Moomba

A friend and I were both having significant birthday events this year so we decided to celebrate with two trips; one near his big day and one closer to mine.

The first of these is the subject of this report and started just after a week after my friend’s birthday.

We spent a long time last September trying to figure out where we should go with the only proviso being we could get there, or close to, using our BA miles.
Once we decided upon the destination we now had the task of what to do when we got there.
In the past we had done a small group tour of Japan (see this report) and we decided we liked the format of these as it avoids the masses of people on a bus but still takes the hassle out of having to organise things ourselves.

After several hours of browsing we chose an operator that seemed to fit the bill and had good reviews. As most of you realise I have a keen interest in things food. It was for this reason we ended up on a culinary tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. The dates on the outbound fit well with award availability with a stopover in HKG required on the way out. On the way back, after some searching we were able to make it back to London a couple of days after the tour ended in Siem Reap. To fill in the two days we looked at who flew out of Siem Reap and realised we could us MH to get to KL for a couple of days before catching a CX flight back to HKG.

I am going to subtitle this report a trip of firsts. There will be many photos, most of which will be accessible from my flickr account with some select ones posted in the report.

So lets begin; come with me for a culinary experience of all things edible in Indochina - if you dare:

Day 0 and the first flight to Hong Kong with BA.
Day 1 to Hanoi on KA in new regional J and A little sightseeing in Hanoi
Day 2 Hanoi Cooking Centre Class
Day 2 Hanoi Cooking Centre Class part 2
Day 2 Hanoi Sights
Day 3 to Ha Long Bay - a Karst of thousands
Day 3 to Ha Long Bay - a Karst of thousands - part 2
Day 3 to Ha Long Bay - a Karst of thousands - part 3
Day 4 Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi and the Water Puppet Theatre
Day 4 Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi and the Water Puppet Theatre - part 2
Day 4 Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi and the Water Puppet Theatre - part 3
Day 5 - Hanoi Street Food and on to Hue
Day 5 - Hanoi Street Food and on to Hue - part 2
Day 6 - Hue Sights - Hue Palace
Day 6 - Hue Sights - Thien Mu Pagoda & Tomb of Khai Dinh
Day 6 - Hue Sights - Hue Food
Day 7 - Hue to Hoi An
Day 7 - Hoi An Lunch & Sights
Day 7 - Hoi An Sights & Dinner
Day 8 - Hoi An - Red Bridge Cooking Class
Day 8 - Hoi An - Red Bridge Cooking Class - part 2
Day 8 - Hoi An - Red Bridge Cooking Class - part 3
Day 9 - Hoi An - Street Food Tour
Day 9 - Hoi An - Street Food Tour - part 2
Day 9 - Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City via Marble Mountain
Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh City & Mekong Delta
Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh City & Mekong Delta - Part 2
Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh City & Mekong Delta - Part 3
Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh City & Mekong Delta - Part 4
Day 11 - Ho Chi Minh City - Sights & Cooking Class
Day 11 - Ho Chi Minh City - Sights & Cooking Class - part 2
Day 11 - Ho Chi Minh City - Farewell Dinner
Day 12 - Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap
Day 12 - Siem Reap - Tonle Sap
Day 13 - Siem Reap - Angkor Wat
Day 13 - Siem Reap - Angkor Thom & Bayon
Day 13 - Siem Reap - Ta Prohm
Day 13 - Siem Reap - Preah Kahn
Day 13 - Siem Reap - Marum Restaurant
Day 14 - Siem Reap - Cooks in Tuk Tuks Cooking Class
Day 14 - Siem Reap - Cooks in Tuk Tuks Street Food Tour
Day 15 - Outlying Temples - 2 hours from Siem Reap
Day 15 - Outlying Temples & Farewell Dinner
Day 16 - Siem Reap - Kuala Lumpur
Day 17 - Kuala Lumpur Sights
Day 18 - The long way home CX J KUL-HKG
Day 19 - The long way home - Part 2 BA F HKG-LHG


This report is now complete. I hope you all enjoyed the report and if you would like to read about more of my exploits you can find some links below.


