Far end right high rise- Sheraton Vietnam
I took a short holiday to Vietnam 越南 - Hanoi 河内- Halong bay 下龙湾 with my wife and the in-laws from 22 October 2011 to 31 October 2011. We took the SIA flight . The air fare was $597 per person. The flight SQ176 departed Singapore Changi International airport terminal 2 at 9.50 am and touched down at Hanoi International Airport 3 hours 15 minutes later. Clearance at the Hanoi immigration check point was a breeze. We were not required to submit any immigration cards. My nephew who worked in Hanoi arranged transport to pick us up at the airport and headed for Fraser Suites. FraserSuites is a up market service apartment situated at 51 Xuan Dieu Street, Quang An, Tay Ho District, Hanoi Vietnam. The service apartment is owned by the the Singapore Fraser Group. Many expatriates stayed there. It was officially opened by Mr Lee Hsien Yang (brother of Singapore Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong), the Chairman of Fraser and Neave Limited on 29 July 2009. FraserSuites Hanoi has a very nice view. It was overlooking a lake. The lake looks like an ocean to me. There was no high rise building in the near vicinity except for the distanced Hanoi Sheraton Hotel. The service apartment set-up was exactly like a hotel. Tenants can take the lift to the floor only with the tenant's security card which also double up as their apartment access card key. Chamber maids will come to tidy up the apartment every day and also to replace new bath towels. There were cooking facilities in every apartments . A washing machine and a dryer were also provided for self laundry. A well equipped gymnasium with a steam room was on the 1st storey for the health conscious.
22-10-2011 Saturday
After checking in the FraserSuites service apartment, we went to the Thang Long water puppet theater. The puppet show was very popular with the tourists. The puppet show was very unique. The controls were done under water. I was told they had performed overseas in countries like UK, Europe and America. We booked an electric van to tour round the old quarter area (a place like Chinatown) after the show. The old quarter was congested with people and motor cycles. Cars sounded the horns frequently. We had Vietnamese food for dinner at one of the popular Vietnamese restaurant.
23-10-2011 Sunday
We went to the pottery market and spent the whole morning there. We bought some China ware rice bowls and lacquer flower vases. We had the famous Vietnamese beef rice noodle for lunch. We went back to FraserSuites after lunch for a rest. At 4.00pm, we went to the near by High Land cafe for afternoon coffee. We cooked and had our dinner in the service apartment.
24-10-2011 Monday
A few of us went to the gym for morning exercise. We had French cuisine for lunch. The French restaurant was Green Tangerine Cafe & Restaurant. The building was built in 1928. Its design was similar to the Singapore pre-war Peranakan houses. French cuisine in Vietnam was cheaper than Singapore. We also had red wine to go with our food.
25-10-2011 Tuesday
My wife and I reached the travel agent office, Emeraude Classic Cruises at 46 Le Thai To Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam around 8.00 am. We boarded the travel agent coach at 8.30am. The coach ride to Halong bay usually will take 3.5 hours. We were rather unlucky that day. It took us 5 hours to reach halong bay due to some road work. Workers were placing hard core (granites) to the level crossing (train railway track that cut across the road). There was no police man controlling the traffic, a two ways road became a one way street when no one gave way. It took the police man 公安 2 hours to clear the jam. What an experience I had ! We checked into the cruise Emeraude and had our lunch on board at 2.00pm while the cruise was sailing to the heart of the Halong bay. The scenery was gorgeous. The sea water was very calm due to many hills that stood out from the water that block the current. Visiting the lime stone cave was part of the itinerary.
The Emeraude Story
The Emeraude was part of a fleet of ships operated by the Roque family, transporting freight along the waterways of French Indochina and offering cruises in Halong Bay. The project to rebuild the Emeraude began in a Hai Phong shipyard in 2002.
The story of the Emeraude goes back to 1858 and three brothers, Victor, Xavier and Henry Roque, who lived in a small village in South-West France. Driven by their entrepreneurial spirit and dreams of adventure, the brothers headed to the Far East in search of their fortunes.
Arriving in Manila and then Hong Kong, the brothers were soon in business supplying fresh food and provisions of all kinds to the French Army. The business prospered and in addition to providing supplies of flour, bread, biscuits and fresh meat for the army they also supplied timber for construction, towing services, manufacturing sugar, undertook public construction and traded in opium.
Success breeds envy and two of the Roque brothers were kidnapped, along with others in their employ, by the bandits. To pay the ransom, the Roque was forced to sell the assets, leaving the company weakened.
Victor Roque, then 61 years old, bankrupt and ill health, returned to France.
It was here that they had the idea to build a small fleet of ships to transport
freight and other pleasure cruises on Halong Bay. The construction of the four flat-bottomed paddle-steamers, to be named Emeraude, Rubis, Perle and Saphir, was carried out in Hong Kong.
In 1937, the Emeraude sank en-route from Hai Phong to Mong Cai without lost of life with the French withdrawal.
26-10-2011 Wednesday
The cruise anchored at Halong bay for a night. It sailed back to the shore after breakfast. When we reached the shore, there was no staff to guide us to the coach. We had to find our own way. I was rather disappointed with their service. When we reached the travel agent town office, we requested the travel agent staff for assistance to book a taxi for the return to FraserSuites. I was told that there were some illegal taxi drivers that over charge the tourists. I later read from the news paper that 2 Singapore tourists were charged $360 when the fare was only $10. For lunch, we walked to a near by coffee shop to take away the local Wanton noddles (云吞麵). It was C&G (cheap & good).
27-10-2011 Thursday
We went shopping at one of the up-market shopping mall in the morning. We had Vietnamese beef noodle for lunch before we returned to FraserSuites for resting. I went to the gym for exercise before dinner to flush out the excess energy. We had simple fried Udon noddle for dinner.
28-10-2011 Friday
Went to the furniture shop looking at some of the local teak wood furniture.
Vietnam wood furniture pricing was much lower than similar items sold in Singapore. My wife bought a teak wood frame wall mirror and a wooden table lamp. Due to rain, we did not go out for dinner. We went to the complex pizza restaurant. We ordered pizza, beer and salad. The bill was S$38 for 7 persons. It was considered value for money.
29-10-2011 Saturday
Morning, we went to the Silk Road. The shops at the Silk Road were selling all the silk products like silk dresses, silk ties etc. We dropped by the Japanese Ashima mushroom pot restaurant for lunch. Frankly speaking, this was the first time I had tried the mushroom pot. The experience was fantastic! The waitress will cook the mushroom and beef in the pot with chicken soap. They will serve the guests when the food was cooked.
30-10-2011 Sunday
We went to the old quarter for the final shopping. I bought a piece of oil painting with timber frame at US$50. This was even cheaper than the poster that I bought at Singapore Ikea.
河内国际机场
河内国际机场
河内国际机场
31-10-2011 Monday
After breakfast, we boarded the SIA SQ 175 flight and returned to Singapore for Home Sweet Home.
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