Travel Story «"Tram phan tram" bia hoi in Hanoi»

Vietnam | 0 Comments 04 April 2006 - Last Update 16 April 2006

Well the train journey from Nha Trang to Hanoi was a pleasure to say the least. We left at about 6am Emily was in a separate cabin to myself, Grainne and Aisling. We were all in 6berth cabins which was nice and close to our fellow travelers. The highlights of the journey was the amazing scenery, we got feed three times, did a lot of sleeping and had one cabin to ourselves for half the journey.

Anyway we arrived at 5.30am in Hanoi and went in search of accommodation we eventually found beds in the sunny hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi . The main highlight of which was the free internet for guest which Emily took great use out off. After freshen up we headed off for breakfast and information on transport to . We soon discovered that flying was a little out of our budget so bus was our only option and that involved a 24hr trip!!!! We booked the transport and then decided to soak up the atmosphere of the old quarter. The title of this story is actually a toast used in Hanoi Tram phan tram which means bottoms up and then bia hoi is the local draught beer which cost about ten to fifteen cent per glass. This beverage helped us soak up the true atmosphere of Hanoi .

The next day we decided to take in some sightseeing heading for the Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum compound. Here we visited the body of Ho Chi Minh which was a bit weird in all honesty seeing a dead body on display. We then headed on to the museum about his life which was interesting but a little tiring as he did so much in his life. But have to say was nice to find out about the person that the Vietnamese look to as a father and understand why. We then headed to view the one pillar pagoda which I was little disappointed from a architectural point of view I excepted it to be amazing and it wasn’t really.

Sightseeing is hungry business so we headed to the other side of Hanoi to a lonely planet recommended restaurant Brother café. We were a little underdressed but this did not bother us when we realized that for six dollars it was an all you can eat buffet!!!!! Food heaven. I will not divulge the details of the food or how many times we each went up to the buffet but we stayed there for about two hours.

After which we headed on to the temple of literature which was an ancient place of learning in the centre of Hanoi and a welcomed oasis of tranquility. The temple in walled in surrounded by numerous gardens and generally really nice place to visit. Having said that as I wandered around my myself reading the various snippets of information I was suddenly surrounded my children all shouting hello and waving. This is something we are not unfamiliar with since coming to south East Asia . But then came along the pushy teacher of these children and picked out one child who then she forced to ask me loads of questions while a woman with black teeth rubbed my arm laughing at the paleness of my skin. So you can say that I myself have taught in the temple of literature to about thirty Vietnamese children. Very weird experience I have to say.

After a long day of sightseeing we headed to see the water puppets show which was nice to see as it is considered and art in . We then headed for dinner and more Bia Hoi. We decided to have a deserved lie on the next day and checked out of hotel and headed to the museum of the Vietnamese revelation. It was very interesting but by god there was a lot of reading. So we then decided that we would chill out of the rest of the afternoon before embarking on our 24hr bus journey.

All in all though our days were limited in Hanoi it was a lovely city which I preferred to Saigon as it had a slower pace of life and relaxing old quarter. But we had to say goodbye to and we are all agreed that we wish we had more time there but hope to go back in the future.