Hanoi Day 2 (AM) - Sunday 13.04.08

Early morning activity on the street..shot taken from the balcony of our room

My alarm went off at 4.30am. Got up for Subuh prayers and then hit the sack again. I guess I was so tired last night. Tak sedar apa-apa pun. Tau-tau it was already morning. We could hear the honking from the streets below. Ahah.....Hanoi was aready awake. The shops would be opened soon and we can do more shopping. Yess!!!

We had our own light breakfast in the room. Had coffee and bread with the serunding. Later we would go down and have the breakfast provided by the hotel.

After everyone was ready, we went down to the hotel coffee house. We wondered what could we have from the spread. There were bread and fruits still left. The rest were not really food we could have on our plates...non halal maaa. I got the bread and cheese and some dragon fruits. We wanted to have coffee but it wasn't hot enough. Later when the hotter pot came, I pour some into my cup. Fuhhh.....it was such a strong one. Terbukak mata dibuat nyer. It was so kaw!! Luckily for us we had had our own breakfast. Perut still kenyang.

After the quick breakfast, we went up and got our bags and ready to venture the streets again. Today, we decided to go to the other market - Hang Da which was pretty close to our hotel. Naik cab lah...save the energy for later.

The guy at the reception greeted us. He asked where we would be off to today. We said hang Da market. He then told us...no go to Dong Xuan market. We told him we have done that yesterday. We then hailed down a cab and told the cabbie to go to the Hang Da market.

Hang Da Mrket

The ride didn't take long. We then got down and tried to figure out where was the entrance to the market. There was a staircase which we had to take to the upper part of the complex. The moment I walked up the stairs, this awful smell struck my nostrils. The smell was pungent and yulky combined. Really, really terrible. Something like those public toilets which had not been cleaned for ages. I was already covering my nose with my tudung.

Still...we went up and what did we discover? Ada lah a few stalls selling some ao dai kain and Vietnamese silk (so they claimed lah). We went one round and came out from that place in no times. I could hardly breathe. The smell was really, really awfull. When we got out, I asked for a Mentos sweet from Muni. I just has to smell something to wipe out the bad odour from the market. Nasib baik tak termuntah!!

An old woman crossing the busy street...tak takut apa-apa pun...pedestrians are pretty safe in Vietnam

So to people who have Hang Da in their Hanoi itinerary, my advise to them is a STRICT, NO NO, NO!!!! Unless you were prepared to tolerate the smell. We learnt it the hard way.

We then quickly crossed the road and took out the map again. We wanted to figure out the way to Silk street - Hang Gai and perhaps Hang Be too. "Hang" is Vietnamese for street.

We walked passed some painting shops. At one of the shops, Muni got small paper cut posters depicting the Vietnamese women in their ao dai. A really, really creative piece of work. And we continued our walk. I then saw a shop selling the game boy catridge. Stopped by la jugak beli one game for Nissa.

U suka yang mana??

I suka yg mana???

Jupe...u plak yang mana??

We walked a few blocks of shop and then we turned left and the next thing we knew there were embroidery shops infront of our very eyes. We went in...and apa lagi terjadi lah damage on bed sheets and other embroidery stuffs. Hai...belum apa-apa lagi bag dah penuh ni!!!

Shops on Hang Gai

We went on walking. The next thing we knew we were on Silk street or Hang Gai. So tugas pencarian masing-masing pun bermula lah. Went into one shop and the next one and the next one. Yang I knew between the three of us there were damages all over. Muni & Jupe got silk kaftan sleep dress, I got raw silk shirts for ABE, then a few more silk scarfs for Jupe & Muni and of course handbags. Ha....puas hati!!! Muka senyum je...

There was one shop which we went into had pictures of Mrs Mathatir and the shop owner. Then there was also the Queen (the one from Perlis) and some Malaysian embassy people. We noticed that she had a big bouquet of roses (red ones ok!!) in her shop. When we asked her she said roses are very cheap in Vietnam. She had them changed EVERYDAY!!! Ooooo...jealous nyer la... There were like 3 dozens of roses there in the big vase. Kat M'sia jgn nak berangan lerr..letak je la bunga fake kertas tu.

