{"id":15126,"date":"2018-04-03T22:55:52","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T22:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkerten.com\/wordpress\/?p=15126"},"modified":"2019-06-29T08:26:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T08:26:11","slug":"lesson-learnt-from-hanoi-city-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkerten.com\/wordpress\/2018\/04\/lesson-learnt-from-hanoi-city-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson Learnt from Hanoi City Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first time I visited Vietnam was 10 years ago to Ho Chi Minh City, that time there were not many tourists doing free and easy and more would prefer to book package tour from the tour agent in Singapore. I did free and easy in Ho Chi Minh City, went to the local travel agent and book for the day tour. Ten years ago it was so cheap to book the day tour including lunch at the local travel agent, cost only about USD 10-20. But now the price for day tour has gone up two fold or even more.<\/p>\n

Lets talk about Hanoi!\u00a0 Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam while Ho Chi Minh or Saigon, the old name is also the business center of Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Airport Transfers to Hanoi City – How not to get scammed!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Upon arriving in Hanoi, we get a taxi from the airport.\u00a0 I have tried the airport taxi for my arrival and the online booking taxi from Klook for my departure home.\u00a0 If you book taxi from online, it is safer and won’t get scammed.\u00a0 I have experienced the two and my conclusion is online booking is definitely cheaper and safer.\u00a0 Upon arrival, the taxi at the airport to Old Quarter cost me SGD 24.00 but if you book Klook<\/a>, it only cost SGD 19.00!\u00a0 That is about 5 dollars difference but you won’t know when the meter stop.\u00a0 It was lucky for me just SGD 5.00 more that I have to pay but my taxi trip in the old quarters and Hanoi city cost me more damage!<\/p>\n

My departure back home, I booked Klook<\/a>\u00a0online SDG 13.10 for airport transfer pick up.\u00a0 The driver came on time with a 4 wheel drive, spacious, fully air con and car in good condition.<\/p>\n

We got taxi Scammed in Old Quarters Hanoi!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you intend to do Hanoi City Tour, I strongly recommend you to book a day tour as it will bring you around to many attractions in town. We did not book the Hanoi City Tour so have to use the local taxi and got scammed<\/strong>.\u00a0 The distance is only few km ( 2 km ) from one place to another but the taxi meters run so fast that it cost about SGD 7-10, even more expensive than Singapore!\u00a0 We used two taxi, one did not even bother to return the change to me and run away with the money.<\/p>\n

Lesson learnt, book a Hanoi\u00a0City Tour\u00a0<\/a>online instead!\u00a0 You can always feedback online so the chances of getting scammed is lower.<\/p>\n

\"Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

These are some views from Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport to Old Quarter about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

Iconic Long Bien Bridge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On the way from Hanoi Airport to Old Quarter, you will pass by a historical bridge called Long Bien Bridge.\u00a0\u00a0Long Bien Bridge was designed by world-renowned engineer Gustave Eiffel, who was also the designer of the famous Eiffel Tower<\/a> in Paris 1903.\u00a0\u00a0Long Bien Bridge is one of the landmarks in Hanoi.\u00a0 The bridge looks very small in the below picture but the feature is very unique spanning over Red River.<\/p>\n

\"Iconic<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanoi Old Quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hanoi Old Quarter is one of the most busiest spot, the streets are packed with scooters, bicycles and cars swarming around pedestrian like a school of fish, honking every few seconds. In Old Quarter, you can eat and shop and experience what the local do.<\/p>\n

\"Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanoi Lunch at Old Quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many local street food but we choose a decent looking restaurant to eat because we are not sure if our stomach can tolerate with the local street food.\u00a0 We don’t want to get sick on the first day in Hanoi.<\/p>\n

\"Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

The customers who came here are the well dressed office ladies.\u00a0 The restaurant look very clean and modern as compared to any others.\u00a0 We ordered three drinks, 2 lime juice and a fresh coconut.\u00a0 Two different type of fried noodles, including the fried “dong fen”\/mung bean vermicelli and fried noodle.\u00a0 BBQ\u00a0Mussel, pretty small – look like babies and Vietnamese deep friend spring roll\/Cha Gio.\u00a0 I still prefer the Vietnamese steam rice paper spring rolls over the deep fried Cha Gio, the Cha Gio rolled with pork and some sticky stuff, may be is yam.\u00a0 Not sure what is that.<\/p>\n

Total cost for the lunch is about 345,000 dong \/ SGD 20.00<\/p>\n

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Other local food you may like to try in Hanoi are :<\/strong><\/p>\n