Just got back from Hanoi 3 days ago.

I started my trip from Siem Reap. Took a bus to Phnom Penh. Then cross over to Ho Chi Minh again by bus. For the final leg I took a domestic flight to Hanoi.
As this trip covers several cities, I am putting my posts together in this Hanoi thread. I will be brief on cities other than Hanoi.

Spent 4 nights in Cambodia, cost around RM930.
Spent 9 nights in Vietnam, cost around RM1130, including one domestic flight.

Too many tourist traps in Cambodia.
At Vietnam, most of the time you can buy your food or hire service at the price of the local is paying.
Except in Ho Chi Minh the price is a little inflated.


CAMBODIA

1st night I went to a buffet restaurant with Aspara dance. Food was okayish with alot local food such as amok and lok lak to try. USD 18.
Aspara dance is, to my surprise, very similar to 'indian dance' in my memory.


Next day, doing the Angkor-thingy.
Unfortunately it rains very heavily during the morning. I ended up getting back to the town after only visiting Angkor Wat. There goes my USD 37.







Siem Reap Pub street. poco loco still go cambodia visit gf or not?


Chinese school open by 福建會館, Phnom Penh.


Mekong Riverside


Prahok, stinky fermented fish paste. It actually taste very nice.


Beef Noodle. Taste bland.


Stir fried river snail, rubbery, didnt really like it.


This post has been edited by Sycamore: Sep 17 2024, 10:01 PM

old quarters at one of those small streets in hanoi itself for around 4 days 3 nights. ->> hi ,do advise near Ho chi minh city have?

Pumpkin pork stew something. Don't taste good.



Ho Chi Minh City

Greeted by Communist propaganda in Ho Chi Minh city.
Took Giant Ibis bus to Ho Chi Minh. Their price is a little higher than other operators, but the service is quite good. The only worry is at one point the bus conductor will take your passport away for group immigration clearance, while passengers will take their lunch near the border.


Notre Dame under renovation


People Committee Building




City View from Bitexco Skydeck






Tue Thanh Assembly Hall, 穗城會館. 穗城 is one of the ancient name of Canton/Guangzhou.
The assembly hall mainly functions as a temple (which is odd, but not inconceivable). The main deity is 媽祖.
It is said that half of ethnic Chinese population in the country reside in Ho Chi Minh City.

Beef Noodle from Hue. Taste very good. Seems to have Chinese influence.


Cantonese roast pork. Taste almost the same.


Roadside za fan. Took yongtaufu, sausage, pork stew, pickled carrot and vegetable. Chinese style.
The setting is a little messy. Rows of pubs and clubs on this street.


Stir fried river snail. Still dont like it.


Cantonese liangcha. The taste is very similar. But I think their liangcha has more traditional medicine taste.


Again, this is claimed to be beef noodle from Hue, but the taste is different from the first one.
What is same is they all taste good. Quite sure there's Chinese cooking influence.
The drink is 崩大碗, Cantonese use it as herb drink.


Giam Gia = 減價
Vietnam truly surprised me. I was particularly intrigued by the significant number of Chinese loanwords in their language. It was a delightful discovery personally to find that Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese follow some predictable rules.
While Vietnamese belongs to the Austroasiatic language family, sharing a kinship with Khmer, their physical appearance is markedly different from Khmer people. Vietnamese individuals often resemble Southern Chinese, especially those from the Cantonese region. This similarity extends to their cultural practices, which closely align with Southern Chinese traditions.


This post has been edited by Sycamore: Sep 17 2024, 08:19 PM

Hanoi

Took a domestic flight to Hanoi.
Unfortunately I do not have the time to take the unification train from Saigon to Hanoi.
It also cost lesser to fly than taking train.


Typhoon just passed through the city a day before. City was a bit messy. Following days it kept raining and my Sapa and Ha long bay tour had been cancelled. Some area along the red river flooded during the period.