Next was to go to Ipa Nima a handbag outlet which we have discovered on the Internet. We asked around and showed people the address of the place. Not many people know of the shop. Finally we got a girl from one of the shops to stop us a cab and mintak she speak to driver yg we want to go to this handbag shop.

Nasib baik la ader cab driver yang mau send us there. The cabbie sort of took us on a real long ride. I felt as if we has circled the place more than once. Finally he stopped us at the juction close to Ipa Nima and we had to locate the shop ourselves.

Jupe infront of Ipa Nima..frust iyer?? Tak de bag...hehe..hehe ;-)

Ipa Nima was a building on its own. One would never miss it coz' it's pink in colour. We walked in and saw lots of really beautiful handbags. Those bags which would look good if worn with evening gowns to perhaps cocktail parties. Cantik...bling bling every where. Unfortunately for us, we didn't find the exact ones which we were looking for. We looked one round still...mana lah tau ader kot yg tersorok ker. But still tak de yang dicari. We went out and then decided to get a cab to go back hotel.

Stuffs we bought in the morning

We figured we had better rest for a while coz tonight we'd have the Water Puppet show to go to. So balik lah dgn cab. Sampai hotel..penat jugak...and apa lagi, photo time. Snap, snap here...and snap, snap there..

Next bershopping dalam hujan.....

Hanoi Day 2 (PM) - Sunday 13.04.08

We deliberated what time we should hit the street again. We had had some lunch in the room. Apa lagi menu nyer....maggie lerr. Tak pe lah coz later we would be having dinner at Nisa Restaurant again.

Flowers...aplenty accross the street from our hotel

We went down at around 4.45pm. Got into a cab and asked to be taken to the Water Puppet area. Later we shall walk around that place.

As instructed, the cab driver did as he was told. We arrived at the Water Puppet area in no time. We did not plan for any city tour so we figured it was from these cab rides we would be able to somewhat see the city. True enough. Different cabbies took different routes to the destinations we were going to. Kira ok lah...but we wouldn't be able to tell which building is which lah. Tengok building cantik je...our reaction would be...ha...ni la agak nyer the administrative area in Hanoi...ini lah agak nyer the French Quarter. Apa-apa lah...tak penting tu semua.. Most importantly, we could recognize the places we were going to shop at. Itu sudah memadai.

The day before we had "scanned" (borrowing Jupe & K.Ariza's term for having interest to buy, but not buying yet??? Does it make sense?? Well, to us it does) the area near the Water Puppet theater. There were bags hanging all over the place. There were also some pretty interesting craft shops around. Ok..Ok...let's get ourselves goin...

the Kippling bags...

First damage was on Kippling bags. All three of us got one each. Lain-lain design and lain-lain colour. Ikut taste masing-masing lah. Memang dah target dah nak get those Kipplings. Kalu tak beli mau bengkak mata ngangis malam tu kot!! So we bargained and bargained hard. We some how got the prices we wanted.

Next was the arts and craft shop. Muni had wanted to get souvenirs for friends and colleagues. So we walked into this corner shop which was really attractive. It had on display decorative masks hanging at the entrance. Ummmppp...macam menarik je kedai ni we said to ourselves.


Muni found her souvenirs and Jupe and I started looking at other things in the shop. I pulak sudah terpandang this laquer painting and Jupe sudah ternampak this beautiful Anna Sui purse plus some other bling bling purses. Haa...sudah...ini pasti terjebak la ni.

Muni's leopardy bling bling purse

Jupe's Anna Sui..

All determined to get the painting, I bargained for it. Finally settled for USD15....from bukak mulut price of USD25. Jupe also got good price for her purses and Muni was getting quite a steal for the souvenirs and another bling bling purse.

Still in the same shop, I looked up to see what was on display on the walls. Hai la.....ternampak lagi satu laquerware painting. This time it was like a big fruit bowl. It has this tribal woman (me and my search of tribal women..hhehe..ehehe) looking at you. Very rich with colours and very abstract too. So, sudah minat la plak. There were two "bowls" hanging on the wall. Dua-dua pun cantik sangat. When I asked the girl how much it was, she said 35dolars each. Eeee....mengarut la budak ni i said to myself. Kita dah beli so banyak dah ni.