My First RTW on OneWorld in F 2006
Passion or Addiction OneWorld RTW in F 2008
Definitely Addicted OneWorld RTW in F 2009
Moomba's Addiction Continues RTW One World in J 2010
A trip across the pond on a 318
Another addiction fuelled RTW in F on One World
Easter in Asia CX F & JL F

And for those that enjoy non-flight specific reports:
Land of the Cherry Blossom Japan by Rail April 2007 (a most underrated travel destination)
Alaska Land & Sea June 2008 (stunning part of the world)
China in Summer 2011

Moomba

Making the most of being a contractor and not being paid when not working I opted to work a half day on the day of my departure on this next trip to the far east. After spending some time wrapping up some paperwork and then attending a 3 hour meeting the morning was soon over.

I headed home via the barber, had a shower and finished packing my bags for a trip of firsts for me.

I decided to walk my suitcase to a tube station further from my home than my usual as this meant not having to make a tube connection. Instead I was able to catch the tube straight to Paddington where I changed to the HEX for the 20 minute ride to T5 at London Heathrow.

I arrived at the F check-in are by 15:35 where my friend and companion for this trip had been waiting for 10 minutes.

The airport landside was quite quiet and check-in in the J zone dedicated to F passengers (and Oneworld Emerald) was equally so. There wasn’t even anyone manning the podium outside. We approached an agent who enquired about our destination and proceeded to check us in. After she had checked my friend in and tagged his bag she started to process me.
She asked if she would like special services to escort us into the lounge. Hmm that is the first time I had any sort of recognition at check in since becoming a BA Executive Club Gold Guest List member. This is the uber elite level of the BA programme. I declined the offer.
The agent said I take it you know how to get to the Concorde Room. I assured her I did, thanked her and we were on our way to the security lanes. Security was also quiet and we were through quickly only having to wait whilst two men in a row set off the WMD causing the queue to stop.

We turned right and went up to the agent at the secret door who checked out BPs and let us in. Inside the Concorde Room another agent swiped our BPs and welcomed us in. It was quite busy inside so we headed out to the terrace and took a couple of seats there.





I said to my friend I am going to collect my money as I was once burnt leaving 200 USD at a Travellex in T3 only remembering as we were climbing out.
I got my cash sorted and went back up to the lounge where my friend informed me that a staff member had approached him asking if he would like a drink. Wow. Service in the Concorde Room! As a result I returned to a glass of pink bubbles to set the holiday off in style.



After our drinks we decided to get something to eat as I had not eaten anything since breakfast and we decided we could hold off dinner on the plane. We were pointed towards a table in the restaurant and some menus delivered a little while later. I asked for some sparkling water and some merlot from NZ. We ordered our meals and sipped our wines for a while. The meals arrived and I had chosen the fish cakes whilst my friend hand to try the ‘legendary’ beef burger. Well my dish should have been an appetiser as it only had one fish cake, one small poached egg and half a tomato.


Not exactly a meal size portion.

Worst still it was dry and was barely luke warm. What a pathetic effort for a flagship lounge. My friend’s comment about his burger was ‘I’ve had better in my work canteen’. His was also not hot. We decided to give dessert a shot. We both opted for the chocolate dessert with passionfruit sorbet.


When this arrived it was very nice indeed.
It seems in my years of flying with BA they are consistently good at dessert but fall short with anything savoury.

I had been told when I came back into the lounge after my cash gathering exercise that we were at a B gate for our flight. As it was now 40 minutes before our flight was due we headed over to the B terminal on the shuttle, making a brief shopping stop on the way. At the B gates we were able to walk straight up to the short priority lane queue and made our way down the ramp. To my surprise BA were actually using doors 1 and 2 for this flight so we were able to walk down to plane.

Flight BA0025 LHR-HKG Seat 1A
Aircraft: 747-400
Departure time: 18:30

At the door the crew member directed us to our seats without escort. The F purser came up and introduced himself told us the flight would be 11 hours and 5 minutes and offered us a drink. He also said that around 4 hours after our arrival into HKG it would bucket down so to stay indoors. I said I would like ‘champagne please’ of course. Another crew member dropped by with amenity kits and sleeper suit.