文廟-國子監 Confucius temple aka Court University


Lenin Park


Thang Long Citadel Thang Long 昇龍 is Hanoi's old name. The current citadel is built in 19th century. Two holes, the result of cannon fire from the French during their campaign on the Red River, are visible on the North gate (second photo).




A church built during French colonial. They use the same yellow colour scheme.


Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.


真武觀 Taoism temple. Entrance fee required. Didnt enter.

鎮國寺 Buddhism temple. No entrance fee


Water puppet show, must visit.


Hoan Kiam lake 環劍湖. The lake is located at the southern boundary of old quarter.


Hanoi Opera House. This area is where the France first built when occupying Hanoi.


National History Museum. The architecture design seems like a mix of Chinese and New Baroque.


Champa artifacts




St. Joseph Church




Train street


This post has been edited by Sycamore: Sep 17 2024, 09:33 PM

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology


Some scripts I have never seen.






字喃 modified Chinese character to write Vietnamese language.


Houses of ethnic minorities in Vietnam




Night view from Lotte Observatory Deck




This post has been edited by Sycamore: Sep 17 2024, 09:00 PM

Some food...

Vietnam style chee cheong fun. The fillings are black fungus, mushroom and pork.
They dip it into the fish sauce.


Beef pho. Pho = 粉. Soup very light very good.


Some kind of pork ball noodle. Taste ok.


Shredded chicken noodle. Taste so so.


Chicken floss, sausages, pate etc meat with sticky rice and corn starch (under the meat).


Banh Mi, 餅麵=麵餅. Taste very good.


Bought this at roadside. Sticky rice mixed with millet (小米/稷米) and chicken floss, grounded peanut and sesame. Very original taste.


Bun cha, noodle with roast pork. Noodle is dipped into the fish sauce. Taste very nice.
However, I got stomach ache after eating this. This is the only time I had issue eating at roadside in Vietnam.


The next day I went back to the same stall for fried spring roll. Taste good.
No stomach ache this time.


I went back the same store for banh mi, you can see it tastes really good.
Five days after my arrival the fallen trees are not yet cleaned.

I was surprised by Vietnam's coffee culture, which is highly developed. Considering coffee's early introduction to Malaysia. And my grandparents used to have a small coffee plantation. I was astonished to learn that Vietnam is now the world's second-largest coffee producer. The rapid expansion of Vietnam's coffee industry is an example of centralized economic planning.

Walked into this Giang cafe accidentally. Mr Giang (江) is the inventor of egg coffee.
It was said during the milk shortage, Mr. Giang reportedly created a substitute by mixing eggs and sugar and beating them into a fluffy texture.
Today egg coffee is made by mixing condensed milk and egg yolk.
Egg coffee's taste is distinct. There is more umami opening taste due to the egg, but the lingering taste is shorter, unlike milk.


Black coffee


Salted coffee, taste very nice


Coffee with condensed milk, AHA coffee, taste no good


Egg coffee


Salted coffee, not as good as the previous


Finally home.
Somewhere around Selangor.


This post has been edited by Sycamore: Sep 17 2024, 09:56 PM

i haven been to siem reap b4...only phnom phen....and enuf liao

Edit

This post has been edited by -kytz-: Dec 26 2024, 04:58 PM

Hey guys, is QR payment widely available for street food vendors and shopping on the street?

I plan to use BIG Pay for cashless transactions..

MR_alien

it's been years since i visited hanoi but i'm still pretty sure it's a big NO
it's still a cash country

No, its a country where cash is better ya.

I am going to travel to Sapa, Hanoi Vietnam in 2 weeks time. Is it better to get travel sim from shopee/lazada or getting it at local when touch down?
if getting from shopee/lazada, what is the recommendation?
if getting at local, what is the recommendation?

This post has been edited by virgoguy: Jan 7 2025, 11:09 AM

Your phone got eSIM capability?

One have, the other one no

You can just get a travel sim via eSIM from trip.com

reliable website?

Yup