Trip to Hanoi from 25th Nov to 29th Nov 2013

Went on a short holiday with my wife to Hanoi.  Even before the trip, the experience with Hanoi City Palace Hotel was fantastic.  The staff was very helpful and the room was nice. There is not much of a view from the hotel room -from the window of our room, we can actually touch the wall of the next building.  But this is just a very small inconcenience compared to our experience.

The hotel is situated in the old quarter of Hanoi and that in itself is a treat.  On the first night we had dinner along the street - BBQ style.  Among the crowd were foreigners and even people from Singapore.

My wife having breakfast.

Our dinner along the street on the first night.

On the 2nd day, we were guided around Hanoi by hanoifreetours.com.  You should check them out if you visit Hanoi (or check out Hanoi Kids).  Our guide was very helpful and friendly.  Below you're see some pictures of places we visited - Ho Chi Minh Presidential Palace, Literacy Museum, Prison Museum, Old Quarters.  There are also some videos of the traffic - there is method in the chaos.

Presidential Palace of Uncle Ho

Above are some pictures of the Literacy Museum

 Above are pictures of the Prison Museum

 Above are pictures of a street in the Old Quarters and videos of the traffic

We tried to drink coffee in a place overseeing the lake.  The shop is on the 2nd floor of a shop and if we are new to the place, we would not be able to locate it.  We did not drink there as the patrons were smoking.  Below is a video of the way up and down.

The way out of the coffee shop

We had grilled fish dinner

On the 2nd day we went to Halong Bay to spend a night there. The experience was also nice and met people from various countries. Got a chance to promote Taiji.

The weather at Halong Bay was chilly andwet - it drizzled and we hardly saw the sun.  Think if we were there in summer, we would be able to do more kayaaking swimming.  However still managed to take a short sampan ride and hiked up the hill.

We went with Vspirit Cruise and there was no lack of food.

All in all, it was a great experience.  The weather was nice though Halong Bay would probably be better in the summer.  However that would mean that Hanoi would be hotter.  So it is a trade-off.

I would certainly recommend visiting Hanoi.