasn't much space to around the perimeters of the bed. Just narrow walkways. The only other way I can describe it was - it felt very much like a hotel room in Japan. Small, compact but well equiped. Although, I have to add that we only booked the classic double room, so maybe the pricier rooms would have more space. But anyway, there was even a turndown service in the evening :).

*We booked our hotel through wotif and saved an average of USD 30 for every night's stay*

First stop - Museum of Ethnology

I read excellent reviews online regarding the museum and was really looking forward to it. Plus, by the time we were done checking in at the hotel it was already 330pm and there wasn't much else to see at that time for a decent visit. The museum opens Tues-Sun from 830-1730. Admission fee VND 25000 ppax. An english guide is available for price, but there wasn't any available while we were there. Not that it mattered really - most of the descriptions were also in English.

First house we visited was the Cham House.

This was one of the 5 buildings in the Cham House. Inside each building, there was common decorative items such as the dragon and clouds or rain. There was also lots of turtle images for fertility, and lots of Yin-Yang amulets.

Outside one of the buildings of Cham House

Anyone may sit down and enjoy the tea here. There's one at every house. Money is placed at the little basket next to the teapot.

Cham House's kitchen

On exiting the Cham House, directly opposite it was the Bhanar Communal House on view. Just right before it is the water puppet stage. The water puppet show is a famous tradition in Vietnam, now almost a lost art. While there is the famous Thang Long Water Puppet Show in town, the museum also holds free shows on weekends. And the show is run by different groups ever month. Too bad we weren't there on a weekend. But I would think it's definitely worth a watch if you're there on a weekend.

Water Puppet Stage (Bhanar Communal House behind it)

Next stop : Kinh House

The first impression that I had of the place was, wow - this looks like a richer house compared to the Cham House. The floors were concrete based, instead of the brown earth at Cham House. The courtyard is decorated, the house just somehow.. looked better. Neater, more ornamental decorative materials, bigger, and more rooms.

Decoration at the courtyard aka Rockgarden

There was a total of 12 rooms in the house. The main room was built in 1906 by Mrs Hoi, who was from a well-to-do Kinh family of the Le Duy linage and contains 5 bays. The middle room housed the ancestral altar, and the family members rests in the lateral bays.

And then we were off to Bhanar Communal House, my longawaited visit for the place. It was the first thing I could see from the entrance to the museum, along with the pictures online of the place that I've seen - I couldn't wait to see the place!

Bhanar Communal House

Not much pictures on the inside as it was really dark and poorly lit. But the house was really high up, and the steps weren't the easiest to get down from. It was surprisingly well aerated and had a cooling effect from the hot hot day.

Anyway, about the Bhanar House - it as modeled after the 20th century house that is in Kon Pbang Village of Kontum Province. The communal house is the most important building in the Bhanar community serving as the meeting place for the men of the vilage, and also a place for celebrations, rituals, and even meeting and planning for wars.

Ede House

This, I felt was the Vietnam version of our long house. Didn't enter the building but just took pictures from the outside. From here on, the weather was starting to get to me. It was wayyyyyy too hot for 'winter'!

\The Ede House is from De Daklak Province of the Buon Ma Thout City.

Giaraj Tomb

The next interesting building was the Giaraj Tomb. Built in 1998 by 5 villagers from Mrong Ngo Village of the Chu Pa district in Gia Lai, the building is made of wood carvings., occasionally from large tree trunks. Carvings of sexually-explicit men and women and pregnant women surrounds the tomb as it represents fertility. At the 4 corners of the building, there was either everyday people or animal carvings to serve the dead. As of what I can understand from the information plates, once the ceremony is concluded, the tomb would be abandoned by the villagers and to fall into pieces with time. A pity really... after all that work.

One of the 'everyday people' to serve the dead

From there on, we wandered through to the rest of the outdoor displays with shorter attention span, just walking in and out of each house before making our way in to the indoor museum.

Random structure

Just in between the indoor and outdoor museum was an area of play. Like a little playground, but it was not your ordinary playground. The 'toys' were from the local traditions, and it wasn't played by children. They were young adults and frankly, it looked quite fun. Mainly testing balancing and coordination skills. It just looked like heaps of fun!

Game no 1

Game no 2

The indoor bit was similiar to the outdoor bit to a certain degree. There was miniature houses, but with displays of the daily utensils, and ceremonies of each ethnic group. A little more interesting I suppose, as it does seem like a little story telling session :).

