Craft Toys

Walking between Truc Bach Lake and West Lake in today's freezing weather of Hanoi was a bit of a shock. It's a bit early for winter! The weather was only around 17 degrees, drizzly and high in humidity that makes you feel really cold. I walked down to the Truc Bach supermarket to buy some stuff for my dinner and I also stopped by the man at the corner who makes craft toys.

After I bought a toy grasshopper, I asked if I could take some photos of his products. He told me that it takes five minutes to finish a grasshopper and about ten minutes for a heart, and a bit more than that for a phoenix. He makes them look amazing with just a few coconut leaves. This is quite a popular business between the two lakes. Lots of guys but them for their girlfriends and parnets also for their children.

Almost every single person looked at me on the way home because I was holding a toy coconut grass hopper. Maybe I am too old to play with these things? :)

Hanoi Autumn

There are hundreds of songs and poems written about Hanoi in autumn, which talk about the beauty of Hanoi and I agree with these poets. Between September and November is the best time to discover Vietnam, especially Hanoi.

Walking along the streets and lakes and you can enjoy breathing in the beautiful sweet flavor of Hoa Sua flower(Hoa Sua means Milk Flower in English) and the willow trees hanging low. Autumn turns Hanoi into a really romantic place. It affects the people, too. Lots of young couples walk together or sit down alongside the lakes to exchange their kisses.

The weather in Hanoi during autumn is cool, a little bit sunny with a nice breeze that makes everyone much more active after the long hot summer. I love hanging around Hoan Kiem Lake and Truc Bach Lake on these days, looking at people and taking some photos or sitting down with a beer waiting for the sunset.

A warning - don't breath the milk flowers in too deeply as this might give you a headache.

Back To Luang Prabang

My friends and I went back to Luang Prabang, Laos for a week's break. We love this peaceful, beautiful place. Laos people are really sweet and friendly, while Laos food is unique because they cook with lots of veggies from the forests. It's a little bit spicy like Thai food. We ate Laos food everyday especially laap and spicy Laos noodles soup with pork, chicken or beef. So yummy. The soup is something I had to have every single day and I can make it now in Hanoi. I feel regret that I didn't go to the Laos vegetarian food buffet, one of the great stops for tourists and only 5000 Kip, which is 50 cents. But we ate there a couple of times last year.

The shopping is great in Luang Prabang and I find it hard to keep away from the shops. They have a very nice night market for tourists with a variety of products, from childrens' slippers to doona covers and beautiful paintings or gorgeous buddha statues. You need to bargain or you get ripped off and I always think bargaining is a game and Laos people love it too. Of course, I usually give them a little bit more after I buy the stuff. If you go to the market about 4 Pm when they start opening, then you can see lots of beautiful kids hanging around the shops, some of them sleeping on the ground and some of them helping their parents set up the business. I love the night market in Luang Prabang.

We were very lucky to arrive in Luang Prang before October 1st because that date is the start of the high season, when hotels put up their prices. We stayed at the Sayo River Guesthouse and the room we stayed in increased from $20 to $30, but because we arrived before the changeover, we only paid $20 for the rest of our stay. If you are planning a trip to Luang Prabang, that's worth remembering.

We had such a great time travelling around by tuk tuk, on boat trips down the river to see the sunset and also joining the hotel receptionist at the local disco which was hilarious. Thanks alot to Liz, Pam, Mark, Matt and the Laos people for giving me such a memorable trip.

Holidays Rock!

Is Fast Food Good For U?

In the past two years, Hanoi city authorities have approved so many fast food shops and they are all pretty successful. Maybe I am silly for not eating this kind of food. Most of my friends love it and kids do, too. These restaurants are always busy for lunch and dinner, especially at weekends.

In two months time, two more outlets are supposed to be opening in the best location in Hanoi, right next to Hoan Kiem Lake. They are Starbucks coffee and Pizza Hut. Sometimes, I wonder why people keep going to these places? The food is bad, full of oil and fat but I've realized from people I've talked to that they love eating fast food because they want to try new things and for young Vietnamese people, it's a trend. They think that's what young peole do in western countries. Is that a good idea? Not for me! I prefer eating at the local eateries or home cooked meals which are healthier and cheaper.