I sat and supped my champagne until we were ready to push back at 18:41.


We taxied down to the other end of the airfield and took off at 19:07.
After take off the crew came out with menus and asked us what we would like to drink. I went for a scotch and dry to have with my warm nuts.



The CSM dropped by to introduce herself and then to my friend who as a newly minted Gold card holder got the special welcome treatment. The purser dropped by to ask what we would like to eat for dinner.

DINNER

STARTERS

Poached lobster and cod timbale with baby capers, basil, spring onions and tomato with fennel and orange salad

Buttered white and green asparagus with poached egg and chervil and truffle sauce

A light cream soup of English celery with walnuts and Blue Wensleydale cheese

Fresh seasonal salad with you choice of French dressing with golden rapeseed oil or mint and black pepper dressing

MAIN

Marinated Hong Kong –style chicken with steamed Asian rice and stir-fried bok-choy

Char-grilled fillet of British beef with Madeira and béarnaise sauces, with wild mushrooms, broccoli and chunky chips

Steamed Scottish salmon with a soft herb cream sauce, marsh samphire, wild mushrooms and Jersey Royal potatoes
Fattoush salad with tiger prawns, cucumber and mint labneh cheese


BISTRO SELECTION
BRITISH AIRWAYS CLASSICS


Penne pasta in cherry tomato sauce with borlotti beans, aubergine and Kalamata olives

Warm sandwich of salted beef with Swiss cheese on Manoucher bread with pickled cucumber

A selection of biscuits

A selection of cheese and fruit

DESSERT

Milk chocolate and cherry cadeaux with vanilla mousse

Pineapple upside-down pudding with coconut custard

CHEESE PLATE

Mull of Kintyre
This cow’s milk cheese may contain small crystals that give the cheese its distinctive crunch. It has a sweet yet savoury taste

Devon Blue
A dense, crumbly unpasteurised cow’s milk cheese with a creamy and complex flavour

Chaource
A creamy unpasteurised traditional French cheese with a rich, fruity and creamy flavour

Saint-Nectaire
This French cheese features a soft, supple texture and earthy, fruity flavour

Fresh fruit

CHOCOLATES

BEVERAGES

We offer a selection of the following Twinings Tea:
Teas – English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Mint Humbug, Honeycomb Camomile, Red Berry Fool and Jasmine Pearls

Coffee - Freshly roasted and ground, decaffeinated, espresso or cappuccino

WINES
APERITIF
Kir Royale
A sparkling aperitif combining Crème de Cassis (a blackcurrant liqueur) with Champagne, creating a refreshing cocktail.

CHAMPAGNE

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle, Champagne, France

Henriot Vintage Brut 2007, Champagne, France

Bollinger Rose Brut NV, Champagne, France

WHITE
Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2008, Jean-Marc Brocard, Burgundy, France

Sancerre Les Chasseignes 2010, Domaine Fouassier

Mount Horricks Watervale Riesling 2012, Clare Valley, Australia

RED
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2001, Seme Grand Cru Classe Pauillac, Medoc, Bordeaux, France

Tamar Ridge Kayena Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010, Tasmania, Australia

Howard Park Leston Shiraz 2009, Frankland River, Western Australia

DESSERT
Goldackerl Trockenbeerenauslese 2004, Willi Opitz, Burgenland, Austria

Warre’s 1992 Colheita Tawny Port

SPIRITS, DIGETIFS AND LIQEUERS
Gonzalez Byass Sherries
Smirnoff Black Label Vodka
Tanqueray No. 10 Gin
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch Whisky
The Glenlivet 18-year-old Single Malt Whisky
Woodford Reserve Kentucky Whiskey
Drambuie 15-year old Speyside Malt Liqueur
Otard XO Cognac

SOFT DRINKS
A selection of traditional and modern drinks

He took my friend’s order first who also said he would like to hold off dinner for a couple of hours as we had just eaten. The purser told him to let them know about 30 minutes before we wanted to eat. He then took my order and asked if I would be dining with my friend and I said yes. This seemed to be the cue for the purser to not bother with us for the rest of the flight, as we couldn’t think of anything we had done to make him go sour on us.
We proceeded to sit there with no service for half an hour whilst the crew set about getting the other people on the 13 of 14 F passenger’s dinner. Eventually the other crew member asked me if I would like a drink and I asked for some red wine.





