So, after a couple of beers we took a walk up to the Hoan Kiem Lake, which is one of several lakes situated in Hanoi, which actually makes it quite a pleasant place to be in comparison to Bangkok. In reality I decided to save money and spent all three nights on the sofa, but if I return I shall definitely spend the money on the hotel, as his loud snoring somewhat made sleep elusive! My plan was to spend the first night kipping on his sofa, and then move to a hotel for the next two nights, as there are plenty of good middle range price hotels around this district available for US$25-30 per night.
#HANOI ROCKS CHRISTMAS TV#
My friend is currently renting a two room apartment in the Hoan Kiem district of Hanoi, which is located adjacent to the Old Quarter, and pays US$600 per month for basically a very nice modern kitchen, and a living room/bedroom combination, this also includes Cable TV and broadband Internet connection. One thing of note was the fact they are constructing a brand new town around 10 kilometres outside Hanoi, apparently known as Mekong city or New Hanoi.įor the purpose of this report I shall break it up into different categories, starting off with:. The journey from the airport was uneventful, if a little noisy, due to the incessant usage of the driver's musical horn, which although quaint at first soon became tiresome, luckily the journey was just a little over one hour so not too bad. on 100 Thai baht equaling 50,000 Vietnamese Dong. I had changed Thai baht at Swampypoom into US$, and got a rate of 35.21, but nowhere there could give me Vietnamese Dong, so that pleasure will have to wait until you reach Noi Bai, last weekend changing US$100 would bring you the grand total of 1,742,000 Dong, so 1 Thai baht is approximately equal to 500 Dong, so base all your calculations when purchasing food, drink, goods etc.
This delay meant that my friend who was meeting me had to send his taxi away, but it was not too hard to secure the services of another for the grand price of 250,000 VND. On arrival at Noi Bai Airport, immigration procedures went fairly smoothly and quickly, also note that it is essential to apply for your entry bisa a week or so in advance, as trying to get a bisa on arrival whilst not impossible, is not worth the hassle, but the Baggage Reclaim seemed somewhat antiquated, and I got held up there waiting for my bag for almost an hour, ‘som na na’ indeed on my part, as I could easily have hand carried my small bag. By the time we got up in the air, scoffed a reasonably tasty lunch and a glass of red wine, it appeared it was already time to prepare for the descent. The flight itself was ‘smooth as silk’, to coin a phrase used by another airline, only 90 minutes duration. It is bright, clean and overall a pleasant place to be, and to sit and watch the girls go by, although it could do with a few more seating areas.
#HANOI ROCKS CHRISTMAS FREE#
I am quite impressed with the airport, despite it appearing to be one huge ‘King Power’ Duty Free Shopping Mall. This was my second experience of ‘Swampypoom’ Airport, but a little different from my first, as previously I had travelled Business Class to Old Blighty and was cocooned in the luxury and free Johnnie Walker Black Label of the Thai Business Lounge. The ticket was a little over 9,000 baht return, slightly more expensive than say, Air Asia, but I was happy to pay a little more for better service. I flew on the national carrier, Vietnam Airways, as I wanted to see the lovely ladies wearing their silken Ao Dais to prepare me for the visual pleasures of the ladies walking around Hanoi.
This would be my first trip to Vietnam so I was interested in making the trip, even though I knew it would be a few degrees colder than Thailand, albeit Thailand has not been particularly warm recently! Well dear readers, I have just had the opportunity to visit Hanoi, Vietnam for a long weekend break, from the 16th to 19th January 2009, as I have a friend currently working there as a Senior Project Manager on a couple of building projects.
0 kommentar(er)
