For this year DNArtworks trip, we visited Hanoi. We came back to Vietnam, after our earlier DNArtworks Trip to Ho Chi Minh City in 2023. From Bandung, we took a Cititrans ride at 6.40. Inside Jakarta, we arrived just in time for toll road contraflow arrangement. In addition to the three lanes heading city center, the toll operator provided extra lane for us who wants to go straight to the airport, borrowing one lane from opposite direction. The contraflow arrangement ended at 8.30, just 15 minutes after we passed it.
We arrived at the airport around 10.00, and took a break at Mallaca Toast cafe. Black coffee and two half-boiled eggs satisfied my hunger for Singapore reminiscence. At 11.00, most of other team members arrived and we had lunch together at Solaria. At 12.00 noon, we proceeded with check-in.
Check-in, security and immigration clearance in the Indonesia side was a smooth ride, especially because we were now mostly experienced (it was our 4th trip abroad). The airplane took off on time, and we embarked on a boring 4 hour journey. I brought a domino game and it helped to kill 20 minutes of our time. I also ordered a beer-and-snack meal package. I finished the beer, and put the snack inside my backpack for oleh-oleh (gift) back home. A few minutes before scheduled landing time, the pilot announced that we might be delayed. I decided to just eat the snack, because we might have a late dinner that day.
After landed, we queued at the immigration. It was a very long queue, and I was glad that I have consumed the snack earlier. A 30 minutes journey to the hotel, and we arrived around 21.00. We checked in, dropped our baggage, then went out for dinner. I had a pho with Dan. The original price was VND 55.000, but with VND 80.000 you get extra chicken meat like photo below.
After dinner, Dan went for another walk, while I headed back to the hotel to take a rest. A fruit juice seller was there just beside the hotel and I could not resist to buy one. It was a nice banana juice, and she also provided two simple chairs to sit and enjoy the juice.
We stayed at 22 Residence hotel. Buildings here including the hotel are interesting. They have a very narrow facade, but when you enter, it goes far to the back. In each room they have a set of disposable respirator, for use in case of fire. They also provide bathroom scale, in case you want to see if you gain or lose weight after wandering around.
Early in the morning I woke up then took a stroll around the hotel. We were tasked to take interesting photos, different for each person. I was assigned to take photos of “lines”, so I took photos of roads, traffic lights and trees. There was a closed shop with flags of Vietnam and communism symbol, the latter is illegal in Indonesia. We then had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Similar to our previous trip to Ho Chi Minh city, breakfast here in Vietnam were generally provided healthier options (fresh vegetables, fruits, etc) even in budget hotels.
While I was inside the hotel, I posted some pictures to my Instagram channel with the hotel wifi. My telco plan includes 1GB roaming package and I did not want to purchase additional quota for the whole journey, so I saved data usage as much as I could.
Around 7.00, we walked a few hundreds meters to board our bus that would take us to Ha Long Bay. We had to walk because around that area buses can only stop at designated places. The journey was supposed to take 2-3 hours, but we stopped at a rest area for 30-60 minutes. The tour leader told us that his captain need some time to register our tickets to local government. The rest shop was actually some kind of large gift shop. When we arrived, we were welcomed with an explanation of how silk was made. Then, we entered a room where another lady explain the benefit of various products they sold there, infomercial style. I bought some snacks for myself and to give someone back home.
We took another 1,5 hour journey to the Tuan Chau Marina. En route, my childhood friend Au commented on one of my photo. He said that he really like a food named Bun Cha when in Vietnam. I googled it, and it turned out to be a Hanoi specialty. I looked forward to try it.
Upon arriving, where we boarded the Cozy Bay Premium Cruise boat. They provided seats for us at the first floor. I was already hungry but had to wait for the guide to explain the rules of visiting the islands around Ha Long Bay. One notable rule was forbidden to bring plastic bottles. This rule came out because of too many plastics were thrown out to the sea few years back.
We had pretty good lunch, then stopped by the first island. At the first island, we explored a cave. The rocks formed many random shapes, and local people used their imagination to say that certain rocks resembles familiar objects, like the Merlion, Buddha, etc. It was roughly 2.000 steps up and down to finish the course and since the road is narrow, once you enter, you cannot go back. Inside the cave, there was a mini photo studio. Taking a photo is free, and you will get a free keychain as well if you took a photo. However, they do sell more premium version photo of you, larger and enclosed in acrylic.