After listening to some music for around 2 hours, and managing to coax a refill of my glass, we decided to ask for our dinner to be prepared. Dinner started with an amuse bouche of caramelised duck which was a far cry from the amuse offered on JAL, but then again most other airlines are the same.



I switched over to the Riesling as I had ordered the asparagus starter and it was quite nice.



Next up I went for the Hong Kong style chicken dish, which was tender and tasty and not at all dry. It was quite a small serving though.



None of the dessert options appealed so I went for some cheese and a glass of the sticky to finish the meal with and an espresso.





No chocolates were offered after meal. I was given a bottle of water for the night.

After the meal I watched a movie and eventually decided it was time for sleep and I asked one of the crew to make up my bed. After returning from the loo I was able to cosy down for the night. I slept fitfully through the flight and at one point we encountered some quite rough turbulence but it didn’t last long.

I awoke when the lights were turned on in the cabin about 100 minutes out of HKG. I lay there for about 20 minutes before getting up and going to get changed back into my civvies. After I had been back at my seat for 10 minutes or so one of the crew asked me if I would like some breakfast.

BREAKFAST
STARTERS
Chilled fruit juice

An energising fruit smoothie of strawberry and banana

A selection of yoghurts

A selection of cereals

Fresh seasonal fruit appetiser

A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls

MAIN
Traditional English breakfast of scrambled free-range eggs, with grilled bacon, Saddleback pork sausage, baked Portobello mushroom, hash-brown potatoes, fried bread and baked beans

Eggs Florentine

Blueberry French toast with crumble top and blueberry syrup

I asked for the smoothie some tea with lemon and a bowl of fruit and some yoghurt.





It was only after I had finished breakfast that I realised that I had not once been offered a hot towel for the whole flight. Obviously with this crew if you didn’t eat when they wanted you to you missed out on things like hot towels and chocolates. In comparison when I have eaten at odd times on Cathay Pacific the crew have always given me a hot towel before the meal.

The captain announced 40 minutes to landing and said we would be on the ground at 13:10. The crew set about getting the cabin prepared for landing whilst we went round in circles for another 20 minutes before even getting anywhere near the ground. We finally touched down at 13:30 and made our way up to the gate which was down near where the sixties gates arm of the terminal starts. As usual both doors were used and the crew kept the business passengers at bay until the first cabin had emptied. We walked up the ramp and the short distance to the shuttle train to take us up to the business end of the terminal. Immigrations was quite quick for HKG standards and we both made a pit stop at the e-channel registration booth. I was done first and went out to wait for the bags. Mine turned up pretty quickly and my friend’s was a few minutes later. We exited through customs and bought two tickets on the AEX into Kowloon station.

The train arrived within 4 minutes and we were on our way into Kowloon soon after. At Kowloon we made our way through the Elements shopping mall to the W hotel. Unusually no one took our bags from us and we were directed up to the 6th floor check-in. At check-in they confirmed we needed at twin bedded room and gave us a key for a room on the 33rd floor.
The room was quite nice and had a view of the commerce centre and past that to Hong Kong island.







Not long after we checked in the heavens opened up and horizontal rain was sweeping past our window. That sort of put an end to any thoughts of going for a wander about TST which had been on the plans. Instead we opted for 2-4-1 cocktails in the Woo Bar in the foyer of the hotel.

After a couple of drinks we went on into the mall to one of the Chinese restaurants a friend had recommended. After a lovely meal the jet lag kicked in and we retired to our room for some kip before an early start and first of my firsts for this trip.

