Vietnam 2011 - An 8-day journey through Hanoi, Sapa, and Halong Bay

[sequitur]

Took a 8-day journey through North Vietnam during the June holidays with my significant other and two Leica Ms... so here's the journey and the photos to share. Cheers.

Equipment: Leica M7, M6TTL, 28mm Elmarit ASPH, 50mm Summilux ASPH, Voigtlander 35mm Nokton F/1.4 SC.

Film: Kodak Ektar 100 (mostly) & Portra 400VC

***


lady boss of bún chả restaurant. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

SHE WAS SEATED at the table next to us, occasionally taking glances at us amongst the patter with her subordinate.

Finally, the lady boss of the bún chả restaurant of the corner of phố Cầu Gỗ broke her conversation, grabbed L's bowl, chopsticks, and the ubiquitous metal spoon, and hurriedly demonstrated the order in which one should prepare their mini grilled pork buffet for consumption. Rice vermicelli first, some raw mint leaves, then the grilled pork, and the fried spring roll, and then comes the delicious (but probably laden with monosodium glutamate) and somewhat oily broth boiled in green papaya to be poured over the entire consortium of food.

We smiled and thanked her in English, that moment of silence uncharacteristic of a typical Vietnamese interaction.

I looked at L and smirked. I thought you did prior research and knew how to eat this?

Apparently not enough.

"Eat, they will charge us twice the price - foreigners pay double."

I looked at the spread in front of me, and forced myself to gobble down what had just been the first meal in Vietnam since we last visited in 2007.

***

 

[sequitur]

Just earlier on, we arrived in Hanoi at around 1:40pm from a delayed Singapore flight, and got ferried to the hotel which we booked all our trips and train tickets from. The budget of a thousand Singapore dollars per person, in light of the weaker US dollar, originally meant that this could be an extravagant vacation. Yet upon our arrival it appeared that we still had to remain frugal and prudent for our one-week stay. It was a matter of four years, but it seemed that the country had lost its fight against inflation - everything was twice as expensive than what memory served.


on the airplane to hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


streets of hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

Hanoi Elite Hotel treated us well indeed - our arrival was greeted with well-attired staff and a chilling watermelon juice in the sweltering Vietnam summer heat. The management wasted no time in going through our 8-day itinerary which L planned and booked through them - a 4D3N sojourn to the mountainous regions of Sapa, and a luxurious 2D1N cruise on the Red Dragon in Halong Bay.

With all in place, it was time to take to the streets of Hanoi for whatever photographic opportunities that might arise.

Two Leica Ms were brought along on this trip - an M7 and an M6TTL, along with 3 lenses covering 28mm through 50mm. 27 rolls of film were prepared for this trip, the majority being Kodak's Ektar 100 and Portra 400 - some of the Portra 400 being the older "vivid color" version and some others being the newer "unbranded" version. The rest were some slides here and there that I never got around to using, except for a roll of E100VS that unfortunately had some exposure problems due to a sticky shutter problem on my M6TTL at 1/500 and 1/1000. At this time of writing the roll hasn't been scanned, but hopefully the images are salvageable.

***

 

[sequitur]

It was around 3:00pm in Vietnam by the time we set off for our lunch - which was actually 4:00pm in Singapore. My stomach was growling, and L was determined that we would have the bún chả that she had discovered prowling through the depths of internet reviews.

We finally spotted it, and around 30 minutes later, emerged from it as full as a tick, our wallets 160,000 Vietnamese Dong (about SGD$10) poorer.


streets of hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


streets of hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

Four years ago that should have been 40,000 VND, local price. L and I vividly remember how we sat at a roadside stall crowded with hungry Vietnamese, speeding motorcycles and incessant honking for two bowls of Phở and two cans of soft drinks for a grand 30,000 VND. Compared to then, this was definitely relatively unaffordable.

***

 

[sequitur]

Hanoi did not really give us a warm welcome this time - at 5:00pm or so, the sky grew dark and we had barely emerged from Fanny's after a round of ice cream (that was comparable in quality, or even better, to a streetside European ice cream hawker, but unfortunately in prices too - around US$2 per scoop before taxes). We took a stroll along Hoan Kiem Lake, where photographic opportunities were abound in any weather, hoping to reach our Hotel before it started pouring.


hoan kiem lake. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


near hoan kiem lake. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


moments before the rain at hoan kiem lake. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

Unfortunately lofty dreams often don't come true, and the stroll soon escalated into a dash for shelter. My newly purchased slippers held up well - and will continue to throughout the entire 8-day trip - but at 180,000 VND after a crazy round of bargaining with a seemingly upset and unhappy skinny old man, it better had.