At the second island, we had options of speedboat, kayaking, or bamboo boat. Speedboat costs VND 400.000, while kayaking and bamboo boat is already included in the initial tour price. Some of us chose kayaking but most of the others chose convenience with bamboo boat, since a guy is rowing and navigating the boat for us. He had done an excellent service so we gave him a good tip.
In the third and last island, the Ti Top island, we had choices of trekking or swimming at the beach. I initially wanted to trek, but later decided to just stay around and enjoy the beach. It was hot and humid outside, and when our cruise came back to pick us up, I went in quickly and cooled down.
I guessed that the journey back to Hanoi to be faster, because we did not have to stop for another ticket purchase. I was wrong. The traffic was terrible. We arrived at Hanoi around 20.30. I was already tired and hungry, and looked for a quick meal near the hotel. I remembered about Bun Cha and googled the nearest Bun Cha from the hotel. I found a restaurant called “Bun Cha Dac Kim”, which turned to be a Michelin selected restaurant.
I ordered a Bun Cha meal package, consisting of soup, rice noodle, fresh vegetables and spring rolls. As some items took time to prepare, they served the noodle and vegetables first. I was so hungry I ate most of vegetables by hand. The server laughed at me, and when the complete meal was ready, the vegetables were already half consumed.
To my surprise, as I was eating the complete meal, the servant refilled my vegetables!
She also refilled the rice noodle, but I could not finish it.
The next morning, I walked south to Cổng chính công viên Thống Nhất. It’s a park, very similar to Bandung’s Taman Tegallega. I walked there as they have free pull up bars. Just like the Taman Tegallega, most of the visitors were senior citizens. Most of the auties were doing taichi, while others doing zumba. What astonished me was that some uncles were doing pull ups, and they looked relatively fit.
I came back to the hotel by GrabBike. I liked the fact that the helmets were pretty clean. One another interesting thing was Grab driver jackets were actually sold as souvenirs by local shops.
On this third day, I realized that the way Vietnamese people driving was interesting. They honk frequently, like the Jakartans do. They also drive recklesly, just like Jakartans. However, they don’t seem to get mad at each other. It was like the part of their brain that controls logic and emotion are separated and work independently.
Around 9.00 we walked towards the Tran Phu Street, where we sat and drank beers, next to a railway. When we sit, trains passed and visitors can see it at a very close distance. The train ran slowly to avoid people getting hit, but the danger was still there especially after the locomotive passed, because the train driver could no longer see you.
We then continued our journey to the Hanoi Cathedral. The Cathedral looked like it had not been repainted for a long time. I was not sure that this was because of lack of fund or intended to preserve the original look. For sure, it looked creepy.
We sat down and took a break at the southern side of Hoan Kiem Lake. Di rebriefed us about the task given earlier (taking photos). Then, after about half an hour, we split up. Some went for lunch, but I was not hungry. I walked alone towards Trang Tien to look for souvenirs. Nothing looked very interesting there, and I continued my walk to Cafe Giang. It was famous for its egg coffee, which I ordered one. When the server served me the coffee, I asked her to take a photo of me and the coffee. She said “later”, and as an Indonesian I know that “later” simply means “no”. So I took the photo myself, just the coffee.
I then walked towards the hotel, while looking for souvenirs en route. I found this fancy shop called Culcat. It sells various products made by local artist. I brought some items for my relatives. I also went to GS25 minimart to bought some other items to bring back home. I then had a banh mhi for lunch, and headed back to hotel to pack things up.
I had early dinner that evening, A banh mi and another banana juice. Then, I spent the rest of the day in the hotel, finishing up this blog post.
The next morning, I woke up at 3.30. I cooked an instant ramen, took a shower, then joined the group for transfer to airport. The traffic was smooth, as it was very early in the morning. The queues at the airport was not as smooth. We arrived at the airport around 5.40, 3 hours before take off. We started the first long queue for check in. Then, we queued for immigration. Finally, we queued for security check. We finished all the queues and arrived at boarding lounge around 7.40, just 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time. We headed to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (SHIA), named after the first president of Indonesia and his vice president. Probably due to technical limitations, only “Soekarno” was shown on the screen.
The flight itself was delayed 10 minutes. It was another 4 hours boring flight. In Jakarta, the immigration was relatively smoother, as they had around 10 automated gates (plus 5-10 manual gates). For some people, the automated only caused trouble for them. One uncle was seen giving middle finger to the machine after spending probably 5 minutes trying to get over it. He was lucky that the immigration officer did not see the gesture.