My friends think I'm being difficult when I refuse their invitations to go to KFC for a feed. What do you think about fast food? Does it have anything positive about it? I wonder what will happen to future generations of Vietnamese?

My Bestfriend's Birthday

Gaylene and Eric are two of my best friends in Hanoi who I've known for almost 3 years now. Meeting them at the beginning was a funny story that. At another friend's birthday party, I was sitting in the ergonomic office chair moving around serving people drinks. I was offering them lots of drinks and we started a conversation and the rest is history.

Three weeks ago it was Gaylene's birthday which involved a frustrating story. We had dinner at Wild Lotus restaurant, one of the most beautiful restaurants in Hanoi. I had just arrived home from Nha Trang and had to rush to get to the restaurant on time. Just after we arrived, my friend Liz realized that she'd lost her money bag somewhere. We called the taxi company and Liz returned home to check. Everyone started worrying and I made many calls on Gaylene and Eric's phone - my phone had run out of money :)). Eventually Liz arrived back at the restaurant with a worried face and we knew this was not a good sign. Anyway, after 10 minutes, I recieved a call and we went downstairs to collect Liz's wallet from the generous taxi driver from Hanoi Taxi (04.8262626). We were so happy and Liz offered him $70 as a reward. What a treat!

We had a great meal with some New Zealand wine and beers after the drama. We ended up at Le Pub for another celebration with 2 jugs of mojitos, more beers and gin and tonics.

Gaylene had a happy birthday and she said to everyone that she is having a good life here with good friends and a beautiful house, even though her job is a bit stressful job. She loves Viet Nam and her and Eric have decided to stay in Hanoi for a while. Happy Birthday Gaylene! All the best with luck and happiness.

PS: Sorry for updating your birthday over 3 weeks later than your special day.

Nha Trang Oct 07

Recently in Nha Trang, we spent most of our time on the beach and visited some famous places in between. We went to Long Son pagoda where the most biggest Buddha is located on the hill. Our taxi driver drove us to the top instead of us climbing up the hill as before, a quick way that I didn't know before. You can see a really good view of Nha Trang from here, the ocean and the other parts of the city. Downstairs from the white Buddha is a beautiful reclining Buddha. I love this pagoda not just because of its beauty, but also because it reminds me alot of my childhood when my family used to come here every New Year's Eve to wish for a good new year.

After the beautiful white Buddha pagoda, we went to the Cham Towers, the most famous tourist stop in Nha Trang. We spent more than an hour looking around and took lots of photos and of course bought some stone statues and spoke to the lady who makes sand paintings. She makes really amazing pictures inside glasses, bottles and some tiny vases. I regret that I didn't buy one painting from her but I also think it'd be a dust collector as well.

We also visited the city Cathedral which is located right in the city centre. It was built by the French in 1928 and sports a grand clock on its face together with three giant bells. This is a popular stop for both tourists and locals. Most local couple come here for their wedding shots and pray for a happy marriage. Good idea, isn't it?

We ended our afternoon at the Hon Chong peninsula in the fresh ocean air looking back at the beautiful long white sand beach of Nha Trang. When we were there, we saw lots of young couples and kids hanging around, taking photos of each other and diving into the sea.

One day I hope to find a good job in Nha Trang then I can live there. Unfortunately, this trip was too short and I didn't have the chance o spend much time with my family or eat at my favourite local restaurants. My friends loved Nha Trang and said they will be back here again in the future for sure.

Cook And Cook

Cook and cook is such a joy and entertainment restaurant which is called “teppan-yaki” style. This restaurant was the first introduced to the excellent traditional “teppan-yaki” food from Korea in Viet Nam.

The restaurant developed the idea of entertainment where the exciting showmanship of cook and cook chefs dazzled restaurant goes with deft cutlery skill while preparing nothing less than exquisite food. People who come here can choose up stairs for hot pot and down stairs for teppan-yaki seafood. Each table up to 8 people would place their orders with the skillful chef and watch an amazement as these items were sliced, diced and slipped into the air.

There is variety of food to choose for both a la cart and set menus but my highly recommendation is go for set menus which is included more than 10 kinds of different food.

