HANOI
Moving north to Hanoi
PS : I've visited Hanoi about 3-4 times. This again, is just from a single perspective - mine!
Hanoi is very different from HCMC - more traditional, less happening, places and locations are spread wider apart. There are 4 seasons in Hanoi. Although it doesn't snow in winter, it gets pretty cold in the midst of winter. Not sure when the cold sets in but when I was there in Nov 2003, I was comfortable in a jacket and shorts at night, and a shirt and jeans in the day. Guess it gets colder towards Jan and Feb. I was up in Mar 06 for a night, and literally froze as I thought the weather was moving into spring.
Let's see what interest me. As a true blue Singaporean, the first thing is shopping and food. The lines are too fine between the two to decide - so might as well go for both. Shopping is limited largely to the Old Quarters - here, each street has a theme, like if the street specializes in shoes, then most shops will sell shoes. There are several streets to wander but after 2 to 3 days, I must say that I get a bit tired of the place (trying to be politically correct in my writing!). Food, glorious food - roadside food - lots more than in HCMC. You can find many illegal hawkers (seems that way to me) setting up shops at road corners selling all kinds of food. More about food later.
The coffee here is different from HCMC. Thicker and not so sweet. In HCMC, "cafe sua da" (coffee with milk and ice) is served either readily mixed for you, or in a dripper. In Hanoi, haven't come across drippers so far - they leave the condensed milk, coffee and ice in one glass and you stir it on your own. I wasn't convinced that condensed milk could melt in ice coffee but was proven wrong.
FOOD
Just look at this ...
...more to come when I have the time.
Here's more
My brother-in-law just came back from Hanoi and look what he found ... yucky dog meat ...or to those in Hanoi, yummy dog meat.