Firsts for today:

First class flight on BA

More photos here

Moomba

After an early rise we checked out of the hotel and made our way downstairs to Kowloon station. We checked our bags in at the Dragon Air counter and went down another level to catch the train to HKG airport.

At the airport we cleared security quickly and queued for about a minute to get through emigration.

We turned left and made our way up to the new CX first lounge and were both welcomed inside.

Breakfast was on the cards first and we were actually given menus when we were escorted to our seats. I opted for eggs benedict and started with a couple of pieces of dim sum whilst I waited for the eggs to be cooked. I also ordered a cappuccino to sip on.



As I suspected our flight was to leave from the infield terminal and that meant a bus ride from the main terminal. We headed over to the middle of the terminal and down a level to where the busses left for the infield terminal. The busses run every 4 minutes and we only needed to wait a short while before hopping on a bus.
After we made it to the infield terminal we made our way upstairs and to our gate. The infield terminal had its own set of shops and duty free outlets but we made a beeline for our gate where boarding had already commenced. As per the rest of the HKG gates there was a premium line to the left and we were able to walk straight up, have our PP and BP checked and then walked down the ramp.

Flight KA0297 HKG-HAN Seat 11K
Aircraft: A321
Departure time: 08:40

Once on the plane I was pleased to see the latest incarnation of the CX regional seat had been installed on this plane. The plane looked brand new but in fact on checking later it had been part of the fleet for a good many years. It seems CX/KA know how to keep their aircraft looking pretty good on the inside, unlike others I will not name here.




We were offered orange or apple juice or water as a pre take-off beverage. The captain announced a flight time of 1 hour and 45 minutes to Hanoi. The crew handed out menus for the flight just prior to our pushing back a few minutes early at 08:34.



We rolled out to the top end of the runway and took off out over the water at 08:47.



After the belt sign was switched off the meal service began with a hot towel. Then the tray with starter was delivered to the seat with an offer of juice and tea and coffee.

MENU
BREAKFAST
STARTERS
Fresh fruit, fruit yoghurt

MAIN COURSES
Scrambled egg with cottage cheese, veal sausage Canadian bacon, lyonnaise potato and broccoli
Braised vermicelli with roasted duck and snow vegetables, Chinese dim sum

BREAD SELECTION
Assorted breakfast bread served with preserves

DRINK LIST
JUICES
Apple Juice, Tomato Juice, Orange Juice, Grapefruit Juice

SOFT DRINKS
Coke, Coke, Zero, Coke Light, Tonic Water, Soda Water, Ginger Ale, Perrier Water, Mineral Water

TEA AND COFFEE
Fook Ming Tong Chinese Tea
Fujian First Class Oolong, Funding Jasmine Silver Fur
Ceylon Tea, Japanese Tea, Earl Grey Tea, Camomile Tea, Peppermint Tea
Freshly Brewed Coffee, De-caffeinated Coffee

The mains were delivered straight afterwards and the crew presented the dishes for your inspection before you chose.
I went with the Chinese option and it was quite nice and I downed it with some Jasmine tea.



The crew cleared the plates and offered more tea several times during the remainder of the flight.

The captain asked the crew to prepare the cabin for landing and the crew cleared away the remaining items.
We touched down at 09:26 local time a few minutes early and taxied up to the gate.

Being at the front of the plane meant a quick exit and as we walked into the immigrations hall the staff all scurried to their posts. I chose a trainee position and she took her sweet time about letting me in, whilst my friend at the next counter breezed on through.

After immigration I had to put my carry on through a scanner for some reason before entering the baggage hall.

The bags started to come out quickly and my friend’s was out in amongst the first dozen. Then nothing for a while and then a handful more and then nothing. Around 15 minutes later more bags started to appear and I was pleased to see mine had made it unscathed.

We went out side and a driver from the tour company was waiting with a sign with our names on it.

He welcomed us and escorted us to his mini bus and drove us the 45 minutes into Hanoi and our hotel for the next two nights.

We were able to check-in early as our room had been vacated and had been cleaned already. The desk clerk took our passports and asked us to fill in a registration form and gave us each a cup of lemon grass tea.