A la cart and side dishes from $2 to $5
Set menus from $10 to $45 for evening, for lunch from $8 to $12.
Korean style seafood hot pot from $7

Cook and Cook Restaurant
3 Ba trieu lane
Ha Noi
Tel:(84-4) 974 6279
Opening hours: 10.30 - 14.00
17.00 - 22.00

Nha Trang Oct 2007

My friends and I went to Nha Trang on a very early flight to make the most of only 2 days to lie on the beach and enjoy seafood. I love being in my hometown, because Nha Trang really is a great small beach city. Nha Trang people are generally friendly, the food and drink are reasonably priced, and the beach bars are great. We spent most of our time at Louisianne Cafe which has a private beach and swimming pool. The staff there are so sweet and they brew great cheap beer.

We had some grilled lobsters, crabs and sea snails from the lady on the beach, which were delicious. We had to sit outside of the cafe area because they do not allow customers to bring outside food in. Eating, swimming and drinking at the same time in such a beautiful setting with good friends around made me feel good and lucky.

We finished our day at Louisianne before my friends headed back to their hotel, the NewSky(Thien Tan) hotel and I went home to get changed and ready for a wild night ahead at the Sailing Club, another great establishment in Nha Trang.

To be continued

Travel

Hi everyone. I've been a bit busy travelling, firstly from Hanoi to Nha Trang for 2 nights then to Laos for a week. I'm also going back to Halong Bay in an hour for a night on the boat with my friends. I hope you guys forgive me for not updating my web blog much in the last two weeks.

Many good stories about my travels will appear from Friday. Holidays Rock!!!

Another Welcome Party Again

My good friend's mother came back to Vietnam for the fourth time and we decided to make a very simple BBQ party with a few friends. It was the mid- Autumn festival evening but without a full moon, unfortunately. It had been raining for 2 days due to a storm in China but it stopped just before the party. Somebody up there loves Vietnamese God!

I had put up some lines of lanterns outside the house which had been taken in and out a few times so they wouldn't get wet and ruined. I remember the last time I had a BBQ party and the rain ruined all my paper lanterns which I spent a whole day making but I was lucky this time.

I asked my ex-colleages to prepare some food for the party and it was really good. We had tiger draught beer, two different kinds of fresh spring rolls, lotus salad, mango with duck salad, together with beef and chicken on the BBQ. Some of my friends came with some desserts, fresh fruit and wine which was nice.

It was great to catch up with friends and everyone seemed to have a great time. It was quite a late night but nobody seemed to be too drunk, probably because it was a Tuesday night and there was work the next day. Sometimes a mid-week party is good and it's nice not to wake up with a hangover!

Tourism in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is such a beautiful place, a tourist spot visited by everyone who makes it to the north of Viet Nam . Tourism here has created tons of jobs and business opportunities for the locals. The unique landscape which is probably taken for granted by them, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I often wonder what it means for Halong Bay to be on this list, if anything. I’ve been reading some of the documents on their website and it states that Halong Bay has “geological and geomorphologic value” and that it “requires protection for all of humanity.” On my latest trip, I’ve been convinced that tourism is having a deep impact on the environment there.

Most people visit Halong Bay to see the rock formations and caves as well as to have a relaxing holiday after a year or period of work. I some times go to Ha Long Bay with friends for one night, two days and just love it. I love kayaking around the beautiful calm water, through the caves, and onto little beaches. It’s awesome but of course, the only way to get out onto the bay is by motorised boat. On my trip recently, I noticed fifty or more boats. Each of them is carrying a dozen or so tourists on most days of the year. The bay is being polluted by petrol and oil which can be clearly seen on the surface of the water in parts. Nowadays, there are so many tour operators working in Ha Long Bay with the same itineraries, meaning hundreds of people are stopping and travelling through the same waters and caves. I’ve seen people flicking cigarette butts into the water and leave plastic bags and bottles lying around. It makes me sad and angry.

The other problem is over-fishing, another industry which provides employment and a livelihood for the families who actually live floating on the water. A seafood meal aboard one of the boats is a highlight for visitors, of course.

There are lots of problems to solve but the decisions have effects that will be far-reaching. Someone needs to do something about the pollution and the amount of tourism even though it provides work for the local labor force. Tourists numbers rose from 200,000 in 1995 to 1,700,000 in 2002. This year the number is higher. It will only grow more in the future.

If Halong Bay is still worth visiting.

