Thursday, August 23, 2018

BUDGET TRAVEL TO HANOI, VIETNAM: ROAMING AROUND OLD QUARTER

March 26, 2018
MABUHAY!
This is a photo and video journal of our budget travel to the magnificent city of Hanoi, Vietnam

THUY KHUE STREET
Our accommodation that we book from airbnb.com is located in Thuy Khue Street. Most of the shops and buildings here are kinda old. The food stalls offer cheap and delicious street food. From this street, most tourist's point of travel interests in Hanoi is just walking distance like the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, West Lake, Hanoi Botanical Garden, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Hanoi's old quarter and many more.
In Thuy Khue street, you'll get used to walking very narrow sidewalks just like in Manila.

You will find a lot of interesting old buildings and structure in this street.

Our accommodation is in this row of building

During daytime, Thuy Khue street is busy with roaring motorbikes.

Farmers sell their prize harvested crops just along the sidewalk.

Radishes for sale




A government office building



Chu Va An School
OLD QUARTER
I walk from Thuy Khue Street to the Old Quarter, around 15 to 20 minutes, to look for a money changer shop to change my Philippine Peso to Vietnamese Dong. After this, I am going also to book for tickets to a sleeper bus going to Laos and eventually to our final destination in Cambodia. I learned this bus route from rome2rio app. We run out of Vietnamese Dong so I went to a bank. The teller, unfortunately, told us that they only exchange major currency like US$ dollar and Euros. I went out of the bank not knowing where to go. When I am about 20 meters away from the bank, I heard a voice from my back, "Excuse me". When I turn around, it was the teller from the bank running after me. He told me that a customer heard our conversation and wanted to help me. The good-samaritan customer of the bank then requested me to ride his motorbike. I had an opportunity to tour around Hanoi's old quarter for free. Then we stopped in a shop and introduce to the female teller who then gave me a pretty good deal of exchange rate from Philippine Peso to Vietnamese Dong. This is a classic example of a priceless moment in traveling where locals and foreigners exchange goodness to each other.
A Buddhist temple

This policeman is clearing the road with illegally parked vehicles and vendors. 




CLICK the LINK to READ the related article: Business Travel to China: Ocular Inspection in A Glass Factory at Foshan City



A monument with a bas-relief depicting the previously armed struggle of Vietnam
After purchasing our bus ticket going to Savannakhet, Laos in the Old Quarter. Our departure time is at 5pm and it is already 3pm. Then the unexpected happened, I was lost. I ask many locals the way back to Thuy Khue Street, but I could not understand the direction they are giving me. It's in Vietnamese. Then I call a taxi cab, and to my surprise, the driver is a lady.

The cool lady taxi driver
TRAVELING AS IT IS! ROAMING AROUND OLD QUARTER - A Video Footage

CLICK the LINK to READ the related article: Travel to Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA Day 2

ROAMING AROUND HANOI
Some of the old buildings are undergoing construction.


The bridge is part of an old railway system


Modern building in the Old Quarter

Strolling towards the bus ticketing office

CLICK the LINK to READ the related article: Travel to SINGAPORE: From Day 2 Departure

Modern building in the Old Quarter

This is a water storage tank.


I don't know if this railway station is still in use.

The railway tracks on top
TRAVELING AS IT IS! ROAD TRIP AROUND THE CITY - A Video Footage


A souvenir photo together with our wonderful Vietnamese host in Hanoi. Thank you very much. 

CLICK the LINK to READ the related article: Trip to THAILAND Day 3


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