Excuse the kitchen roll in the photo and excuse me(!) for not ever giving Hanoi a serious second. Hanoi deserves every time I can give and has also become one of my favourite cities that I want to go back to. I've got to admit that Vietnam was never on my travel bucket list, let alone Hanoi. Back then when I told my friends about my upcoming trip to Hanoi, 10 out of 10 friends gave negative reviews because of their travelling experiences to Ho Chi Minh and hence they've classified the overall of Vietnam as a no-go. Even so, I decided to travel to Hanoi with an open heart and let me tell you, this city stole my heart away on the first night itself! I love coriander and I think that says it all.

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After unpacking our luggages at our Airbnb, we headed out to Serein Cafe for a drink and also to have a night view of the train passing through the Long Bien Bridge. We weren't used to the timing yet so when we arrived, the cakes were sold out and it was 15 minutes to pitch darkness and that was it. We did saw a train pass by but other than that the view was almost invisible.

The first challenge while on our way to dinner was crossing the busy roads which we wasted a lot of time trying to. It was very overwhelming the first time but let me tell you, just pretend that you are invincible and you'll get to your destination in no time. Banh Mi 25, yes, can someone please bring it over to Malaysia?? The Egg and Cheese Banh Mi was so good (with coriander OF COURSE) that I wished I had another stomach for another serving!

With all the banh mi in our tummy (see how it rhymes), we took a stroll at Hoan Kiem Lake and were very pleased to see so many cats and dogs there. Everyone brought their pets out for a walk and it was such a rare sight (for the both us at least) to see leashed cats and unleashed dogs that followed their owners without straying too far. Not only were the pets that stole the spotlight, this part of the city is super chill and there were a lot of street performers. My favourite has got to be this golden couple entertaining the crowd with their performance of the saxophone and violin. This is real talk about doing what you love with the person you love, oooh~!

Another very interesting place we visited was the Temple Of Literature (Văn Miếu) which was flooded with students taking graduation photos and praying to Confucius and his disciples. It was a busy place with a lot of things to do such as rubbing the belly of the crane statue for fortune, rubbing the head of the turtle statue for longevity, calligraphy, and many more. And yes I rubbed the crane's belly and turtle's head so that the digits in my bank account would grow while I transition to an immortal on Earth.

Cafe Dinh is also another hotspot for egg coffee and let me tell you, the staircase and alley leading up to this coffee place cannot get any dodgier. By the way, I preferred Cafe Giang's coffee over Cafe Dinh's because of the egg-coffee ratio which I thought was more well-balanced (the owner at Giang is more welcoming and funny too). The coffee shop is located at the Hoan Kiem Lake area and since it was a weekend, the roads were closed for everyone to utilize the space and set up activity spots here and there. There were teenagers shooting their dance videos, there were also performances of many kind, some took this chance to host gatherings, making it all a lively Sunday.

I also took the opportunity of our free and easy day to visit the post office there and bought 4 pieces of stamps from each of the designs that were available just so that I have spares and can give some away to my non-existent penpals.

However, we've been to the Hoan Kiem Lake area too many times and wanted to explore out of it. So we came up with an impromptu plan to visit Hanoi's largest lake, the West Lake. The area around the West Lake was not crowded, not touristy, and very laidback. It is there that we visited Quan Thanh Temple which was just a street away from the beautiful lake and has a tree-shaded courtyard that is so relaxing and beautiful, I could sit there for hours with a book.

From there we walked to The Bookworm Bookshop and I got myself two very vintage (pages were falling off) French books - Athalie by Jean Racine and Poesies Choisies by Alphonse de Lamartine. Though I know nothing of the French language, I was determine to translate and maybe learn a word or two (good luck to my lazy ass). Speaking about the randomness of an Aquarius scoring such a meaningful random book, picking up Athalie was purely unintentional and only did I found out later who Racine was and how this tragedy was a masterpiece of his time.

For dinner, we had chicken pho at a random store before heading to Ta Hein beer street for a drink. As always, the place was very happening though a Sunday night. Beers are super, super cheap, like..REALLY CHEAP (especially those in barrels, operated by a middle-aged man by the street). There were also buy 1 free 1 promotions after 6PM which obviously encouraged more drinking.

We headed back early as we were to go on a Ha Long Bay cruise the very next day. Ha Long Bay was amazing and with that said, has a post on it's own HERE.

The night we came back from Ha Long Bay, we decided to eat fancy, so we dined at 4P Pizza which I've got to say, the best pizza I've ever had so far! In actual fact, we dined at 4P Pizza for dinner twice, two nights in a row, each time at a different branch. There was no picking on which flavour was the best because all of it were unique on its own. I've listed down the flavours we tried on my Hanoi Address Book post HERE.

With that, my trip to Hanoi came to an end. I was honestly so bummed that I hadn't an extra day or two to enjoy my favourite food one last time and also to shop at all these fake but good quality apparel stores (I strongly believe that they were rejected factory goods though) that were selling winter jackets and sports wear at a delightfully low price. The best buy from this trip goes to the "North Face" jacket I bought for MYR 80 which could keep me warm in Hokkaido when I went in December, including the skiing and everything.

Food and shopping in Hanoi is way cheaper than Bangkok. Plus, go in November and you will need to put on a coat to keep warm during the day and night. Everyone we met were very welcoming and lovely, a far cry from the stories I've heard about the Vietnamese. My conclusion was that if anyone ever asked me for advice on travelling to Vietnam, I would suggest Hanoi first and then only Ho Chi Minh city. Simply because Hanoi is a much better ambassador and definitely more tourist-friendly.

There is one special place I would want to point out, and that's Tao Pho Jellybean. After booking our Airbnb, I immediately did a search on the area and found this shop located right outside of our stay. We love how this soybean shop allows us to customize our bowl of soybean curd with toppings of our own liking. They also serve really hearty pastries and sandwiches which I had one of the mornings. Most importantly, the price is so cheap that it makes it even more tastier.

If you think we were crazy by having pizza two nights in a row. You were wrong. We had Tao Pho Jellybean every day of our trip whether its for supper or a morning snack, we had it slotted somewhere in between our daily itineraries. The staffs were super cute and friendly, teaching us how to order in Vietnamese and the local patrons were all so kind to let us know that our queue number has been called (remember, "no English"). And honestly it was nice to dine at a place where we were the only tourist.