My cousin, the travel enabler, Lot, booked our hotel at the Hanoi Diamond Hotel at the Old Quarters. The hotel is ok, nothing fancy, but hey for 4 nights costing roughly around Php 4-5000+ for 2 human beings, and with breakfast, that is a good deal! You may check 'em out here. Just a disclaimer, they aren't as fancy like the photos posted, so let's better keep our expectations low shall we? Hahaha!

I just realized that the 3 initial photos I included above has nothing to do about how the hotel looks like hahaha! But hey, they still relate somehow, because there's this 24 hour convenience store that sells these snacks. Actually, the hotel's location is really good, because it is surrounded with lots of shops, and restaurants that sell amazing food at such low prices! So, the first order of our day  was to buy as much water as we could, because my cousin can finish a liter of water in 5 seconds.

After helping my cousin hoard all the water at the convenience store, we decided to try out a cycle rickshaw ride around the town for around 200,000 Vietnamese Dong. One ride lasts for around an hour, where the driver will show you around the popular tourist places near the Old Quarters. One funny thing about this rickshaw ride is that we, me and my cousin, rode in one rickshaw together until we realized that it is meant for one passenger only! We only realized that when we saw a line of caucasian tourists riding a rickshaw one-by-one hahaha! In our defense, we really didn't know! HAHA! We guess we're too poor to get a rickshaw each!

My cousin, with the hat that she almost did not buy hahaha!

After being shown around the popular go-to's near the old quarters, we decided to ask the driver to drop us off the Cho Dong Xuan, or Dong Xuan market. According to google, and other travel websites, this market is perfect for scoring ridiculously low-priced clothing. Since our main agenda for this Vietnam trip was to bulk up our closet for our upcoming Japan trips, we did not think twice about putting this in our main agenda.

Uh- huh!

However after about 30 minutes inside this hot maze bursting with fabric, here are some things that I have noticed:

1. The vendors don't appear to want to sell you stuff. We tried buying this gorgeous black vest, but it seems like the vendor doesn't even care, and chose to ignore us instead. How nice.🤔🤔

2. The prices aren't as ridiculously low as we have expected- thanks to a couple of websites claiming that stuff there will be cheap. For sure westerners may find it ridiculously low, especially with how high their currency fares with the Vietnamese Dong, but for us pinays seeing a cute sweater that ranges from 400,000 to 600,000 Vietnamese Dong or around Php 1-2,000 won't make us buy that in a jiffy- we'll probably just save our money for SM Dept. Store finds.

3. The clothes they sell aren't that ... pretty. I don't know if we went there in an off-season, or it's just that they have a different fashion aesthetic in Vietnam, but the clothes that are sold in Dong Xuan are pretty much sub-par.

4. They prefer you buying in bulk. Now, now this one is more of a common sense though. After trying to catch a willing vendor to sell us something- it was rare, I swear, we were able to talk to one, and they told us that if you buy in bulk (like 3 to 6 pcs), the prices will be significantly lower.

5. If you want a hassle-free, clean shopping environment, please don't even go here! There are places, like the staircases, where people would loiter to smoke, gossip, sleep, and litter garbage without any care. Also, people aren't courteous, and wouldn't even bat an eyelash if ever they stepped on your foot.

My verdict? It's not worth the trip. Skip this place, there are plenty more you could go to in Hanoi!

Move along, there are other places to go to!

Despite not loving the place, we were able to buy some hats, and a vest which felt like finding a pearl out of a thousand empty oysters. By around 5 PM, we have already explored the market, leaving us with plenty of time to spend. In order to lift our spirits up, and to fix our oily faces, we decided to go to a mall- Vincom Plaza towers, that is!

Our frowns did not last long when we saw this restaurant in Vincom tower! Believe it or not, all of these food cost us around Php 600+ only! In Manila, a bowl of Pho will take you at around Php 300 already! I remember buying this Banh Mi for 20,000 Vietnamese Dong, or roughly around Php 50, which made me so ecstatic I almost bought 2! HAHAHA! What's more amazing is when we found out that the 20,000 Dong Banh Mi comes with a free glass of Soy Milk! Where else can you get that in Manila??? NOOOOOOWHERE!

Yup, nada.

After stuffing our face full of glorious Vietnamese dishes, we decided to roam around the mall and see what else can we waste our money and time into. Given that I enjoy looking at rows and rows of detergents, we decided to head over to the grocery. Upon entering the grocery, we were stopped, which was strange because if ever they would like to check our bags if we shoplifted something, shouldn't that be after we got out of the store? But I suppose they think waaaaay too advance, that we found out it is the norm in Vietnam to securely staple your bag in plastic upon entering any grocery store. In this way, they are more than sure that you wouldn't be able to fill in any products in your purse.

New fashion trend alert!

Don't worry, once you're at the counter you are allowed to wreck that plastic to get your cash or card. Though, come to think of it this practice is bad for the environment, given that you get to waste a lot of plastics just so they can make sure customers won't have the chance to pilfer anything :/ Vietnam, you better think of a better alternative-FAST!

Word

Basically that's how our 2nd day, or more of 1st full day in Vietnam was like - full of sweat, food, and smiles (at the latter part, that is haha!)


Love Always,

Nicole Alejandro <3 p="">