Once the formalities were sorted we made our way up to the room. It was basic but functional and all importantly it had good air conditioning.



The first official function of the tour was a meet and greet at18:30 that evening followed by a dinner. As such the day was free for us until then. We decided to go for a walk around Hoan Kiem lake that was just near the hotel.











Whilst there we visited the Ngoc Son Temple.













The temple is there as the legend goes because one of the early Kings of Vietnam was in a fierce battle to save his Kingdom and ended up on this lake. The story goes that a turtle rose from the lake with a sword on its back. The King took the sword and defeated his foes.





We then ventured down a few side streets and just wandered around the area ending up at a war memorial statue in a park. We stopped a little while later at a street side café where we had the first of many local beers for this trip.



Hanoi is a madhouse of noise and activity with a million scooters and motorcycles vying with cars and pedestrians for the road space and all of the honking horns saying ‘I’m here watch out’.

Every footpath is lined with scooters and vendors ply their goods along the street from either a bicycle or from trays carrying all manner of merchandise that are suspended from a pole resting on their shoulders.

The café staff purchased some peanuts in their shells to nibble on and brought a handful over to our table for us to nibble on. I was surprised to find the nuts had been boiled and not roasted. It was great just to soak up the atmosphere whilst watching the world go by whilst sipping a beer. After the beer it was time to go back to the hotel and shower before meeting up for dinner. The heat and humidity was a bit of a shock to the system after leaving a cold gloomy London that is struggling to escape the winter weather.

We met our 6 other travelling companions, our guide that would travel with us through Vietnam and our local guide in the lobby for an introduction to Hanoi.
We then went on to a local restaurant for a dinner of items selected by the tour guide. The meal was great and full of interesting flavours especially from the myriad of different leaves served with some of the dishes. Of course we drank the local Hanoi beer. After the meal we all made our way back to the hotel. My friend and I made our way to the top floor bar that looked out over the lake and ordered a couple of cheap cocktails to end the evening.



The firsts for this day were:

First time on Dragon Air

First time to Vietnam & Hanoi

First time eating boiled peanuts!

More photos here

stickyfingers85

Sounds like a great trip! I went on a 2 week tour of Vietnam a few years ago and loved it. I remember the food was amazing, and the best place for me was Hoi An!

I have to admit that after reading the above, I had to re-read it a few times, as the first time i read WMD as "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

HangukStyle

Nice pictures!

FlyerTalker7654

Great TR!! The two times I've used BA's first lounge at LHR I've had the same experience with the food....you'd think that they would be able to at least get that right!!!!

Loved the pics by the way!!!! ^

Moomba

Breakfast was provided in the hotel restaurant and I had some stir fried noodles and some lime juice to start the day off.

Today our culinary tour began with the first of four cooking classes for the trip. We hopped on our bus to the Hanoi Cooking Centre where we were greeted with some naturally sweet tea made from the la han qua fruit.



The chef then took us down the street to the local market. On the way there were many street stalls selling all sorts of vegetables and fruit. In the market we were greeted with all sorts of weird and wonderful fruit, vegetables, noodles, fish, meat, innards and gizzards.





We were able to sample something that resembled pork sausage meat that had lemon grass in the mix.



We also got to see some more disturbing things such as frogs being skinned and the gutted whilst still alive.



One of the specialties on sale were rooster’s testicles that were the most expensive ingredient at that stall.



Inside the market people on scooters were riding up to the stalls to make their purchases and were constantly beeping us at. It was a sight to see.





Our instructor was a lovely lady who was encouraging us to try different things and she bought some Vietnamese delicacies for us to cook and try back at the school.

We then wandered back up to the school and commenced the lesson.

Today we were going to cook:

Seafood Spring Rolls

Banana Flower Salad

Caramel Pork

Black Sesame Seed and Peanut Che

We started preparing the meat and vegetables for a pork in caramel sauce that is cooked in a clay pot.



We then moved on to a French influenced spring roll that included mayonnaise in the mix and was dipped in egg and breadcrumb before frying.



