After a brief exploration on
day 1, and a
visit wayyy out of Hanoi City, we dedicated today to a exploring the old quarters. After breakfast, we made our way. By now, we were very familiar with the route and was pretty much on auto-pilot.
Just metres from this store, there was a store that we labelled "H&M" because it looks pretty much like an H&M store. The glass windows, the colour of it.. I cannot remember the name of this brand but it looked pretty decent. We decided to venture in.... 1 hour later... we emerged with bags of clothes! We focussed our buys on the children (who else?!) and it was a fruitful stop. I got 2 windbreakers for the children that I believe will be super handy for wet weather/cold countries.
It was nearly lunch by this time, and we thought that we can actually have our lunch by this amazing store; plus drop our bags as this was really just 2 blocks away from our hotel.. and so we did.
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| YUMMMMM |
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Attention to customer service boss who came forward to help cut up the chicken
when he saw us trying to do it on our own. Thumbs up for great service! |
After our tummies were filled (
it wasn't empty for long, really), we began our walk. On the way, we joked that it may be 10 hours later that we'd head back and T went "
pls, that's exaggerating" (uh, no really it wasn't).
As we neared the river, we discovered that the roads were closed. They do this on the weekends to allow for free walking and play. What a lovely idea. As it was the weekend, there were plenty of crowds and it added to the buzz. Lovely!
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| Toy cars 'driving' on the roads |
It was such a pretty setting, I asked the ladies to join in a happy jump shot. I cannot believe that they have never done it before! It rocked.
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| Whee! |
The lovely weather makes strolling around so easy and enjoyable, and it really showed in our easy stroll, chit-chats and LOLs.
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| Plus, our cheesy smiles! |
Our mission was to make it to the wholesale market which was all the way at the top of the map, and on the way there, we ventured through many, many rows of shops. By the end of two hours, we were loaded up with paintings, chopsticks, teapots, hair accessories, fabric, little bags, caps.... a whole mish-mash of things we bought. It was 3+ hours later that we ventured downwards... in search for rest.
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| Snack-time |
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| Vietnamese bread |
We had some bread and beer.. plus rest for our feet. By this time, it made little sense for us to head back to the hotel (
we thought we may drop off our bags); instead, we headed to the spa for some relaxation. Ahhhh... bliss. By the time we emerged from the massage, it was dark. We were not hungry yet, so we decided to head back to the river as we had seen some set-up going on. Indeed, there was some music showcase going on and while we deliberated heading to a bar for a drink, we ended up purchasing beers from the mart and sitting by the riverside. Nothing beats immersing ourselves in local fare!
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| Squatting by the river |
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| Night view |
It was 7pm and we decided to walk through the night markets. We added more buys to our arms and after a stroll up and down the entire stretch, we were ready to head back. On the way back, we were not distracted by any food... and we decided to head back to the same lunch spot for dinner. We were delighted that the stall was still open!
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| Pho pho pho... pho good! |
By the time we reached back to the hotel, it was truly 9 hours since we left it in the morning. We girls can sure walk! I was suffering from a stuffy/leaky nose and I decided to call it a night by popping some meds and go to nap. The 2 ladies made the most of our last night and headed to the hotel bar for some drinks.
It was a long, lovely, hectic-yet-relaxing day. Super love!
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