Bright and early on Monday morning we had baguette for breakfast at the hostel and met this retired German guy travelling alone. He travels for half the year and spends the other half in Kuching (which, according to my friend, is a nice place to retire to). We chatted a bit about his travels and about the different cultures in the region before we left to start our journey to Ba Dinh. Before that, we dropped by the water puppet show to book tickets for the 1830hrs show. And so, armed with a map (and no compass cause Eric couldn't charge his iphone), we walked for an hour or so before we found the Temple of Literature.
The Temple of Literature was the first University in Vietnam with lots of Chinese influence. Scholars of old would carve their teachings onto stone tablets mountain on top of a stone turtle so we had a jolly good time camwhoring with the turtles. It was also there where we discovered how bad our Chinese was (all three of us being from kantang schools) as we attempted to read what was on the tablets. There were also locals taking wedding photos there and what appeared to be a graduation photo trip for a bunch of students. Our feeble attempts at finding a place to have lunch was a fiasco. We walked an entire round around the perimeter of the Temple only to decide to eat at the original place we thought of, where we first tried Vietnamese coffee with the funky gadget on top of the cup.
We then went around finding the giant statue of Lenin in a park and the Military Museum, which, to our shock and dismay, was closed on Mondays and Fridays! Why would you close a museum on two days of the week? Then we thought of going to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where they embalmed the body of Ho Chi Minh but that was closed on Mondays too! There's something about Mondays in Vietnam I tell you. We did, however, manage to get some pictures from the outside of the Mausoleum and met a Vietnamese from Ho Chi Minh snapping pics as well. He couldn't speak much English so we exchanged a few lines before parting.
It was afternoon by then and we made our way back to Old Quarter trying to find the VND4000 bia hoi (beer hoi). We found the shop but, better yet, we found a nearby yoghurt shop! So we lazed around for a while before making our way back to the hostel where Eric and I went for an hour-long foot massage for only SGD6! Yaosheng has something against massages so he went to explore the northern part of Old Quarters a bit more. The water puppet show we booked for 1830hrs was terrible! Or perhaps we just couldn't appreciate the art form. 95% of it was in Vietnamese and while there was the initial novelty of puppets in the water, the whole show leaves much to be desired. I think there's probably some potential if they can revamp the puppets, the storyline and the narration. They would do well to take a leaf out of NANTA's book. If you EVER go to Seoul, you MUST watch NANTA!
You need to watch the whole thing live cause the video does it no justice.
So after a show where all three of us struggled to keep awake, we decided to try the KFC in Hanoi. It was quite bad I must say, Singapore KFC is 100x better. Then came the conjob in the supermarket. We went to pick up some supplies for the trip to Ha Long Bay and stock up on water when Eric, then Yao Sheng, saw...wait for it...Brands Essence of Chicken. We thought the whole box of six cost SGD1.50 so we decided to pick up a box but after we paid, we realised it was SGD1.50 per bottle! So we paid much more than we wanted to. It was retarded but yes, we drank Brands Essence of Chicken in Vietnam.
To end off the day, we settled down at this cafe by Hoan Kiem Lake which was super breezy and cool and just chilled. We were talking about how the people we met seem to be so well travelled and have so many experiences around the world and we didn't really have much that stood out in that aspect. So we toyed with the idea of highlighting our army experience (which Eric wanted to use as a pick-up tool) but yeah, it's a decent topic to talk about.
Oh before I forget, just before the water puppet show, I suggested grabbing a bite at the corner roadside stall near the hostel which was selling baguette. Yaosheng was paranoid so only Eric and I bought it. There were two British guys buying it as well and it was their second time so I figured it was quite safe. Little did I know, it was going to be (according to Eric) Eric's downfall.
Day 3 would be Viet day, our hopelessly inexperienced tour guide for Ha Long Bay.
The Temple of Literature was the first University in Vietnam with lots of Chinese influence. Scholars of old would carve their teachings onto stone tablets mountain on top of a stone turtle so we had a jolly good time camwhoring with the turtles. It was also there where we discovered how bad our Chinese was (all three of us being from kantang schools) as we attempted to read what was on the tablets. There were also locals taking wedding photos there and what appeared to be a graduation photo trip for a bunch of students. Our feeble attempts at finding a place to have lunch was a fiasco. We walked an entire round around the perimeter of the Temple only to decide to eat at the original place we thought of, where we first tried Vietnamese coffee with the funky gadget on top of the cup.
We then went around finding the giant statue of Lenin in a park and the Military Museum, which, to our shock and dismay, was closed on Mondays and Fridays! Why would you close a museum on two days of the week? Then we thought of going to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where they embalmed the body of Ho Chi Minh but that was closed on Mondays too! There's something about Mondays in Vietnam I tell you. We did, however, manage to get some pictures from the outside of the Mausoleum and met a Vietnamese from Ho Chi Minh snapping pics as well. He couldn't speak much English so we exchanged a few lines before parting. It was afternoon by then and we made our way back to Old Quarter trying to find the VND4000 bia hoi (beer hoi). We found the shop but, better yet, we found a nearby yoghurt shop! So we lazed around for a while before making our way back to the hostel where Eric and I went for an hour-long foot massage for only SGD6! Yaosheng has something against massages so he went to explore the northern part of Old Quarters a bit more. The water puppet show we booked for 1830hrs was terrible! Or perhaps we just couldn't appreciate the art form. 95% of it was in Vietnamese and while there was the initial novelty of puppets in the water, the whole show leaves much to be desired. I think there's probably some potential if they can revamp the puppets, the storyline and the narration. They would do well to take a leaf out of NANTA's book. If you EVER go to Seoul, you MUST watch NANTA!
You need to watch the whole thing live cause the video does it no justice.
So after a show where all three of us struggled to keep awake, we decided to try the KFC in Hanoi. It was quite bad I must say, Singapore KFC is 100x better. Then came the conjob in the supermarket. We went to pick up some supplies for the trip to Ha Long Bay and stock up on water when Eric, then Yao Sheng, saw...wait for it...Brands Essence of Chicken. We thought the whole box of six cost SGD1.50 so we decided to pick up a box but after we paid, we realised it was SGD1.50 per bottle! So we paid much more than we wanted to. It was retarded but yes, we drank Brands Essence of Chicken in Vietnam.
To end off the day, we settled down at this cafe by Hoan Kiem Lake which was super breezy and cool and just chilled. We were talking about how the people we met seem to be so well travelled and have so many experiences around the world and we didn't really have much that stood out in that aspect. So we toyed with the idea of highlighting our army experience (which Eric wanted to use as a pick-up tool) but yeah, it's a decent topic to talk about.
Oh before I forget, just before the water puppet show, I suggested grabbing a bite at the corner roadside stall near the hostel which was selling baguette. Yaosheng was paranoid so only Eric and I bought it. There were two British guys buying it as well and it was their second time so I figured it was quite safe. Little did I know, it was going to be (according to Eric) Eric's downfall.
Day 3 would be Viet day, our hopelessly inexperienced tour guide for Ha Long Bay.