Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, or Lake of Returned/Restored Sword) is located at the historical centre of Hanoi and is a popular hangout place for locals.
The greenish Ho Hoan Kiem
The greenish Ho Hoan Kiem
Ly Thai To (974-1028) was the founder and first emperor of Ly Dynasty (1009-1225). After ascending the throne, he moved the capital to Dai La (which he renamed as Thang Long) nearby present-day Hanoi, which eventually resulted in the founding of the current city.
The statue of Emperor Ly Thai To in Hanoi
The monument is located at Indira Gandhi Park (named after the famous Gandhi) nearby Hoan Kiem Lake.
Didn’t know that Pepsi is selling purified water until seeing it in Hanoi a week ago… the name of the brand is Aquafina; and it’s probably one of the two best selling bottled water brands in Hanoi.
Must be the healthiest drink from Pepsi…
Aquafina is currently distributed in just a few countries, namely USA, Canada, Turkey, Vietnam, Pakistan and India. In case you are wondering… it taste like water, yada.
USD1 = 16,500 Vietnamese Dong… which literally makes me a millionaire when I was in Hanoi lol. It’s actually quite a pain though, for foreigners who are slow in counting…
Vietnamese Dong (đồng), if not mistaken, is the second least value currency behind Zimbabwean dollars. The face value of Dongs started rising since late 80s because of inflation; in 1985 the largest banknote was 500, but now 500,000.
Despite the high inflation rate, the economic growth of Vietnam is quite decent over the time span… most Vietnamese are probably living better now compared to a decade or two ago.
Lesson of the day… if you have money in Vietnam, don’t save it… spend it :p
A few photos after arriving in Hanoi (Hà Nội) on July 18, taken during the taxi ride from Noi Bai International Airport to my hotel in Tran Hung Dao at Hoàn Kiếm district…
Rice fields are plentiful in the outskirts of Hanoi
Arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport around 2pm on Wednesday after a six-day holiday in Vietnam. The below photo was taken last Friday, my first day of the trip, when my plane was approaching Hanoi…
The cloudy-mountainous view mesmerised me… I think I might have fell in love with Vietnam before even setting foot on the Vietnamese soil. The ‘honeymoon’ didn’t last long though, when serenity turned into chaos as I started exploring the ground.
Plenty of stories and photos to share, stay tune for more updates.
Going on holiday in Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam… leaving on Friday and coming back on Wednesday. Plan to carry along my laptop, but don’t think I’ll have the time to update this blog during that period.
Have been doing some researches on Hanoi and Halong Bay for the past few days… plenty of things to see, do, eat and experience. The only thing that I probably won’t want to try is riding a bike in Hanoi…
Some random photos from my Taiwan visit in April/May 2008…
The plane I was boarding from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei