Hanoi - Live Report!

[Marmite the Dog]

I arrived in Hanoi today. Interesting.

First was Suwannapoom airport. A quick taxi ride saw me arrive way too early, but I wanted to miss the rush-hour traffic. The breakfast was passable for B160 when you consider how overpriced everything else is there. The airport was fine, and I even found the toilets easily enough and had a big dump to celebrate.



The AirAsia Boeing 737-300 awaits its passengers.



The wing.

[Marmite the Dog]

My initial thoughts are that they make Thais look like competent drivers, their music is terrible, but they have a lot more style than the Thais (even though most of the houses look half finished here). The streets of Hanoi are mental, but TiV!! Hmmm...that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

My room at Hotel Elegance 2.



Ngoc Son Temple in the middle of the Koan Kiem Lake.



A big bucket of sand to stick incense sticks in.

[Marmite the Dog]

I don't know who this bloke is, but he is near the lake, opposite the Post Office.



I stopped to try a Vietnamese coffee. Pretty good actually. Nice and grainy. This cafe was a good spot to eye some local totty.

[Marmite the Dog]

This place is the the Tortoise Tower. It's stuck in the middle of the lake, so I guess its not visited very much.



OK, sod all the boring old buildings; now onto the interesting stuff. Beer.

This is a glass of Bia Ha Noi. You could describe it has having a clean, dry taste, very similar to Beer Lao or Asahi. I would describe it as tasteless, gassy piss. Australians would probably like it. (The black bits in the glass are supposed to be there and are a result of the manufacturing process of the glass, not the beer). Luckily, they only charged me 4,000 Dong instead of 11,000; still shite though.



Next up is the better known Anchor (pronounced An-chor, not An-kor). Very similar to Bia Ha Noi unfortunately. Tonight I am going to try and find some of the black beers produced here.

[Fabian]

Great thread and I am glad you focus on the right things i.e. beer.

[Gerbil]

My room at Hotel Elegance 2.

You'll find the hidden microphone in the light on the headboard...

[Gerbil]

I don't know who this bloke is, but he is near the lake, opposite the Post Office.

I think his name was 'Ly Thaito' and I believe he lived from 974 - 1028.

[sabang]

I wonder if that Anchor beer is some sort of license arrangement with the Malaysian Anchor Brewery.
If you can buy Beer Lao over there, all is not lost anyway.

[Marmite the Dog]

I wonder if that Anchor beer is some sort of license arrangement with the Malaysian Anchor Brewery.

Artificial beer produced by the Asia-Pacific Brewery.

[Wayne Kerr]

MtD, I'm travelling to Vietnam tomorrow, but flying into Saigon late at night, make sure you try some of the local vodka "Nep Moi" is the one they like in the south, in Hanoi you can buy it but they prefer "Ruay Noi" (the "Ruay" is pronounced the same as rich in Thai, and the "Noi" pronounced the same as your old flame on Cowboy). A big bottle should be about 22,000 dong.


^ this is the stuff on the left

[Marmite the Dog]

MtD, I'm travelling to Vietnam tomorrow, but flying into Saigon late at night, make sure you try some of the local vodka "Nep Moi" is the one they like in the south, in Hanoi you can buy it but they prefer "Ruay Noi" (the "Ruay" is pronounced the same as rich in Thai, and the "Noi" pronounced the same as your old flame on Cowboy). A big bottle should be about 22,000 dong.


^ this is the stuff on the left

I will give it a try. I will also find somewhere that sells the black beer for review. I'll see how cheap the wine is as well. I was bloody expensive at the restaurant I ate in tonight, but I did go to one of the best in Hanoi; Bobby Chinn's. Very, very good.

[dirtydog]

We wanna see piccies of backpackers slum dwellings, not this high end stuff, you know the sort of thing, squat toilets and all that stuff, cold water, places that you get dengue fever from, so move out now and go down class.

[ChiangMai noon]

definitely an elitist is marmite.
proper engllsh snob.

[DrAndy]

definitely an elitist is marmite.
proper engllsh snob.

Marmite is def working class...even that whisky bottle looks like a Marmite

[Marmite the Dog]

Sorry, DD. My budget is a bit higher than a Jomtien builder's.

On the way to dinner, I took another piccy of the Tortoise Tower. I think I need to work on my night snaps.



Bobby Chinn's is a very well known restaurant located at the southern end of Hoan Kiem Lake. It isn't the sort of place grotty backpackers or builders go to. Most of the clientèle seemed to be very well to do, or the daughters of very well to do people.



I ordered a Bia Halida, and needless to say, it was crap too. For dinner, I ordered the Japanese aubergine salad, followed by the blackened barramundi on braised banana blossoms, brightened with turmeric-balsamic vinaigrette. Bloody lovely and the total bill was a smidgen under $30US.



After that I went to a bar full of very fit women with big chests, but I didnae bother.

[sabang]

Very nice too. $30 - was that just for one, in which case a bit pricey. Not bad for two though. Did you have wine with the meal?

[daveboy]

Absolute quality Marmers I'd green you if I could, are you going to try drinking some snakes blood?

[barbaro]

I'm in Saigon and if you want to say hello please do.

Hellnoi is for the conservatives.

[stroller]

This posh traveller bits are the all the same all over the world.

Any sleazy bars, decrepit sex and opium dens out there?

[Marmite the Dog]

Very nice too. $30 - was that just for one, in which case a bit pricey. Not bad for two though. Did you have wine with the meal?

No, I didn't have any wine, as it started at $5 a glass. Remember that this is one of the top restaurants in Hanoi.

Any sleazy bars, decrepit sex and opium dens out there?

I'll leave that side of things for you to do. I have my standards to keep.

[MeMock]

I love these threads.

Well done Mtd.

How much was the airline ticket?

[kingwilly]

After that I went to a bar full of very fit women with big chests, but I didnae bother.

of course he has to say that GoW reads this forum.....

you shoulda seen what he said on that other secret forum that she doesnt know about!

[Marmite the Dog]

How much was the airline ticket?

AirAsia quote around 1500B each way on their website, so a return ticket comes to 6400B (obviously).

[hillbilly]

Have really enjoyed this thread. And a live report on top of everything else!

VN, is one my to do list. More MtD!

[Wallace]

Well, it sounds a bit more interesting than my own visa run down to the Malaysian glamour spot that is Pedang Besar station. They still haven't cleaned the bogs from the last time I was there (about a year ago) and the trains are still those shitty leftovers from the Korean war, or whatever they are that the Thai state railway company passes off as passenger compartments.

The food on the train's not bad, though. And a big plate of grub with (large) beer won't set you back $30. More like 200 baht.

I do like sleeping on trains. I tend to dream incredibly vividly. Once I actually had a nightmare and woke the whole carriage up with my screams. Someone calmed me down. Last night I dreamt that I was unable to move (those beds are not that big) and remember calling out for someone to help me get up. Not sure if that was real or in my dream. I didn't get any funny looks, so perhaps I was just dreaming it.

I would post some photos of the trip if: a. there was actually anything worth taking a photo of, and b. if there was a way to get photos onto this computer in a shopping centre in Hat Yai, which there isn't.

Anyway, I don't want to hijack MTD's Hanoi live report. Bit disappointed with the lack of totty photos, though. I thought Vietnamese chicks were hot.