Two years ago I booked the flight to Vietnam with parents, however, my dad did not feeling well so we cancelled the trip. This year, finally we made it to Vietnam, Hanoi. Vietnam is a place my dad request me to bring him to. Of course I would love to fulfil his dream.
I booked Vietnam Airline for 3 of us, me, my dad and my mum. The flight is not that expensive, is about RM 500 per person round trip. The flight included meals and baggage check in which is awesome.
To travel around Hanoi I booked a driver to fetch us everyday. The price per day is vary because for the first day he only fetched us from airport, so he charged us USD 25. So my payment is around USD 25 to USD 70 like that.
The hotel we stay is Meracus at Old Quarter. I booked the hotel via agoda.com. Per night I think is around RM 200 for a triplex room. I choose Meracus is because it has the best review on agoda about the service, another reason I choose Meracus is because of its location.
By the time we arrived hotel, I about to take out my confirmation letter for the booking, the hotel already knew it was my booking. I was thinking probably it is because I am the last person who check in and checked in so late because my flight arrive around 9pm and by the time we arrive hotel is about 10pm. Anyway, good impression for the first timer like me. They also welcome us with a refreshing towel and a refreshing tea ^^
When we enter the room, I was blown away by the welcome "bed" with all the flowers.
They also splash the flowers around the toilet basin as well, this really a surprise and you will pleasant when you see all this.
This hotel included breakfast everyday, I really think that I get a good deal about my hotel !!!
Even though they don't have a million choice of foods but they have a good amount of choices which you can choose from. You also can request them to make different kind of eggs like scrambled, fried egg etc. They do have a special meal of the day. For the first day, we tried their beef noodle, I really fall in love with it. But after that the next few days, I could not have it anymore as everyday is differents >< By the way, their banana crepe NOT nice !!
After sightseeing start on Tuesday which is 26th May. I checked weather forecast, it says the weather is about 31-32 degree. I was thinking it about same as Malaysia. But I was wrong, Hanoi is much much hotter than Malaysia. Whenever we step out, I can feel the heat wave go inside my whole body.
The first place we visited is their Temple of Literature,Vietnam first national university. This temple was built in 1070at the time of
King Lý Nhân Tông. On this day we still see a lot of graduate students back here for photo taking.
One thing about the driver is he did not really explain much about the place we visit because he only a driver (according to the person in charge that we deal with). If we want tour + driver, it will has extra charge.
So sometimes some places if the driver did not walk with us, we only can roughly know what is in the temple and I come back google the history of it. Thanks google ^^
Surprisingly to see people here write in Chinese !! His handwriting is much more nicer than I do !!
Then we went to Ngoc Son temple.
To get to the temple, the visitor walks through the Three-Passage Gate (Tam Quan) and across the Morning Sunlight Bridge (The Huc). The entrance complex, designed by Nguyen Van Sieu, consists of a series of three gates, replete with Taoist symbolism.
The first gate displays a series of parallel sentences. The two large red Chinese characters on the first gate are Happiness on the right, and Prosperity on the left. Conditions of a good life, very important to Vietnamese, are Happiness (Phuc), Prosperity (Loc) and Long Life (Tho).
The second gate is surrounded by Taoist symbols. On the left is the tiger. On the right is the Vietnamese dragon. The tiger and the dragon are the symbols of stability for a large construction, following the feng shui theory. Panels on the reverse of the gate show the carp gazing at the moon’s reflection, and a pine tree with roosting storks (phoenix), which symbolizes longevity.
Above the third gate is a large stone representing an ink stone or inkpot. Nguyen Van Sieu placed this stone so that on the 5th of May (lunar calendar) the shadow of the Pen Tower falls on the ink stone. Why this date? There are 120 stars in the Chinese/Vietnamese Taoist horoscope. One of these is represented by Van Xuong, the saint responsible for literature. On May 5, Van Xuong’s star crosses the sun’s trajectory.
After crossing the bridge, we come to the fourth gate. Above this gate is a small room with circular windows, called the Moon Gazing Pavilion. Surrounding the gate are typical Taoaist I Ching symbols of watching and protecting. The dragon-horse is on the right, carrying the eight I Ching symbols for the eight elements on its back, and a yin yang mirror to send back evil spirits. All the Taoist wisdom was imparted in a dream to the ancient king of China by a tortoise – I Ching, feng shui, yin yang – in other words, a unified theory for everything. The tortoise, seen on the left, carrying a book and a sword on its back, as well as being a Taoist symbol, in Confucian belief indicates that military might and knowledge must go together.
Ngoc Son Temple exemplifies the harmony of Taoist feng shui. It is surrounded by water, which directs energy toward the temple. The temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century, and the scholar and saint of literature Van Xuong.
To the left of the main temple is a side room containing the preserved body of a giant soft backed turtle (rafetus leloii). This turtle is 2.1 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and weighed 250kg. It was found in 1968 and was said to be 500 years old. This gives credence to the legend about the giant turtle, which took the magic sword of Le Loi in the 15th century.
One or more large turtles still inhabit the lake. At any time of the day people will be seen looking into its waters, hoping to catch sight of a giant turtle, as it is considered a sign of good luck to glimpse the head rising above the water. Smaller turtles are also seen. These have been set free to bring good fortune to the giver.
Afternoon the driver suggest us to take cyclo to round the old quarter. Old quarter has 36 streest, I not sure we rounded all or not but the whole street is selling the same things. So we will see silver street means whole street every shop sell silver, gold street, flower street, helmet street, shoes street etc. The whole street each and every shop sell the same category which is funny. But in other way, this is good for consumer also.
Lunch time we stop by at Ngon for our lunch. Tried their beef noodle, chicken noodle, and steam snail noodle. All also very nice ^^
After lunch we round round then we headed to West Lake for
Trấn Quốc Pagoda. The Trấn Quốc Pagoda in Hanoi is the oldest pagoda in the city, originally constructed in the sixth century during the reign of Emperor Lý Nam Đế (from 544 until 548), thus giving it an age of more than 1,450 years.
The pagodas are red because in Chinese and Vietnamese culture red symbolizes luck and prosperity.
We pay a pretty good amount of visit on our first day in Hanoi in the super hot weather. Maybe young still can stand for this hot weather but I have to consider my parents so my itenary will not be as pack.
Done for today at 26th May. Tomorrow will pay a visit to Ho Chi Minh Moleseum.
Thanks for reading.
Xoxo
