Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hanoi - Old Quarters

Hanoi not only plays host to 7 million - zilian motorbikes , it also has many beautiful & colorful building which are full of Culture and History. Each street back in the old days had merchants and households that specialised in a particular trade, such as silk traders, silver etc. The street names nowadays still reflect these specialisations.
Once you managed to figure out how cross the road safely and avoid the motorbikes, you would be able to take in this pictureous town. Most buildings in the Old Quarters of Hanoi has a french style and mainly painted in Yellow and has green shutters. This is because a large number of French settlers moved to Vietnam from the south of France, especially Marseilles, and made it a point to recreate the architecture of the old country while abroad.
After exploring parts of the town, our guide brought us to this small restaurant called " Minh Anh". As soon as we sat down BAM! One by one food kept coming, from springrolls, to soups to deep fried stuff to fishes. The thing was we haven't actually ordered anything. I started getting worried, something fishy is going on here, is this one of those "lets cheat the foreigner in Vietnam" moment?
So I called our guide, and asked him "Who order this food?" he said "ME", and I was thinking "mmm.. he must be in it too; *@*&#! ". Then I said, "how much is this gonna cost me?" and he said "Nothing, You pay already! you want beer you buy , food you pay already .All included in your package". A smile stretched on my face, and I said "You are a champion" I ordered a beer and gave it to our guide and started digging in.

What a meal, everything was so fresh, cooked and served warm. I thank our guide for the great choice.

Hanoi - full of surprises. Whats have you been surprised with recently?

24 comments:

Marina said...

I love the photos.. And food is yummi! :)

Erika Lee @ A Tiny Rocket said...

YUM looks delicious. I just got back from Asia about a month ago- and my favorite food was the food in Bali. yum

Carolyn Jung said...

Those rolls look amazing. My favorite show, when it was still airing, was "Luke's Vietnam'' on the Cooking Channel. The food stalls he'd go to were just amazing little operations that turned out homestyle dishes with such fresh ingredients. Yum!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Beautiful photos! I really hope to visit Hanoi one day :D

The Blonde Duck said...

All inclusive meals rock! And it looks like such a cool place!

Krysten @ Why Girls Are Weird said...

Beautiful pics and that food looks DELISH!

Karen Law said...

You always have so much food in your posts!! I think it's definitely Malaysian culture - they're so very much into food. At least that was very obvious to me when I travelled there last year and also a lot of my relatives in Malaysia admitted that to me.
Omigosh I can only imagine what it's like dodging those motorbikes in Hanoi. It'd be beautiful to see the french influence in the architecture for sure :)
Hmmm....what has surprised me lately? Well I was surprised by my last vacation how much I loved Chicago. I'm not usually a big fan of huge cities and after not liking New York (it's so hyped up) as much as I thought I would, I had a similar feeling about Chicago but was proven wrong. The people and atmosphere in Chicago is much more welcoming :)

hevn said...

Love the pictures! It looks right out from a travel magazine..

The rolls looks so delicious :D

Fabrizia Spinelli said...

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chow and chatter said...

love these posts keep em coming :)

Marcela Gmd said...

Qué bonito post!! Viajamos a través de tus fotos!!
Fantástico!
Te sigo!
Besos, desde España, Marcela

Joyti said...

What a nice surprise (that the food was included). Sounds like delicious fun!

Anh said...

Thanks, Ron! I miss Vietnamese food. I need to go to my parent's house. ha.

Keely aka The Richest Girl in Bondi said...

An all inclusive meal? Ah that's dangerous! Love the pictures -- it's amazing how far reaching French influences can be found.

Anonymous said...

Hanoi looks beautiful! I am eyeing up your nama-haru-maki ^^

Surprise? I got a small pay rise and it was totally unexpected :P

Sylvia said...

Beautiful pics, Hanoi must be an amazing place

Joanne said...

Wow everythign in hanoi really looks delicious! I love that picture of the bikes all lined up.

chef_d said...

I've only been to Saigon...and now your post is making me want to go to Hanoi too!

Hello Naka said...

the food looks so great and im very jeaslous u didnt have to pay extra! and the bike photo is amazing!

noone said...

I've always wanted to go to Hanoi, just the food and everything. Sigh, I miss Asia :D

Lori said...

Just look at all that amazing food! Love the shot of the motor bikes as well. Such a different culture from the constant cars around here. Our biggest surprise lately has been the food on our trip to Ireland. My 3rd trip, I like the food, but don't hold high expectations. Completely proved wrong this trip. It was outstanding.

ashleighjoan said...

sounds like a good time. i love old buildings and anything historic. the food looks delicious!

Carolyn Jung said...

I could eat Vietnamese food every day. ;)
I just love its fresh herbs, vibrant yet clean flavors. Mmm, pass a summer roll, please. LOL

Natalie said...

great photos!! your posts make me hungry lol ^_^


xo,Natalie
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