My beloved grandma, the woman who raised me during the early parts of my life, the woman who taught me precious & priceless life lessons, the woman who guided me to cook, sew & garden and the woman who I loved ❤️❤️❤️ tremendously from the bottom of my heart had passed away a week plus ago. She was over 90 years of age and is survived by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews and more.
Taken on 20th September 2009. Nearly 11 years ago.
This is my last Hanoi post covering day 3 and day 4 (last day). It’s very long…
While day 2 was spent mostly at the French Quarter, we have all the day 3 sticking our butts at the Old Quarter (north of Hoàn Kiếm Lake).
We begin our day by having Booth avocado for our 1st breakfast which we bought from Vinmart on our first day. The avocado was very creamy. I had it with sea salt which I brought along with my trip.
Hanoi Day 1: AirAsia, Emerald Waters Hotel Trendy & Vinmart
Let’s continue day 2 of my Hanoi travelogue. Day 2 is a day full of walking, eating, eating, walking and more eating. Our mission is to visit the south of Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the French Quarter with lots of eating in between.
When I booked our room at Emerald Waters Hotel Trendy, the package came with a buffet breakfast. At that time, I thought it would be a waste because we planned to have our breakfast outside every day.
Fast forward to our first morning in Hanoi, we thought we’ll check out the buffet spread on level 8 and because the food looked so inviting, we decided to have a light breakfast there.
In December last year, I experimented with making homemade bone meal fertilizer. Today, I’m going to share with you the methods to make bone, prawn (shrimp) and fish meal blend fertilizer. If you have several types of bones and shells, you can make them together and form a blend like what I did. Of course, you can also make them individually. The methods are the same.
DIY homemade bone, prawn (shrimp) and fish meal blend fertilizer. 🦴🍖🍗🌿🌳🌺🌹
In recent years, there were lots of Vietnamese restaurants mushrooming up in Klang Valley as well as travel programs featuring Vietnam on the TV, so much so that I can’t help but be tempted by this country. The icing on the cake was when I tried my very first Vietnamese food in a restaurant in PJ about 2 years back. I was hooked immediately and knew I gotta visit Vietnam one day and sample their beautiful cuisine. And so, Vietnam became my 2019 holiday destination!
I choose to visit Hanoi simply because it’s the capital of Vietnam and from what I’d read, it’s busy and yet more laidback and traditional compared to Ho Chi Minh. This trip was a take-it-easy + food trip. With only 4 days and 3 nights (22nd October to 25th October 2019), we concentrated on the Old Quarter and French Quarter surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake. This trip also marked our 5th overseas siblings-only vacation.
Since it’s a take-it-easy + food trip, I took the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens with me. It did make the trip lighter. All photos taken are either from Nikon D80, Nokia 6 or Samsung Note 9.
Fellow Malaysians, if you’re staying for 30 days or less in Vietnam you do not need a visa. Please note that Hanoi time zone is GMT+7.
Although AirAsia is no longer cheap, I flew with it again this time because it’s still cheaper (you know what I mean?). When my kiamsiap-ness (frugalness; which is very often) kicks in, that’s what I choose. I’ve more or less embraced the looooong walk to the boarding gate at KLIA2 (which I’ve complained a lot previously). It’s good having lots of movement before flying as we’ll be sitting most of the time in the plane. See, there is always 2 sides or more of a coin when one changes one’s perception. 🙂 Also, I found a secret or should I say workaround about something at the airport. I cannot even share what it is. Hehe