Mid-Autumn Festival

I have fond memories of the Mid Autumn festival. It was such a great time for me when I was a little boy. After class, there was a big car waiting for me in front of my school to pick me up to for the yearly party for kids at my dad's company. If we studied well then we got some books, notebooks and a beautiful star lantern. It's one of the best parts of my childhood that I remember.

About 20 years ago, we celebrated our festival in a very simple way as life was not really as good as it is now. We usually made our own bamboo lanterns of different shapes like stars, long and round or maybe sometimes animal and car shapes. I used to really look forward making and wandering around with our lanterns, singing. At the end, we always stopped at one of the neighborhood houses to have some candy and cake and keep singing together. It was really cool.

Nowadays, people seem to buy lanterns for their children. There are also all kinds of electrical things with horrible happy birthday songs or some other crazy songs playing when they're turned on. In the past, some families did buy lanterns for their children but the percentage was not very high. Also at that time we had to use candles to light the lanterns and we have to re-light them many many times if it was a windy night. This was also a part of the fun and kids used to tease each other about how good their lanterns were.

This time of year is a very good time to go to the old quarter to take photos of moon cake shops and lantern shops particularly in the evening, if you can stand the crowds. The old quarter is always packed in the days leading up to the festival because everyone takes their kids out for shopping and having a good time.

Flower Market

When talking about Hanoi, people think about food, particularly noodle soup, but they forget about the amazing flowers in Hanoi. I've been in love with Quang Ba flower market right since the first time I went there with my friends who lived nearby. This is the wholesale flower market which operates from 12am to 6am the next day. There are hundreds of growers around Hanoi coming here to trade flowers, selling to florists in the city and street sellers, the rest to couples and people like me who love flowers.

The best time to visit the market is from 1 am because that's the time the growers bring their flowers by motorbikes and trucks. They display their flowers on the ground and on the back of their motorbikes. The buyers check the flowers by torch and start bargaining. Do you know how much I paid recently for 100 beautiful roses? ONE dollar! Can you believe it? I don't think you do but that's the truth.

This market is a popular place for couples, to give each other flowers and propose. This is such a good idea for romantics. My western friends and I usually come here to buy flowers for parties and also sit down at the small shop in the middle of the market, talking and having a drink with the locals who are really friendly. Most of them are men from rural areas around Hanoi who transport flowers from their villages up to Quang Ba for their family business.

Seventeen Saloon

We went to Seventeen Saloon in Hanoi in Tran Hung Dao street a few weeks ago and I think this is the worst bar I've ever been to. I went to Seventeen Saloon bar in Saigon last year and it's fine but their brand in Hanoi is so bad. The music is bad imitations of old pop songs from the west and so loud you can hardly hear what each other is saying.

The staff were really pushy and the prices way out expensive for very small drinks. We had to wait for almost 30 minutes for our drinks which ended up being the wrong order and that meant we had to wait for another 15 minutes for them to come back. We played pool and I took heaps of photos of our friends drinking and being silly. I think that was the best part of the night and we left at about 12 as the waitress arrived with the outrageous bills.

When we left, to make the experience even worse, the parking attendants tried to make us pay for watching our motorbikes. Unbelievable!

Highway 4 Restaurant

Highway 4 Restaurant is one of the popular mid- class restaurants for expats in Hanoi. I've been there several times with my friends and I was impressed the first two times. The third time I wasn't happy because the food and the service was missing something at the Highway 4 in Hang Tre street.

I went there a few weeks ago with some friends and we had trouble getting menus. The staff gave us 2 menus, and I asked her for one more so that we could choose our food quicker and easier than having to pass the menu around many times. The waitress told me that they had three floors here and couldn't waste so many menus at our table. After 5 minutes, she came back and wanted to take our menus even though we hadn't ordered. She was incredibly rude to me and I wondered if she would ever be so rude to a foreigner. I also wondered why a successful restaurant wouldn't just print a few more menus. It is not expensive in Hanoi to get printing done.

Finally, we ordered our dinner and, after the menu problem, I wasn't surprised when our main courses - mixed vegetable, squid and chicken dishes - came first. As we finished our main courses, the spring roll and salad starters arrived. It wasn't my night. But then the beers we ordered weren't cold and it all became a bit much to put up with. This is normally a fun restaurant where the food and service is great.

I'm not sure what's going on there but I think my last visit will stay in my memory for a while and I would think a long time before recommending Highway Four again.