Hanoi Hotels
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The start of our Odyssey
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The start of our Odyssey..
1st Jan 2008:
We took the 3.00pm flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi by Air Asia, the incredibly cheap airlines which made
travel possible for everyone, well, almost everyone. No delay and no problem with the flight.
Upon our arrival at the busy airport, Argi had to attend to obtaining his visa and as for me, being a Malaysian passport holder, I do not need one. The visa was obtained in a jiffy at a special counter in the arrival hall without any hassle as he has brought along his photo and exact payment for the fees.
We were met by our Hotel Elegance 2's driver in a very comfortable multi purpose vehicle and as soon as we left the airport, Argi had his first experience of the "notorious" Hanoi traffic with the non-stop honkings and millions of motorbikes weaving in and out of the other vehicles on the road.
As for myself, I was overwhelmed by nostalgia and memories of my first trip to this part of the world with my friend Joanne about 2 years ago. We were two very terrified girls back then, sitting in an old taxi and gripping the back of the front seats till our knuckles almost popped from our hands out due to the immense pressure we have nervously inflicted on our poor palms !!
When I turned to look at Argi to catch that expected terrified look, I was disappointed to be greeted instead by a very amused look on his face and a constant slight shaking of his head from left to right, which is a universally acknowledged expression of disbelief. I concluded then that men, in general are more "cool" compared to women - note to self : to be more like men when faced with terrifying situations. Time to laugh now - hahaha!!
Hanoi Elegance 2 (HE2):
Much has been written about this boutique hotel in Tripadvisor and we have made the choice to stay at this hotel based solely on the wonderful reviews written about it. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a very amicable supervisor of the hotel named Michael. Both Argi and I agreed that Michael has this "public relations" gift which puts people at ease almost immediately after he started communicating with them. His English is good by Vietnamese standard and we could understand him perfectly well.
It must have been close to 7.30pm when we arrived at the Hotel and we were taken aback when Michael informed us that he was sorry that he did not have a room for us on that night (this despite the fact that I have booked the room for our stay there 1 month before and had received their confirmation in return!!). However, he very nonchalantly explained that he had made arrangement with the hotel next door to have us spend a night there. He went on further to say that by tomorrow, all our bags will be brought back to HE2 and we will be staying there.
Due to his constant apologies and ever-smiling face, it is hard to feel displeased with this unexpected reception. Contrary to how one would normally had reacted to such a situation, we find ourselves being entranced by Michael's every suggestion, and before we knew it we were obediently following a still-chattering Michael to the hotel next door while 3 efficient pairs of hands appeared from nowhere to lug our heavy luggage next door to our Hotel-For-The-Night : we cannot even remember the actual name now. I am quite certain Michael had sprinkled some hypnotising charm on us for the period of time.
Hustle and Bustle of the Old Quarter:
HE2 and this Hotel-For-The-Night are conveniently situated on the very busy Ma May Street, right in the heart of the charming Old Quarter. We consider the price of the Hotel to be really reasonable - we pay only USD25 per night. It is at such a great location - this is the real Hanoi one should really experience - the noise, the traffic, the sound of people haggling over prices of goods, the calls from street vendors to passing tourists to look at their goods and better still, to buy them...I find that it is a totally different experience staying in the heart of the Old Quarter and just visiting it for the sake of shopping and food.
By staying here, one can actually experience, like we did, by standing outside our room at the small balcony, the real daily lives of the locals and to soak in the atmosphere when they went about with their daily chores like closing their shops and calling it a day at the end of a long day. In the mornings, we were woken up by the noisy sounds they made while opening their shops, pouring pails of water to the pavements infront and scrubbing the floors with their strong colourful plastic Made-In-Vietnam brooms. And of course it was amusing to see some of them doing this while still clad in their pyjamas.
I remember 2 years ago when I was here with Joanne, we had stayed in a more upmarket Hotel, away from the Old Quarter, in a more affluent location of Hanoi. When I compare that to this, I would say that I prefer the whole experience of staying in the Old Quarter anytime. HE2 is a much affordable hotel, albeit a bit small in size, but most travellers in Hanoi would be out and about during the day till probably late into the night. The comfortable bed is sufficient to rest the tired bodies at the end of the day!
Argi's genius plan:
Argi had generously and kindly offered to do the all planning for our trip here and I must say that I was and still am thoroughly impressed by all the trouble he has taken in planning everything right to the finest details. He has his printout materials from all the researches he has done online and I must admit that it felt SO VERY GOOD to be led sometimes...I have been missing that for awhile...
After our quick shower, we went rambling around the Old Quarter to look for a travel agent which is able to cater to what Argi had in mind for us. We were initially looking for the very famous "Buffalo Travels" and we found it alright, but unfortunately it was closed since it was the First Day of the Year. Actually, the Old Quarters is full of travel agents, we went to one which was next to Buffalo but the girl who was manning the counter not only could not cater to what we had in mind, but tried to "con" and sway us with her boring tourist packages which cost much more than what it should be. She obviously did not know that Argi had studied the map of Hanoi and its surrounding and knows the location of each attraction and its distance from the city centre.
So, we kept going in and out of travel agents until at last we found the marvellous "Love Planet", a travel agent located on 25 Hang Bac Street. We found a knowledgeable and honest girl at the counter, one who knows what she is talking about and is able to suggest alternatives to our initial plans.
Love Planet - a brilliant find:
We told the girl where we wanted to go and we planned with her our trip for tomorrow. By now, it must have been close the 9.00pm and we were impressed that despite the very short notice, she was able to find us a driver AND an English-speaking guide for our intended trip.
With that settled, Argi flagged down a taxi on the busy Hang Bac Street to take us to his planned surprise New Year dinner for me. He has been very secretive about the venue, so I just sat back and enjoyed the taxi ride, which brought us through many different streets.
We were surprised to see a miniature of the Petronas Twin Towers stuck on the dashboard of the taxi and I asked the driver whether he has been to Malaysia and he said yes, that he took his family there and yes, that he liked Malaysia very much. At that moment, I said to myself - thank God for AirAsia - now everyone can fly !!
Club 51:
We finally reached an old colonial building which housed a restaurant called Club 51 - it is an upscale restaurant serving a mix of Western and Asian food.
The ambiance is very nice and I felt a little under dressed as I was not expecting to eat at such a posh place!
We were entertained by a sole musician playing some traditional Vietnamese string instrument.
Club 51 was certainly not a place the locals go to, the other diners we saw were all Westerners. I know why Argi had chosen this place, it was a special place, very romantic, very different from the rest of Vietnam and I think he wanted something special for our first night in Hanoi, which
coincidentally, was the first day of 2008 !
After our sumptuous dinner, we returned to our Hotel exhausted but full and happy. We have to meet our guide at Love Planet at 7.30am tomorrow, so we took to the bed quite willingly.
So, First Day in Hanoi went extremely well - and we were hoping that the following days would be much better.
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