Then she said, I give you 30dolars. I said NO!! She asked me, "Madam...what yr price?" Fuhh..pening gak masa tu..nak calculate dolar, Dong & RM. Ok..i said let's challenge this girl. I told her, "I take the two up there. You give me TWO for 40dolars." Berani la nak mintak dua coz tgk masa tu Jupe pun ala-ala minat gak...hehe...hehe.

The 1st laquerware painting..hanging on my living room wall now

The 2nd painting - bowl like laquerware

So the bargaining process pun bermula lah. The girl said two for 50dolars and I tak agree. Then she went to 48dolars. I pun tak agree. Then down to 45dolars. I said no...I want 40dolars. I told her if you can't give me, it's ok. Then she went down to 42dolars. I still said no. I said never mind..I can just go home. Finally, after some consultation with her boss, she gave in. She gave the two "bowls" for 40dolars. Yipppyyyyyy........both Jupe and I were already grinning from ear to ear. Painting berjaya dibeli dgn good rates and still ader lagi duit untuk beli benda lain. Haaa...tengok tu otak!!! Sick ker tak tu????

We walked out from the shop with the two paintings wrapped in two big black bags. Adoi...terpaksa la mengangkut. We wanted to put into our IKEA shopping bags but the paintings were too big.

We were now ready to go for dinner. It then started to drizzle. Mula-mula light drizzle je...but lepas tu it became a little heavy. But dalam pada hujan tu sempat jugak cari money changer. Found one along the way to Nisa Restaurant and I quickly "disposed" my Thai Bhat to Vietnamese Dong. Waaaa...ader duit lagi....bole shopping lagi...semua suka hati!!!

Dinner was ok. Had rice and some lauks. After dinner we asked for teh tarik and bubur pulut hitam. The teh tarik was ok but the pulut hitam was...urgghhh...masam already. Macam bila masak tu the santan was not cooked properly. So Jupe told the guy about the pulut hitam and said he would not charge us for it. Comel gak sebenar nyer mamat tu...tall and quite fair. But cannot lawan ABE lah...kekasih gelap ku!! Kah..kah...kah....LOL..LOL sampai jatuh kerusi!!!

Hobbits in raincoat 1 - Muni & Jupe

After dinner, relax sat and then headed to the Water Puppet theater. It was raining still. Isshhh... tak leh jadi ni. Better look for umbrella or raincoat to keep ourselves dry from the rain.

We then saw this small shop which had some raincoats hanging. We asked how much it was. Oh no... the lady at the shop didn't speak English la plak. But anyway, we managed to get our raincoats. It was Muni who did the talking. It also attracted the attention and interest of some young boys loitering along the sidewalk. I told Muni to just be carefull with money coz you'll never know who could be watching. Alhamdullilah, tak de apa-apa yang tidak diingini berlaku. Lepas tu dalam pada conversation ala-ala ayam & itik tu, the lady at the shop sempat asked if Muni was a teacher!!! Ada kaaa....anak cikgu ader la we all ni semua!!!

Hobbits in raincoat 2 - Jupe & yours truly

So the three of us pun put on our raincoats lah. Alamak....rasa macam stiff je lepas pakai the rain coat. The raincoat was the type yg one piece from the hood (got cap some more one!!) to the body. We looked so funny in those raincoats. Macam hobbits pun ader jugak.

Finally we came to the Water Puppet theater. There was already a crowd waiting outside the place. The three of us dgn raincoat nyer, dgn paintings nyer all set to grasp whatever that we could about Vietnamese culture from the show. Punyer la semangat tu!!!

Since we sort of stood infront of the line, we were the 1st ones to get into the theater. The walk area was kind of small. So when others wanted to walk in, we had to stand up and let them walk pass. Dengan painting-painting sekali had to be lifted up when others came in. Mana tak nyer..orang lain pi tgk show lenggang kangkung je...we all siap bawak barang-barang shopping skali. Hai...Melayu..Melayu!!

Water puppets

The Water Puppet show was all right. It would have been more interesting if we understood what was said. The puppeteers used long sticks to manuever the puppets from behind the blinds. They made the puppets dance and do some jumps from the water. Ok lah...must give them credit coz it was not an easy thing to do.


