thoughts escaping my mind
Last day in Hanoi and I spent the entire day… walking. From 0940 till 1640, I did not sit down at all.
Breakfast at the hotel was pho, and I asked for two eggs boiled. After my boiled eggs, I was excited to see if the hotel could do it. I wasn’t disappointed.
Woke up to a wet morning. Actually, I’m not even sure I slept. The wildlife were really noisy. As was the snoring next door. I recorded the sounds.
After breakfast, we were off around 0840 to a nearby cave called Hua Ma cave (Horse head), so called because they found a horses head in the cave.
Breakfast of too-sweet pancakes.
Breakfast was finally different with a street-side banh cuon. It’s like chee cheong fun, only with less filling and a lot more folds of thin rice flour layers. The filling is minced pork and it is dipped in a pork broth. The broth came with a pork tube as opposed to a pork ball, and you can add chilli, lemon, coriander leaf, chilli and so on to the broth.
Continue reading “Vietnam 2013 Day 13 – Beo Lac to Ba Be Lake”
After breakfast – yes, it was pho again, but this time, they had smoked pork, so I tried that. The broth was very mediocre but the smoked pork was… not really memorable either – we walked from the hotel to the Meo Vac lookout point.
Today, we went to Lung Cu to see the biggest flag in Vietnam positioned at the most northerly point. It is 52 square meters representing the 52 ethnic groups in Vietnam.
Continue reading “Vietnam 2013 Day 11 – Dong Van to Meo Vac”
A chicken pho breakfast at 0730 and we’re off by 0800 to a market 22km away, at a small village we passed yesterday. The market is at Xa Phin and it opens only on snake and horse day.
This happened on the 3rd of March 2013.
After breakfast of what seemed like an instant pho with fresh vegetables and a fried egg, we took a walk around the village for an hour and a half.
The events described on this day happened on the 2nd of March 2013.
The ride from Hanoi to Hagiang is about 8 hours long. Hagiang, pronounced Hajang, is 318km and I’m going farther north than any other person I know who has been to Vietnam. In fact, I will travel right by the Chinese border.
Today, I opted to be guided by a student from the Hanoi University. They take you on a walking tour of things you want to see. But of course, knowing that nothing is for free, especially in Vietnam, I knew that I had to tip them, in addition to the entrance fees, the transportation and meals you’re going to have to pay for while they’re with you.
It seems like a good deal but I think I hit a dud.
