Hey you guys! Phoebe here from Little Grey Box with Matt behind the camera
Now we are in Hanoi, the heart of Vietnam and this is the second video in our Vietnam
series as part of our #squadSQ adventure with Singapore Airlines where
they send eight amazing adventurers including us, to two different
destinations each on their extensive network
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Now we will lucky enough to
visit Paris first up with a stop in Singapore so if you missed those videos
go and check them out and then come right back here. As you can see you guys
it is pouring down rain behind me so Matt and I've been trying to wait this out all
day we've been enjoying our amazing room at the InterContinental
Hanoi Landmark72 and loving every moment of it but this afternoon we
thought we'd better get back out there and have some coffee! Vietnamese coffee
is life so let's go find one of my favourite cafes and sit and do a little bit of street watching
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So obviously when you come to Vietnam you're gonna see a lot of a French influece here you guys
and this is part of it this street-style seating
You're low to the ground, you can do some people watching just watch the world go by and
we are at my favorite spot it is a chain of cafes called Cong Caphe and look I
know that it's a chain and maybe chains aren't the way to go but it's just what I
like I came to a Cong Caphe one of my first trips to Hanoi and it just always
had a special place in my heart ever since
so you'll find them dotted all over the place and this stuff is a must-try
it's about 35,000 Vietnamese dong for one of these bad boys and it will keep you up...
all day and all night
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We are here in early August which means our visit has
coincided with the rainy season as you can see you guys now what that means is
that we would usually find our way around Hanoi mostly on foot but we've
been relying more on cabs now you can definitely hail a cab on the street as
we have done is get to our restaurant for dinner but I have to say the cheaper
option is Grab so I would recommend and something I wish I had done would be
setting up our Grab account before we got over here because now we can't
register for one because we don't have an international SIM card or whatever so
make sure you download the Grab app so that way you can use the local Wi-Fi
wherever you are to call yourself a cab and it will definitely be cheaper and
then you will know that the price is fixed so before you get in you'll know
exactly how much you're gonna pay otherwise you can just hail cabs are
like I said just make sure you have your maps open so that you can show the
driver where it is that you want to go and if you're paying by card that's
something that we've been able to do otherwise cash is fine and make sure
that you either negotiate the price we'll get the meter on before you jump in
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For dinner, we have come here La Plume, now this
beautiful restaurant is located in the French Quarter right near the Sofitel
Metropole Hotel. Now they also have a very talented mixologist who has
just whipped us up a couple of cocktails Matt has gone for their specialty
Now this is their Pho Cocktail, Pho being traditional Vietnamese breakfast soup of
course so it's a beautiful broth and infused with herbs and they have
recreated that in the form of a drink it looks incredible it was a whole show it
was really interactive and it was really great to see how they take these
traditional Vietnamese flavors and turn them into a modern cocktail and that
thing smells amazing. I'm the biggest fan of cinnamon, cardamom, star anise so it
wasn't for me but Matt is really enjoying it now I have gone for my
favourite a Cosmopolitan and this is so nice really well-balanced
a little bit tart, just the way I like it
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This food looks incredible. Wow. So I have ordered a vegetable tagliatelle now from what I
can gather it looks like they've used a spiralizer on fresh vegetables, Matt went
for the rib eye, medium-rare Let's dig in and give this a try
Hmmmm. Yum!
After all that food we are going to take a little stroll from the French
Quarter to the Old quarter now usually on the weekends what they do is they
shut off the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake just so that there are only pedestrians
and no cars or scooters in that area and it turns into a bit of a shopping
street now as you can see the rain is still coming down so I'm not sure if
that's gonna be happening or not but we're gonna go and find out if it is anyway
So they have closed off the streets around the lake and this is so
eerie last time we were here these streets were packed now, if you guys
been watching this for a while you know I don't really feel comfortable in
crowds so I did kind of struggle a little bit last time with all the people
but with the rain there's no one around! So there are definitely benefits to the
rainy season and this has to be one of them, oh!
Well that guy's doing whatever he wants!
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Good morning you guys
so we are escaping the rain in Hanoi today it has been overcast it has been
rainy and we needed to get out of there so we could do a bit more sightseeing
Now we were actually meant to go to Halong Bay but the weather was so bad
that it just wasn't possible. Something to keep in mind if you're planning a
trip to Halong Bay yourself so instead we have come to a place described as
'Halong Bay on Land' by the locals it is an area called Ninh Binh and we are out
here doing a little bit of sightseeing today we've got a few fun activities
planned starting with some bicycle riding you guys know what that means
it's the reunion of Matt and my illustrious Brisbane-based bicycle 'gang'
Hells Sphincter (the duck found it funny!)
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(worried groan)
are they friendly or not?
Matt: I can't tell, they look like they're gonna charge
We are in a stand-off
We've called in the cavalry. I can't tell if they're friendly or not I am not usually afraid
of livestock but I just don't wanna...
I'm terrified
Yeah you said to be scared
What happended?
Are they friendly or are they gonna try to charge us?