Things we bought and lugged into the Water Puppet...amazing kan?? When there is a will there is a way.

After the show, we took a cab and asked to be sent back to our hotel. Just like the cabbie we had this afternoon, this particular one too had taken us on a long ride around the city back to our hotel. Reason for that?? More charges for the cab fare mah!!! Apa-apa lah...we were tired and we just wanted to get back to the hotel.

Those wrapped in newspaper were the laquerware paintings

More damange...

Dah sampai hotel, we did the same ritual as the last night. Took out the things and went snap, snap here and snap, snap there. Still not happy?? Tak pe esok ader lagi and duit still tak perabih lagi.

That night again we slept like a log.

Esok...repeat visit Dong Xuan market....

Hanoi Day 3 (AM) - Monday 14.05.08

A landmark just outside Dong Xuan Market

We didn't bother going down for breakfast this morning. We knew that it'd be something like yesterday so we decided to pass. So it was serunding, cakes and coffee breakfast in the room that morning.

Once everyone was ready, we went downstairs to get a cab. It was a nice day. No rain like the day before. Actually in our planned itinerary, we put down the option of going to Halong Bay. If we did decide to go, it would have been 3 hours in a van down to the bay. Then spend 4 hours sailing a junk to see some natural caves and then another 3 hours back. It's a natural beauty we bet. No arguements on that.

However, the thought of sitting in a van for so long to get to the destination was not really what we had in mind. Not when the main objective of this trip was retail therapy. So we all agreed that we will pass. Next time perhaps. Mana lah tau we may want to make a return trip with the family ker. We'd do Halong Bay then. Today....we shall hit the streets one last time. Esok dah nak balik and still ade lagi stuffs which we have not managed to get.

The cab we took that morning to Dong Xuan Market took us on a different route. We finally passed the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It is the place where body of Ho Chi Minh was kept. The cabbie drove passed a busy market area. There were people trading all along the street. Traffic was busy but we must complement the driver coz he was so good at making his way through.

All the kains we bought...

First, we went to the top most floor where clothes we sold. Nothing we liked there so we headed to the fabric area. Here we got more of those boing-boing materials. We also managed to get some really good bargains on Vietnamese silk. Muni & Jupe got some. This time I passed the silk...ummppp something very unusual for me. After the kains, we went down and headed to the handbag section. The first store we stopped at didn't have anything we really liked. The girl at the shop was pretty aggressive trying to sell something to us.

Mom's bag...dark blue with sunflowers

We walked to another one round the corner. I spotted this nice bag, blue black with floral embroidery on it. Mom had texted me from Mecca (she and her friends went for umrah a few days before I left for Hanoi) asking how things were with my trip and asked me to look for a nice bag for her. I felt the one I saw would be just nice for Mom to put her things when she goes for her mengaji class. Really a striking one and I was sure Mom would like it. Then I saw another one and another one. Ahhh sudah...ader 3 pieces yang dah really, really jatuh hati on the bags. I asked the girl how much were those bags. She gave some figure in Dong....entah berapa tah. Something like 250,000 to 300,000VND for one. So 3 bags would be more than 600,000VND!!! Wah...gilos minah ni. No way I was gonna pay that much for the bags. But sukaaaa nyer pada ALL the bags. Have to get it, really a must buy.

So I bargained and bargained like no end. I told the girl we really liked her bags but the price was not ok. If she can give in to the prices we wanted, she'd be making such good sales today. Muni pun dah pegang a few bags and so did Jupe. I guess the girl really saw that we meant business. It was really a time of who was the most determined one. Eventually, the girl gave in and we got the bags at the prices we wanted. She had made sale of more than 500,000VND in less than 30 minutes that morning. Not bad huh??? Thanks to us..the three bag ladies ;-))

We left the Dong Xuan Market feeling so happy. We walked down the street again heading towards the Water Puppet area. Bukan nak gi tgk Water Puppet show lagi. But nak gi cari Kipplings lagi. Tak habis-habis lagi...layan....

On the way there, I managed to get Nissa a dress and a Vietnam t-shirt for Bibik. Muni and Jupe got some Polo tees for the hubbies back home. Kena la ingat kat they all ni. Dah ler tak pi...tak kan tak de ole-ole...hehe..hehe :-))

We then tried looking for the transparent bangle at the shop where we saw it (well...we thought we saw it at that particular shop). Alah...dah tak de!!!! We were so, so dissapointed. Should have stopped to check it out on that very day we saw it.

