If I have calculated correctly then this should be the 36th day, and the second last day of the trip I'm blogging about. Anyways it was the last one together with the whole family in Hanoi.
The day started with a breakfast of course after which we went to have a swim at the pool and to get the final sun burns. The day was getting seemingly hot as the temperature was in the morning side already closer to 40 degrees. With some time grilling the skin we turned ourselves in and went to havea shover. Laura made some arrangements with the apartment company and the deposit money as there were some unclarities with that one.
After arranging things we went out to have a lunch in the Quan An Ngon. This was the time for me to try some stuff yet to be untested. The pork balls. Sounds evil but as it turns out, the dish was actually just some pork sausage split into four. Not sure whether the ingredients included the manly parts of pork or not, eatable it was still. :)
Laura's dish of shrimps
The balls turned out to be just a regular set of sausage... or was it? ;)
After the lunch we packed our belongings and took a taxi to Hoan Kiem area to see some last minute souvenir shopping possibilities. We walked around the lake and stopped for a coffee in the park area. In the old town aera we did some shopping and walked the narrow streets up and down. In the end of the tour we stopped for a lake view cafe on the 9th floor of one hotel. Nice views from up there! The odd thing with the cafe was that there was a pool on the second floor of the cafe. Supposedly it was the hotel's pool. Not too big though but with nice scenery anyway.
By the lake
Lake scenery
The view from the Lake view cafe
Girls at the cafe
Lake view from the Lake view
The pool at the Lake view cafe
From the Hoan Kiem area we headed back to the apartment to cool down for a while and to change some clothes as I at least had sweated my shirt all the way through. We also walked down our street to get me the shoes that I had been looking for. A nice set of shoes that will come in handy on the summer wedding parties ahead! ;) The next stop was going to be the Truc Bach lake and the swans. We decided to go paddling with one of the swans and get some other kind of views over the city. The weather was so hot that the clean shirt I had put on was already wet of sweat and even my shorts were all wet. We also got some nice pictures of the upcoming storm from the lake. It looked as if there was at least 3 tropical thunder storms were closing in on Hanoi from 3 different directions. A nice play from mother nature was still on it's way and we got the front row seats!
The swan ride with the whole family
Views from the swan... the lake
One storm on the way...
...with two more to complement
Some circular clouds
Sun setting by the storm
More of the storm there
From the sweaty swan ride trip we took a taxi to a restaurant that Laura found on the Lonely planet Hanoi -book. It was called the Matchbox and it was supposed to be a wine and dine place with artistic touch as it was next to the fine art museum of Hanoi. This place offered a nice range of classy wines (according to the price list at least) and a decent food offerings as well. The list was long but at least I didn't see quite as many wines on the rack they had on the wall. The pasta I had was quite good as well as the Laura's pasta dish. Enni had a burger that we ordered as well done but it must have been the most reddest steak I have ever seen as well done. :) Few things worth to mention in this restaurant still: they had also some "better" beers (not on the list but rather on the rack on the wall) that were also for sale! Nice! I took a bottle of Lindemans Kriek Cuve Rene Grand Cru. A beer from 2009 that is meant to be kept in the cellar and it ages like a good wine. Buying form the restaurant is as we all know not possible in Finland so I wanted to use this opportunity as it came accross. Another neat thing in the restaurant was that it had a living tree inside. Actually the tree went through the restaurant's ceiling. Yet another nice detail was the curtains they used. Not the traditional ones I mean but there was a water spraying system on the outside above the window. This gave the illusion as if it was pouring outside and also it functioned as the curtains. Brilliant!
The "rain curtains"
The tree inside the restaurant
Wines from Australia. No. Rather beers from Belgium.
The wines from Argentina were actually the Kriek Cuve Rene Gran Cru
A fireplace by the road. Someone's cooking some latenight dinner...
Bat Lay'n gay. 'Nuf said!
From the restaurant we walked back home and noticed that the storm was already pretty near as the lightnings were lighting up the sky. At the yard of our apartment we decided to push our luck and go for a nother cup of coffee at the Rooftop bar of our building. Pushing luck because they have a sign that says "No flip-flops. No shorts." and that was what I was having. :) Must be the western background that helped us in without any problems. In a matter of a fact the personnel was warmly welcoming us in. We sat outside to see the storm on the way. That was the perfect ending for a night. We admired the view over the city with some coffee and took some pictures and then went back home. At the apartment we (read I) had the bottle of Grand Cru Kriek and then went to bed.
