Mixue - the popular ice cream and iced tea brand from China that had sprouted many branches all over Southeast Asia. In China alone, it was said to have 22,500 stores! I have yet to try its products but friends didn't appear to have great reviews.
The Jeep tour; a friend who went after my trip told me that was one of her highlights! I did see the tour when I was doing some research but we thought it's more flexible for us to explore on our own.
My key objective that morning was to check out Ngoc Son Temple, also known as Temple of the Jade Mountain. I strolled past, jogged past every day in Hanoi and this shall be my first time entering the century-old religious abode that charged an entrance fee.
Highlights of the temple that differ from the rest of the temples I visited in Hanoi; the iconic vermillion-red The Huc Bridge and the two specimens of turtle that were found dead in Hoan Kiem Lake, lending some legitimacy to the legend of the famous lake.
Ticket pricing wasn't exorbitant; 30,000 dong for an adult, which was less than S$2.00! And it's quite a small temple, so you wouldn't be able to spend hours there, unless you are doing academic research.
Alluvia Chocolatier had yet to open.
Click here to check out my post on it!
More information on the stops for your reference. I would think this was quite worth it for the experience although impatient me likely wouldn't be able to endure the 30-minute wait. Grab was more convenient.
The Note Coffee again; its beauty lies in the insides!
Just walk in for a much better visual treat.
Last look of Hoan Kiem Lake before I checked out of our room at Bonsella Hotel. The island in the center of the photograph would be Ngoc Son Temple.
Got banh mi from Xoi Banh Mi Kim Huong as takeaway! It didn't escape my eyes that its reviews on Google Map was a perfect score of 5.0! I needed to find out how good it really was. Click here for my review.
Taking the airport transfer that we secured from Bonsella Hotel; 350,000 dong in a private car. The photo above was the facade of Saint Joseph Cathedral.
GRAB delivering large bouquets of flowers!
Instead red roses, the roses were pink and yellow.
Journey was expected to be about 30 minutes.
Nhật Tân Bridge (also known as Vietnam–Japan Friendship Bridge); open in 2015, the five "towers" symbolizes the five ancient gates of Hanoi.
Arriving at Noi Bai International Airport Terminal 2.
Our luggage - heng, not overweight although almost maxing!
A friend got this calligraphy at Ngoc Son Temple!
I am not going to translate because it's vulgar!
What to expect at the departure hall of Noi Bai International Airport Terminal 2? You would find more photographs in this separate post I generated.
Arrival of our Scoot plane!
Time to board.
Just wondering, pilots would have no contact with airport ground handlers and maintenance staff at all right? It's not like when we service our cars; we can still chit chat with the maintenance guys.
4 minutes later, I was only about to reach the cabin door.
An unknown insect on the window!
The different airlines in the airport.
Maybe I should consider Vietnam Airlines in the future!
Would love to try propeller planes some day. Firefly does fly from Seletar Airport to Subang Airport but our dear Alex isn't keen as he deems them as more dangerous. :(
Up in the air! Do you know that I didn't see any clear blue sky ever since I landed in Hanoi seven days ago!? It had been cloudy and hazy and god was it liberating to have the blueness right outside the plane.
Lock had the whole row, where he could even stretch his legs!
Land spotted; make a guess on where the plane was. It's already quite near to Singapore and the last time I visited this place was before the darn pandemic started in 2020.
Sultan Mahmud Ri'ayat Shah Mosque on Batam Island!
I was quite impressed with the Pulau Lengkang Kecil as it reminded me of Panyee Island (Ko Panyi) - The Muslim Village on Stilts @ Phang Nga Bay near Phuket.
Fantasy Island of Batam; this had the Maldives vibe! Just 16 kilometers from Singapore, this was envisioned to be the "world’s largest eco theme park". However, the company developing it was said to be under liquidation. Hence, god knows if it would become an abandoned project; a great pity!
The amount of Vietnamese goodies that I brought back... I really need to cut down on my future purchases and concentrate on just a few key ones instead of such a variety.
=====
No comments:
Post a Comment