| 10/1(Tue) | Nha Trang 9:15-Vietnam Airlines(VN)266-11:05 Hanoi(Noi Bai) sightseeing in Hanoi |
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| Lodging | Vinh Quang Hotel / US$15 (\1,850) per night | |||||
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| Major expense(s) | Air Ticket / Nha Trang-Hanoi : 1,415,000VND=$94.3=11,600Yen Airport Taxi / Noi Bai airport-hotel : $10=1,230Yen entrance fee of Ngoc Son Temple: 2,000VND=20Yen entrance fee of Hoa Lo Prison: 5,000VND=40Yen |
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| Related Sites | General Links - Asia Vietnam Nha Trang Hanoi and Northen Vietnam | |||||
According to the guidebook, Nha Trang is suitable for visiting between
March and September.
In fact fine weather had continued during my stay, but I was surprised
it turned bad weather at the beginning of October.
I planned to stay one more night, it might have been a good choice to leave
for Hanoi.
The flight was almost full of the locals, I was surprised by the gap between
the rich who can pay US$100 for air ticket and the poor who feel US$1 to
be a lot.
That may be especially in many developing countries, I felt Japanese on
the trip abroad live in prosperity by such a scene.
Since I couldn't find the tourist information counter at Noi Bai Airport,
I was planning to stay in one of the guest houses where some locals gave
me the information of Cemellia Hotels Group at Nha Trang Airport.
When I went out the airport, one Japanese girl waited for the taxi; so
she and I took one for Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
Since she hardly had information of the city as well as me, I was worried
that we are taken to an unreliable hotel and get ripped off by the driver;
but my worries were imaginary fears.
We were taken to Vinh Quang Hotel, not Trang An Hotel where I asked him to lead after all.
In short, he wanted to lead us to the hotels where he would be kicked back,
I guess.
This hotel was fairly comfortable, but I stayed there only one night because
I was planning to stay luxury hotel at the end.
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| Ngoc Son Temple | |
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| Ngoc Son Temple | Hoan Kiem Lake |
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| Hoa Lo Prison | |
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| Hanoi Old quarter | |
I walked around Hoan Kiem Lake for exploring in Hanoi.
So I visited mainly Den Ngoc Son (Ngoc Son Temple), Hoa Lo Prison and the
old quarter.
But I was stumped that many motorbike taxi drivers or peddlers came close
to me as ever.
And I had difficulty in finding any restaurants because they were hardly
located along main streets, and many souvenir stores could be found there.
If anything, I could find any travel agencies, restaurants and internet
cafes as going to depths of the old quarter, it would be better to go away
from the lake.
By the way, I didn't go to the train station because of lost.
If I might have been overcharged by motorbike taxi drivers, I paid only
about US$1(15,000VND=120Yen).
Hence I thought I should have taken it when moving to anywhere, but bargaining
was so troublesome for me.
Such things are difficulty of traveling in Vietnam, right?
| 10/2(Wed) | excursion to Ha Long Bay (Wendy Tour) |
| Lodging | Nikko Hanoi / US$65 (8,000Yen) per night |
| [booking sites for you / agoda.com Booking.com Hotel Club Hotes in Vietnam venere] | |
| Major expense(s) | tour charge: $90=11,070Yen (Japanese guided tour) |
| Related Sites | General Links - Asia Vietnam Hanoi and Northen Vietnam photo gallery of Ha Long Bay |
One day was enough time for me to explore in Hanoi.
I thought it would rather be better to go excursion to anywhere from here.
Most popular among them is Ha Long Bay, I dared to join an expensive Japanese
guided tour because I wanted to chat with Japanese tourists.
Fortunately, apart from me, participants were only two beautiful girls;
it is so-called "I am doubly blessed" in Japan.
So if weather is fine, it's not bad to stay Bai Chai and relax on the beach.
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| Ha Long Bay 1 day tour | souvenir shop "Nha Hang 77" on our way back (crowded with Chinese tourists) |
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| Photo with double Akiko at Cyclo Bar |
This tour was so hard because it took 8 hours for bus ride and 3 hours
for cruising.
Main tourist attractions in the bay are thousands of islands of all shapes
and grottoes, but our tour was taken to only Thien Cung Grotto about visit of grottoes.
Therefore tours of Sinh Cafe Travel are also taken to Dau Go Grotto, according to the information.
There were all Japanese tourists in the cruise ship, seafood lunch was
served and some peddlers sold some souvenirs very hard.
I think they struggle for existence for boarding ships filled Japanese
tourists because whether they can make the sales up.
Otherwise they use their connections, right?
After tour, double Akiko and I had a dinner at Cyclo Bar.
This restaurant is mainly for non-Vietnamese, hence the price is fairly
high.
Actually, since I didn't have an enough money, I thought to borrow some
money from them; so its price was different from the prevailing one.
But we spent only a total of 380,000VND (US$25.35=3,120Yen), I had hardly
any money then, right?
Therefore this restaurant was well known by westerners rather than the
locals.
Basically, the locals hardly enter here except working staff, right?
