Vietnam Day 3: Hanoi to Lao Cai (Part 1)

26/06/07

We woke up at around 8 am and were ready to set off by 8.45 am.

A picture of one of our hostel rooms

We took a cab to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum as it was open from tuesdays to thursdays from 7.30 am to 11 am. When we reached the place, we were annoyed that there were so many people queuing up there. The queue stretched for about 400 metres and we had to places our bags and cameras at the safe deposit area. The intense sun and high humidity made it worse and we decided to give it a try another day. 2nd attempt to enter HCM Mausoleum failed. I guess we were not fated to see the preserved body of the late communist leader.

We headed over to Ho Chi Minh Museum next to the Mausoleum and it was the same case over there as well.

Hundreds of people queuing

The queue extended a long way out of the entrance

We were dumbfounded by the large number of people wanting to visit these places and we observed that many of the visitors seemed to be locals. I guess Vietnamese people are quite concerned about their history and culture as well.

As we had not have our breakfast, we decided to walk around the vicinity to look for some food instead.

Transporting vegetables using the traditional way

We couldn't seem to find any cafes or restaurants along the road which we walked and decided to take a cab to fetch us to a street which we term as bar street as there are a number of cafes and a few pubs there.

Next, we proceeded to a shopping centre in the southern part of Hanoi which is one of the very rare shopping centres there.

Vincom City Towers

We did not buy anything inside as we can get clothes or other things cheaper at other places. There is a cinema in the shopping centre as well but the movies are released at a slower rate compared to Singapore.

The view of cityscape of Hanoi from 6th level shopping centre

I still miss Black and White Photography so i took a sample picture in b&w

We settled at Gloria Jean's coffee next and played our regular 消遣活动 which is bridge. We didn't have much activities lined up until at night and we were quite relaxed.

After our drink break, we roamed around the area and decided to have early dinner. Passed by a nice looking restaurant and went inside for some food.

Inside Cafe Big One

We were like rich people there, popping in and out of restaurants and cafes which we can't do too often in Singapore.

After our dinner, we were roaming around as usual and passed by some interesting places. We were getting used to crossing the roads there, all the rampant horns and the massive motorcycles.

The common mode of transport, motorcycles

An outdoor barber!

To be continued...

End of Part 1 (8 am to 6 pm)