hanoi: first impressions

when we first boarded our transport to our hotel, we were commenting on how slow their pace of life was, all so different from us. evidence - the car was driving abt 2/3 the speed of a local car on a highway.

then we realised maybe its not the pace of life. its likely that its due to just how vietnamese drive. the scooters/bicycles/bikes are an unruly crowd! zipping across the lanes like nobody's business. most of the times, there are basically no rules practised on the roads. the drivers mainly just avoid people crossing the roads. so you shouldn't dash across lest they cant avoid you in time. why... we used the traffic light and when the green man flashed for us to walk, guess what?

the motorbikes were zooming across the road like the green man was for them. we thought we looked damn silly standing there, looking lost and confused. lol. but of cos, in no time we got used to the traffic conditions there and crossed like pros. the trick is to cross slowly, not dashing. becos you can never out run the bikes & car with their sheer volume on the streets. cross section by section and the vehicles will avoid you as they pass.



and for a developing country like Vietnam, I was impressed that even small local restaurants have clean toilets WITH toilet paper AND proper flushing systems. of cos they are not sparkling clean like our toilets. but sometimes when I go JB the toilets are like just a bucket of water for 'flushing' and no paper. so this is much better than expected!


hanoi: street food
street food is a must. city dwellers might be skeptical of the standard of food & hygiene but from what I see - nothing much to worry about. they use gloves, chopsticks, etc when handling food and even on the streets you find the stalls providing tissue/serviettes. of cos, they clean their bowls & utensils by dunking into a pail of water (clean one of cos, check to be safe *winks). but jeremy & I came back fine so no worries! a bit of germs won't kill!


the first local dish we sampled, its seen like 90% of the time. pho - rice noodles! its a bit like a thinner version of our kuey teow









some of the street food we sampled:


vietnamese tang yuan! in ginger soup with roasted peanuts


Che - a dessert that mixes a lot of ingredients together. coconut milk is an ingredient in many desserts, used in che too!





quite a nice kebab at less than SGD2!


a simple dish that is likened to our chee cheong fun. taste very gd with spring onions and a special sauce. seems like some gland juice from an insect was also put in. let's not think so much abt it :X