We then finished off the pork dish by frying up the ingredients before putting into clay pot and then in the oven.





The instructor then showed us how to cook up one of the specialties she had bought for us at the market. This was a simple dish of fried silkworm with chilli and lime leaf.





The instructor was very persuasive in getting us to try these new things and they weren’t bad; tasted a little nutty.

Next we prepared the ingredients for our banana flower salad.





In the meantime she had put on to boil in water the other of our special dishes to try. These were 18-day-old fertilised duck eggs. I wasn’t sure I wanted to try these but the instructor was so good at making us give it a go that only 2 of the 8 of us didn’t eat some of them.





It wasn’t something I would rush out to eat again but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It really just tasted like a hard boiled egg.

After this the instructor fried up some sesame seeds and sugar and then blended it into a paste to form a dessert for the meal.



We finished preparing our meals and made our way upstairs to the restaurant to sit down to our self-prepared lunch.

Moomba

The meal was not bad even if I do say so myself. It was a very enjoyable morning and I got to try some things I never believed I would. This is all part of this travel lark and something this trip would dish up time and time again.


Table is set


Interesting ceiling decoration


Banana Flower Salad


Banana Flower Salad


Hanoi Beer


Seafood Spring Rolls


Caramel Pork


Caramel Pork and Steamed Rice


Sesame Dessert


Sesame Dessert


Many more photos here

Moomba

LOL - Thanks for the comments stickyfingers85 - Hoi An was a favourite for me too.

Thanks HangukStyle

Thanks SgtRyan

Moomba

After we had finished our meal we headed out again and met our guide who took us on a walking tour down to the West Lake, the lungs of Hanoi.



We then walked through the old French quarter of Hanoi. As most of you will know the French invaded Vietnam in the mid 19th century and the influence is very evidenced in Hanoi. Even the street numbers are the familiar white on blue as I have seen in France.







We ended up at the tomb of Ho Chi Minh at Bah Dinh square were the guide told us about the history of Vietnam after the French were booted out.



We then went into the citadel to see the palace and the smaller simple house that Ho lived in for his final years that was on the grounds.









After this we visited the homage to Ho a museum dedicated to Uncle Ho’s life.
We then made a quick photo stop at the One Pillar Pagoda and we were then on the bus heading for the Hanoi Hilton.



This is the infamous prison where many shot down US airmen were held during the Vietnam war.





In the days of the French rule this place was a pretty horrific place with some cruel torture being metered out. They even had one of the original guillotines on display.







After a long hot day it was time to head back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting up again later.

Our guide then took us to his favourite bia hoi in the area. These bia hoi dot many corners around Hanoi and consisted of small tables and chairs where beer and snacks were served to very noisy local inhabitants. We spent a fun night drinking 31 pence beers and nibbling on dried squid, nuts and other local snack foods.

It was time for one last nightcap at the top of the hotel and then off to bed for an early start and drive to Ha Long Bay.

The firsts for this day were:

First time on eating silkworm

First time eating 18-day-old fertilised duck egg

First time eating banana flower

First time eating dried squid

First time drinking 31 pence beer!

More pictures of Hanoi sights here

Jenbel

Soooo jealous. Looking forward to you cooking for me though

matthandy

I wouldn't be. Not with that stuff on the menu .

Great report so far Moomba and I have to say that you are very brave trying all of those new things. I know that I absolutely couldn't do that. I'm not into the weird and wonderful.

Looking forward to the rest!

Moomba

Well I have to see if I can source all the ingredients when I get back to London.

Thanks Matt. Peer group pressure is a strong motivator when it comes to eating the weird and wonderful.

The rest might be a little slow in posting as I have 1700 photos I need to sort through and select those that will be loaded up to flickr.

BA5E

Interesting so far, some of those meals do look not terribly appertising, and I have a very strong constitution, but I imagine they may not like my stomach. Shame that CCR could not rustle up good food, and your fish cake did look rather a small offering. Look forward to reading the next episode of the TR.

mad_atta

Great stuff so far, thanks. I now need to go and seek out some Vietnamese food for lunch!