Bicycle carrying fishtraps

This was certainly a ! There was so many fishtraps that you could hardly see the bicycle. And I initially thought that maybe it was just a fishtrap display. Little did I know that it was Mr Pham's business!

*Mr Pham Dang Uy of Thu Sy Commune, Tien Lu district in Hung Yen, used this bicycle from 1982 to 1997 to sell fishtraps throughout the Red River delta. He would often carry, as here, more than 800 traps of different sorts, for catching small river fish*

800! 800 fishtraps on your bicycle! Who would have thought it was possible!

Miniature houses

There was more to see, and more to read and say about the place, but it is one that you need to go personally to see if you liked it. I found it just slight above average, but then again I was never a big fan of these things so I suppose it was probably good for someone who likes this sort of things.

*No photos as camera was on the verge of going absolutely flat before dinner if I continued snapping pictures*

Seeing that there was still light, we decided to head to Hoan Kiem Lake to visit the Ngoc Son Temple.

The famous Huc Bridge

Unfortunately for us, the temple was already closed for the day when we got there. But since we already knew that before we got there, so there was no rush and we just took our time walking by the lake. There was surprisingly lots of locals that hangs out and jogs around the lake. Not hard to comprehend why, it was a pretty sight right in the middle of town. Coupled with the cool breeze, it was wonderful!

Main doorway to Ngoc Son Temple

Little worship area to the left

Huc Bridge

*We did pay the temple a visit again a few days later, when it was opened so I'll talk more about it then*. The good thing about being there when it's closed was that we were able to take photos without the crowds.

Closed for the day

There wasn't much else to do for the night, and we were already quite tired from the early rise so we decided to head for dinner at about 7 p.m. We decided to have dinner at Dinh Lang, a restaurant located just at the edge of the lake, taking the shape of a boat. Dinh Lang is located on the upper floor. The lower floor was also another restaurant, which serves a combination of asian and western food. Dinh Lang on the other hand, serves traditional Vietnamese cuisine, which was exactly what we were looking for! *And no, I wasn't game on trying the local scene just yet. Not on my first day, and no, not after Cambodia*

The view from our table

We were pleasantly surprised when we were showed our table. We did not make any reservations (and yes, there was a few reserved tables there) and yet our table was probably the best in the whole restaurant. We were seated right at the centre, next to a large window that was left opened to look into the lake and the beautiful city lights. And to top it of, we were right in front of the perfomance stage. It was splendid!

We decided to opt for the set dinner as we weren't sure what was good and what wasn't. And what was local and what wasn't. So I think we settled for set dinner B, a 7 course meal which serves 2 plus rice and coffee.

Appetizer 1 - Eel soup

I was feeling a little grossed out intially when I was thinking about eel soup.. but then again, it suddenly came to me that I love having unagi. And that unagi was eel. LOL... But frankly, it just tasted like fish in soup :P.

Appetizer 2 - Papaya Pork Salad

The original set had banana salad but we swapped it for this for an extra VND 15000 I think as yours truly just can't stand bananas. This was just average - we felt that the pork was a little too hard.

Appetizer 3 - Roasted pigeon

My first of many in Vietnam. This was pretty yummy :)

Snakehead fish soup

This was quite funny. I had to repeatedly ask the waiter if this soup was an actual snake head soup, or was it just some sort of fish variety which is known as snakehead. Thankfully it was the latter. They should really either change the name of the soup, or have someone explain earlier. It would have put me off that set, if I didn't ask them. *Not a fan of snakes, although I haven't had it before*. And and, what if it was an actual snake head that stares at you from the bowl of soup!!!*shudders*

Anyway, it was all good :). No snakes, and no snake heads staring at you.

Stirfried chicken with cashew nut

This I felt was the best dish of them all. It was just tasty enough. Great to go along with our rice.

The restaurant also has a 5-person band, which plays traditional Vietnamese instruments and songs which was quite enjoyable. Initially, they looked so bored and stoned that it was almost painful to watch them. But as they warmed up, there was more smiles and it got a little more entertaining. Or maybe it was the old man behind me who seem to be the only one that was able to hum to the tunes of the songs. So that too, was pretty entertaining.

Sensing that we were not locals, the main performer came up to me and asked where I was from and the next thing was, she was singing a local Malaysian song. I can't tell you what it was as I don't know the name itself, but it was definitely a rather well-known Malaysian song. So, that was a nice touch!

We left at about almost 9 as we had wanted to get a massage from our hotel for our poor bodies, but unfortunately, they were busy till closing time :(. But oh well, an early night for early risers the next day. We were headed for the much anticipated Halong Bay the next day!