DID: Easy morning (sleep, eat, massage, pool) before afternoon flight to Hanoi. Flight from Danang to Hanoi uneventful thankfully (I was a little nervous after our last experience on Vietnam Airlines!)
Hoan Kiem in the city center could be right out of Paris, with the addition of paper lanterns and sampans. Buildings are boxy and in Mediterranean colors of stucco, lots of Juliette balconies, with Asian-angular red tiled roofs.
Initial impression of the shopping is kind of ‘meh’, but reserving final judgment until tomorrow when we’ve had more of a chance to walk around. Example, we found ourselves in the ‘electronics district’ (their version of London’s Tottenham Court Road) but couldn’t find decent headphones or a headphone jack splitter.
Called it an early night because the boys were both tired and complaining. Of course they got a second wind once we got back to the room! Took several books and songs to get them to finally nod off.
ATE: Breakfast at the hotel. Jason discovered the pho bar this morning (we had been blinded by pancakes the day before and missed seeing it). But apparently it wasn’t very good, Gavin only took 3 bites and dismissed it.
Lunch – various snacks acquired at the Danang Airport. No one was very hungry for some reason. That is until we were mid-flight. We plowed through a can of pringles and a bag of cheddar goldfish in about 30 seconds.
Dinner – Cay Cau Restaurant. Gavin had pho (he said it tasted fishy), Rhys had grilled pork (pretty good), Jason and I had beef skewers (flavor good but meat kind of tough), ‘Cay Cau’ spring rolls (cabbage and shrimp, tasty), stir-fried morning glory (good but I thought it was fishy), and banana flower salad with chicken (Jason thought it was ok, I thought it tasted like bile. Jason said it was very heavy fish sauce that was turning me off. Disgust.) Overall not a great meal, would give this place a pass.
Dessert – Fanny ice cream (www.fanny.com.vn). Huge selection of sundaes, was hard to decide! I wanted to go for the fondue with 13 small scoops of ice cream but no one else was game. Instead had the ice cream spring rolls – ice cream wrapped in crepes, cut like spring rolls, topped with chocolate and whipped cream. Good stuff. Gavin and Rhys had chocolate and chocolate chip ice cream. I put some of the chocolate sauce from my dish, plus some peanuts I had in my purse, on Gavin’s ice cream to try to replicate his favorite from Bazar in Hoi An. He said it was ‘terrible and gross’, but then clarified that bad meant good. (he’s in an opposites phase – he’s been doing this quite a lot lately!)
SLEPT: Hotel de l’Opera, near the Opera House. Brand new hotel (as in opened in the last few weeks), booked for location and because we wanted to experience Hanoi’s idea of boutique/hip hotel. Photos on the website looked like it was definitely toeing the line between chic and gaudy. In person, I’d say it’s the same. Love the hot pink carpets in the lift lobby and hallways, the dark wood flooring in the room, the huge big tall king-sized bed, and the desk chair. The wallpapered panel of smoke behind and over the bed perhaps not the best choice. Hotel fires and cigarette smoke are generally things I like to avoid. As it turns out our room started to smell of cigarettes at about 10pm. Not sure of the origin – maybe they put it in the ventilation system to add to the aura of the room? Internet connection is free, wireless and fast (yay!), pool is still under construction (boo.) Location is perfect.
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