Oh no, they're so friendly
(Hell's Sphincter bike gang music)
So our tour today has been with a company called Authentic Ninh Binh and we
will link that below for you guys so you have the guide contact details they have
been fantastic they are the same company who we did our Vintage Vietnam Vespa Tours with
in the first video you would have seen really well-organized really
great guides everything has been seamless they picked us up at our hotel
at about 7:30 this morning it was roughly about a little less than the
two-hour drive to get here I would say and there was a toilet break along the
way it actually really really quickly and since we've been out here they've
been taking care of everything so if you want to see a different side just
outside of Hanoi but you don't want to go as far as Halong Bay you just want to
do a day tour I highly recommend because this has been so good and we still have
more to come this afternoon
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When they said that this is like Halong Bay on land I didn't really know what
that meant, I thought it must be the same kind of scenery
with the mountains but now we're in the water, this is exactly like Halong Bay
the only difference really is that everything's closer and a little bit smaller but this is fantastic
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I'm blown away I didn't know this was the thing you could do from Hanoi I wish
I'd done it sooner so once again I cannot recommend this enough
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Ok after a big day of sightseeing Matt and I are absolutely exhausted and
absolutely starving as per usual so we have come back to the hotel we're
staying at Intercontinental Landmark 72 and the restaurant here 3 Spoons is
just one of the restaurants they have that is meant to be amazing but we
really wanted to try this one because they have three different cuisines they offer
and specialize in so there is your Vietnamese-Chinese menu
your Japanese menu and your Italian and if that's not a combination of three
of my all-time favourite foods I don't know what is you guys you can order
dumplings you can order pizza you can order pho you can order anything that
you want and mix and match your cuisines and these dumplings look so so good
so my dumplings are steamed mushroom and Matt has got a seafood variety
(groan) Yum! (groan)
So flavoursome inside, lots of mushrooms and the wrapper, the pastry... oh!
al dente to the tooth!
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Check that out!
That IS al dente
(maniacal laugh)
That is so... good perfect amount of spice, perfect sauce to pasta ratio
can we talk about that? Sometimes it's too dry sometimes it's too saucy
Perfect.
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This beautiful archway behind me
this is the entry to the Temple of LIterature you guys, now it was originally built
in 1070 as a university it is now dedicated to Confucius as well as
sages and scholars of all types and it's a popular spot for those wishing to pray
or wishing to offer up offerings for really good grades and good study
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It's really really hot today and we wanted to cool down
this is like an iced coconut milk drink with some kind of chocolate in it
words do not convey this was around 65,000 dong and worth every single cent
it is incredibly chocolatey not milky oh... you're so cuuuute!
What! the people of Vietnam are amazing guys and this is amazing too
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So because of the weather we were putting off coming to visit the
Imperial Citadel and we thought we would do it today but it is Monday and as
we've just been told by the ticket people you are allowed to visit every
single other day except for Monday! I visited before it really is beautiful in
there lots of gorgeous buildings lots of spaces that you can wander through and
just check it out so if you are coming another day it's thirty thousand
Vietnamese dong to get in and then you can wander around and see all the sights
just make sure you don't come on a Monday
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If you visit Hanoi you have to visit Hoan Kiem Lake
or Lake of the Returned Sword now
the legend goes that in 1428 Emperor Lê Lợi was boating on the lake when a
golden turtle God surfaced and asked the Emperor to return the sword that
he had been given by the Dragon King Lê Lợi gave him the sword and then renamed
to the lake Hoan Kiem Lake to commemorate the event you can visit it by crossing
over the stunning Red Bridge here to Ngoc Son Temple it is open from around
7 a.m. to 6 p.m. entry is thirty thousand Vietnamese dong per person
It is really beautiful over here the temple is just gorgeous and you
can actually see some really large tortoise I believe that those have
surfaced and then they've kind of embalmed them or something similar to
that and that is because from time to time
locals have seen those big tortoises here so it kind of ties into the legend
and it's really cool
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To cap off a great day in Hanoi we just had a delicious dinner at Wild Lotus Restaurant
Soups, spring rolls, salad there was noodles clay pot it was delicious
one thing we haven't done yet is enjoy the 50 cent beers on the street that Hanoi
is famous for. You sit on a plastic chair outside it looks like so much fun I've
actually never done it before but it's something I really want to do
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This is what is happening! There are people everywhere we went for a walk down the
main street, you guys know me... I don't really like crowds or situations
where people are kinda moving and it's very frantic
So Matt and I did the walk down the street and then came back to one of the ends
where we could kind of sit back and you can side on the roadside and watch
the chaos unfold
Beers are cheap, they are around 20 to 30 thousand Vietnamese dong
I have a bit of a headache so I've gone for an iced lemon tea, it's so so good
whether you're drinking or not this spot is a must-visit if you love nightlife
It's just so great to sit back and watch everything unfold
Before, I was doing some watching while Matt went to the ATM
and all of the servers started scurring and like packing up and I was like what are they doing?
and then about a minute later the cops came past
and as soon as the cops got a metre down the street they just put everything back out
so funny
so yeah, I love this area and it's a great way to end the day
That brings this video to an end we are heading to Singapore tomorrow, Woohoo!
I absolutely love Singapore we are going to be going there and spending a couple
of days exploring and very very interestingly we are going to be there
for National Day and...
my birthday! Woooo!
so you guys we have some more great videos coming your way
if you missed the first parts of our #squadSQ adventure go
back and watch those so you were all caught up and ready for next week
Now I really hope you have enjoyed this video if you don't already be sure to subscribe
and say xin chào in the comments below
Have a great weekend and I will see you next week...
love ya!