It is my second time here in Hanoi but I haven’t really got to visit the main attractions within Hanoi during my first visit. This time, I get to visit some of the popular tourist attractions like Ho Chi Minh Museum and Imperial Citadel of Thanh Long where I get to learn more about the history and culture of Vietnam. If you are into Vietnamese culture and its history, you must include these 5 attractions into your itinerary. Besides visiting Ha Long Bay, the following five of the attractions are worth a visit. 1. Temple of Literature This temple, constructed in 1070, was once a national university dedicated to Confucius…
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Experience Rural Life at Duong Lam Ancient Village
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Hanoi is this visit to Duong Lam Ancient Village. It is an agricultural village of the Northern Red River delta. Over there, we got to experience what rural life is all. We did rice planting at the Padi fields and catching fish with bamboo baskets. Unfortunately, it was scorching hot that day and it is not any better with the high humidity. Some of us suffer from mild heat exhaustion after being out in the sun for more than 30 minutes. A 300-Year-Old Quaint Village – Duong Lam It is about a 2-hour drive from Hanoi City Centre. There are several…
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How are Traditional Vietnamese Conical Hats made?
On the second day of our Hanoi trip, we headed down south to Chuong Village which is about an hour and a half bus ride from the city centre in Hanoi. It is approximately 30 km away from Hanoi. We were there for solely to learn how to make traditional Vietnamese conical hats or ‘Nón Lá’ (means leaf hat) in Vietnamese. This village has a reputation for making conical hats and almost every house in this village makes the ‘Nón Lá’ which shields them from the sun and rain. How did these conical hats came about? According to one legend, this conical hats originated from this story of a goddess…
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Learning about the Art of Pottery in Bat Trang Village, Hanoi
When I was in Hanoi back in 2009, I only covered a few city attractions. My impression of Hanoi back then wasn’t very good, as compared to the Ho Chi Minh City, where the people are friendlier. The roads were definitely wider here in Hanoi and the people were more outspoken. Now that was ten years ago. Ten years later, things have certainly changed – along with my perspectives of this capital city. This time, I ventured further out to the countryside to visit a couple of villages. The first village we visited was Bát Tràng Village which is a traditional ceramic and pottery village located beside the red river.…
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Experience the Rural and City side of Hanoi, Vietnam in 4 days
I enjoy flying. Who doesn’t? But this year, I haven’t been travelling much as I was preparing to shift into a new place (though I haven’t entirely shifted in). Besides, you could say that I was a little tired of travelling, especially if I am travelling on my own. I still prefer travelling with my partner but he is always giving excuses not to travel. Oh well, let’s just hope that the year-end trip we planned would happen for us this year. My first flight in 2019 On a side note, I am just glad that I will be flying out of Singapore. But sadly, it is entirely for work…
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Vung Tau, Vietnam: A Beach Paradise
After spending 2 hours exploring Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to spend the other half of the trip exploring the lesser known places like Vung Tau. It is a port city along the coastal line of Vung Tau. There are several ways of getting to Vung Tau. The cheapest option is to hop along on their local buses to Vung Tau. For us, we took the hydrofoil which was quite an experience! We got our hotel reception to book a pair of tickets for us to cruise along Greenlines. You can also purchase your ticket on the spot but it is best to book earlier as the tickets do…
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Hotel Pullman Vung Tau Review
I knew I had to revisit this place again when I was here around 7 years ago. Vung Tau is a beach weekend getaway for most of the Vietnamese here living in Ho Chi Minh City. The 2-hour drive would bring them to this heaven with enticing beaches and beautiful coastlines. It’s a port city which is located at the Southern tip of Vietnam. We took a hydrofoil to Vung Tau from Ho Chi Minh City and the journey took us about 90 minutes long. And once we got there, we couldn’t believe that this port city is actually part of Vietnam because it just looked like those port cities…
