Aramis, Athos, and Porthos

And so we concluded our adventures on a high note! Actually, no, our departing meal in Hanoi was instant noodles served with 'lean meat'. And it was 45.000 dong too, which roughly equates to S$2.80 per bowl. Similar taste to the Nissin cup noodles but at twice the price! Oh by the way, they use decimals as digit separators and vice versa for their prices...

(Wanted to add a photo here but it was taking forever.)

We stayed at three places over our 7-day stint in chaotic yet efficient Hanoi. Hanoi Old Centre Hotel, on a junk with Oriental Sails, and a hotel at Sapa whose name I can't recall. I thought the food and lodging at all three places were perfect! (Mr YA might have a fit over the use of 'perfect' here but it really was amazing, and at the risk of sounding unappreciative, better than home!) Yes we didn't have the 'great city view' on our first day in old centre, but the immaculate service and friendliness more than make up for it. The sticky rice with roast pork, banana pancakes, toasty baguettes and omnipresent sweet pineapples-watermelons-bananas combo are spirit-raising too.

The junk (again, wasn't up to Mr YA's standards/expectations) was pretty awesome too; we met a couple of friends from Singapore (teachers! 为人师表). I really liked the bathroom because it didn't give me the creepy feel of foreign toilets. Homely bathroom! And really clean too. Lots of dishes during meals (strange to jump from the WC to food right after) - really nice decorations too. Fried taro, green papaya salad, water chestnut-carrot salad, just a few I can recall. Oh and fried spring rolls! They are everywhere.

The food at Hoang Ha (did I spell that right?) and the other Sapa hotel was fabulous too! Pumpkin soup or potato and ham soup?? I prefer pumpkin soup! Would make a pretty good dessert too, if sweetened. Didn't really like the lemongrass though, left a bitter aftertaste.

So most of our time were spent walking to our 'Objectives'. The first food adventure should be the one to Quan An Ngon! A ?Marche?-styled eatery that lets you place orders using a single menu. The place is crowded, but we were still comfortably sat at a relatively private corner. We had our virgin bun cha here! Barbequed pork balls (slightly flattened at the top and bottom - think Earth) and slices in a smoky soup, paired with vermicelli and veggies. Highlight!! Some roll-yourself spring roll which we all pretended to be 'grand masters' at. I tried bia hoi, cold hanoi beer and the rest had SAPODILLA SHAKES. Mr WS said it was chiku (see this).

We tried xoi xeo and bun cha at other places, and I figured we were being scolded for being stingy tourists (sharing one bowl among three pax!).

I guessed I enjoyed the trek the most, even though there were some minor 'hiccups' - me not buying souvenirs from the 'yellow-robed girl', and failing to tip our guide D: even though he was fairly good. Mr YA's camera also suffered a mishap here and I believed suffered a sleepless night with it being in foreign hands (repair shop). But the walks to find 8.000 dong (roughly $0.50) bottled water and clothes were surprisingly ?fun?.

The trip to West Lake wasn't too interesting, but the day was rescued by the 5.000 dong ice cream (unknown flavour!) and a hearty dinner at our favourite location in Hanoi, Quan An Ngon. Shrimp pancake with rice paper, chee cheong fun-like dish, buns with pork filling, and grilled squid. Sound ordinary but pretty awesome. What I didn't like was the last day! Tried to find the museums but went to the wrong one in the end!! And I think we missed a part of the temple of literature too.

But now it's back to the grind of the routine here - but the best we can do is to do something different each day to make this routine more interesting. We've got to do something different to see a different result. And I must tell myself that 还没开始就动摇，要怎样坚持理念？