The storm pictured from the Rooftop restaurant. Magnificent!
Some video of the storm and lightning. Beautiful, eh?
The last updates and the epilogue will be written once we're back in Finland or on the way to Finland. Thanks to you all (over 2100) viewers for following our journey in South East Asia so far!
The day started with a breakfast of course after which we went to have a swim at the pool and to get the final sun burns. The day was getting seemingly hot as the temperature was in the morning side already closer to 40 degrees. With some time grilling the skin we turned ourselves in and went to havea shover. Laura made some arrangements with the apartment company and the deposit money as there were some unclarities with that one.
After arranging things we went out to have a lunch in the Quan An Ngon. This was the time for me to try some stuff yet to be untested. The pork balls. Sounds evil but as it turns out, the dish was actually just some pork sausage split into four. Not sure whether the ingredients included the manly parts of pork or not, eatable it was still. :)
After the lunch we packed our belongings and took a taxi to Hoan Kiem area to see some last minute souvenir shopping possibilities. We walked around the lake and stopped for a coffee in the park area. In the old town aera we did some shopping and walked the narrow streets up and down. In the end of the tour we stopped for a lake view cafe on the 9th floor of one hotel. Nice views from up there! The odd thing with the cafe was that there was a pool on the second floor of the cafe. Supposedly it was the hotel's pool. Not too big though but with nice scenery anyway.
From the Hoan Kiem area we headed back to the apartment to cool down for a while and to change some clothes as I at least had sweated my shirt all the way through. We also walked down our street to get me the shoes that I had been looking for. A nice set of shoes that will come in handy on the summer wedding parties ahead! ;) The next stop was going to be the Truc Bach lake and the swans. We decided to go paddling with one of the swans and get some other kind of views over the city. The weather was so hot that the clean shirt I had put on was already wet of sweat and even my shorts were all wet. We also got some nice pictures of the upcoming storm from the lake. It looked as if there was at least 3 tropical thunder storms were closing in on Hanoi from 3 different directions. A nice play from mother nature was still on it's way and we got the front row seats!
From the sweaty swan ride trip we took a taxi to a restaurant that Laura found on the Lonely planet Hanoi -book. It was called the Matchbox and it was supposed to be a wine and dine place with artistic touch as it was next to the fine art museum of Hanoi. This place offered a nice range of classy wines (according to the price list at least) and a decent food offerings as well. The list was long but at least I didn't see quite as many wines on the rack they had on the wall. The pasta I had was quite good as well as the Laura's pasta dish. Enni had a burger that we ordered as well done but it must have been the most reddest steak I have ever seen as well done. :) Few things worth to mention in this restaurant still: they had also some "better" beers (not on the list but rather on the rack on the wall) that were also for sale! Nice! I took a bottle of Lindemans Kriek Cuve Rene Grand Cru. A beer from 2009 that is meant to be kept in the cellar and it ages like a good wine. Buying form the restaurant is as we all know not possible in Finland so I wanted to use this opportunity as it came accross. Another neat thing in the restaurant was that it had a living tree inside. Actually the tree went through the restaurant's ceiling. Yet another nice detail was the curtains they used. Not the traditional ones I mean but there was a water spraying system on the outside above the window. This gave the illusion as if it was pouring outside and also it functioned as the curtains. Brilliant!
From the restaurant we walked back home and noticed that the storm was already pretty near as the lightnings were lighting up the sky. At the yard of our apartment we decided to push our luck and go for a nother cup of coffee at the Rooftop bar of our building. Pushing luck because they have a sign that says "No flip-flops. No shorts." and that was what I was having. :) Must be the western background that helped us in without any problems. In a matter of a fact the personnel was warmly welcoming us in. We sat outside to see the storm on the way. That was the perfect ending for a night. We admired the view over the city with some coffee and took some pictures and then went back home. At the apartment we (read I) had the bottle of Grand Cru Kriek and then went to bed.
The last updates and the epilogue will be written once we're back in Finland or on the way to Finland. Thanks to you all (over 2100) viewers for following our journey in South East Asia so far!
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