It was almost lunch time and we were getting hungry. We didn't feel like going to the same restaurant where we have been having dinner. Let's try something else la plak. We then saw this restaurant called "Bun" something. "Bun" was we understood it is "roti" lah kan. So Ok lah..we were game to try. There were also some vegetable dishes which we felt would be safe.

yours truly waiting for the "bun"

looking so poyo... to the max!!

When the menu came, we ordered different types of "bun". I had "bun" with seafood, Jupe ordered "bun" with something else and so did Muni. We figured bila datang our food, boleh la try each other's one. Terfikir jugak...macamane la nak eat "bun" with seafood ni.

When our food came.....ha ha ha ha...what do you know!! The "buns" came in bowls. "Bun" is actually noodle in Vietnamese. So kira ok lah. We each got a type of noodle for lunch that day. Taste wise, it was pretty not too bad and the helping was quite huge.

After fueling up ourselves, we we ready to go look for those Kippling bags. We walked slowly, no rush as we had gotten most of the things we wanted. I then got a small pouch for Faris and a coin purse for Farah. We jalan-jalan lagi but we didn't find anything else we really, really liked. So I guess it was time to end this stint in Hanoi.

the stuffs from that morning's spree

the kains...

all handbags from yesterday & today

We were all so tired by then. The afternoon heat was getting at us and tiring us down. We walked cross the road and then hailed down a cab to take us back to the hotel.

Pre Hanoi Story

It has been almost two weeks since my girlfriends and I were in Hanoi. I have wanted to write about our adventures in Uncle Ho's city almost immediately. However, work had to take priority. I was away from work for three days. Obviously, work had piled up and deadlines came even faster than I could imagine.

Anyway, I will try and put up my postings as fast as I can. Hope to get all the stories up by end of the week. If tak habis my cerita-ceriti…sorry ah.... Banyak gak other personnal things which have been put aside for quite some time…..like celebrating our wedding anniversary!!!!

Happy Belated Anniversary to US :-)

Well, our anniversary was the day before I left for Hanoi. Sempat gak la celebrate with ABE. Managed to curi time between nak change money to Vietnam Dong and Friday prayers. So had to settle for a quick lunch at Mid Valley Laksa Shack. Kesian to me…well, that’s what happens when the number of years married has gone double digits. In my case the “sa-puluh” has even changed to “dua-puluh”. Gosh it has been that long kaa…???

So that Laksa Shack thingy tak kira lah. I’m sure both ABE and I can do better than that…hahah..ahhaha…LOL!!!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I needed to do something which didn't require much thinking. The choice was to either bead, blog or bake. If I blog, I'd still have to do some serious thinking along the way.

Should I do some beading work then? Nahh...it's night time. My grandmother when she was alive would oppose violently to doing any sewing at night. Nanti cepat rabun...she used to say. Haiya...memang rabun dah pun!!!

So I decided to to some baking. I tried an old recipe of chocolate chip muffins. The muffins turned out pretty good as can be seen in the pictures.

Muffins....before....

Muffins after....

Yummy....yumm...yumm....

Celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22nd. While the concept originated in the United States it is now recognized nationally as well as internationally.

Let's keep Mother Earth in good shape. Recycle, reuse, conserve electricity, plant more trees, reduce usage of pesticide are some of the things we could do to help preserve our environment.

Peace, Justice and the care of our Earth.

Jupe's Bling Bling

It was Jupe's birthday yesterday. The three of us girls, Muni, myself and Jupe the birthday gurl indulged ourselves with cakes and tea at Secret Recipe.

I got a small present for Jupe, an Anna Sui evening purse. To make it even lovelier I embellished it with colourful beads. The purse wasn't ready yet when we went out yesterday. I just showed Jupe what I was working on and asked to have back the purse to get it completed. Heh..heh..macam buruk siku la plak :-)

I finally got it ready this afternoon. I texted Jupe when it was ready. She came later to collect it and said she'd show it off to friends she's meeting tomorrow.

Way to go gurl.....