Note to self: stop going on the cheap and wearing soon-to-spoil shoes overseas. They are soon to spoil.

***

 

[sequitur]

and then it rained. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


rainy hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


rainy hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


sunset after the rain. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

 

[sequitur]

After grabbing some mineral water from the convenience store - correction, pirated AquaFina mineral water, which we discovered only much later at our disgust, we headed back to the hotel, rested a while, went out for a bit to get some snacks for the overnight train ride, and back to the hotel for a shower.


sunset after the rain on the streets of hanoi. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


streetside hawker preparing dinner. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


motorbike frenzy - where else but vietnam? by dawn till dusk., on Flickr


fanxipan express train to sapa. by dawn till dusk., on Flickr

It was 6:30pm, and in an hour and a half we would be on a Fanxipan Express overnight train to Sapa to experience what would be one of the most breathtaking (literally, you’ll find out) trips of my life (so far).

 

[lunchwithmerv]

nice shots and hope you had a nice trip. was at Hanoi/Sa Pa last december and it was cold and cloudy man. See that you got some good light there. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Oooo! Hanoi in Summer.

I did it in winter. Nice weather!

 

[sequitur]

nice shots and hope you had a nice trip. was at Hanoi/Sa Pa last december and it was cold and cloudy man. See that you got some good light there. Keep the pictures coming!

Thanks! Still struggling to finish scanning my second day's rolls - I was in Sapa and was completely overwhelmed by the nature and scenery - there's around 4-5 rolls on this day (out of 16 rolls for the whole trip)..

Oooo! Hanoi in Summer.

I did it in winter. Nice weather!

Hey RWC - weather is not really nice la.. it was hotter than SG and extremely humid - the sweat was sticking to the shirts and it was quite uncomfortable... heh

 

[Benji77]

Great shots that bring back so many visual memories for me. Makes me what to go back soon!

 

[oliprolli]

Nice photos bro! More more! I just got back from Hanoi a few hrs ago. My god the weather!!!!!! First time I actually prefer Singapore's weather!

 

[sequitur]

Great shots that bring back so many visual memories for me. Makes me what to go back soon!

Yes.. It's still good and laden with nice photographic opportunities, but the prices! Urgh! So expensive now.

Nice photos bro! More more! I just got back from Hanoi a few hrs ago. My god the weather!!!!!! First time I actually prefer Singapore's weather!

Yeah man.. the weather was absolutely crazy when I was there.

Still scanning the 2nd day's Sapa pictures.. will upload when I'm done! Thanks for the kind comments!

 

[tan131]

You brought back lots of nice memories.. i remember when I was there in 2007, it was like 37 degrees (hot! hot!)

I wore singlet so much in Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa, that I got sunburnt.

How bad is the inflation like today? US$1 was like 9,000+VND (US$1=S$1.74) then.

I miss Vietnam...

 

[Royale With Cheese]

you guys never do your research properly ah!!

Hanoi gotta go just right before winter, perfect.

I walked around hanoi @ 10 degrees in just berms, t-short & slippers..........

I think bernard & myself are the legends of Halong Bay, we both drank the ship's supply of beer finish until they had to re-stock! hahaha

 

[sequitur]

You brought back lots of nice memories.. i remember when I was there in 2007, it was like 37 degrees (hot! hot!)

I wore singlet so much in Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa, that I got sunburnt.

How bad is the inflation like today? US$1 was like 9,000+VND (US$1=S$1.74) then.

I miss Vietnam...

Now... US$1 is 20,500 VND.. But it's all pegged in USD so everything becomes twice as expensive in dong..

you guys never do your research properly ah!!

Hanoi gotta go just right before winter, perfect.

I walked around hanoi @ 10 degrees in just berms, t-short & slippers..........

I think bernard & myself are the legends of Halong Bay, we both drank the ship's supply of beer finish until they had to re-stock! hahaha

Eh on board the junk is damn expensive right... spend how much on beer sia.

 

[gommy]

Thanks for sharing. Nice photos.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[pikapig]

Very nice colors!

Is it very tough to plan a trip like this? I believed you went f&e?

 

[tan131]

Now... US$1 is 20,500 VND.. But it's all pegged in USD so everything becomes twice as expensive in dong..




Eh on board the junk is damn expensive right... spend how much on beer sia.

Its not that expensive.. a bottle of tiger is US$1 then

 

[baboonish]

Beautiful photographs especially the back-street explorations and interesting write-up! Thanks for sharing

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Eh on board the junk is damn expensive right... spend how much on beer sia.

I was mostly alone in Hanoi only until Halong Bay, met one of our RF'ers there to go Halong Bay.
9 people, I think 100++USD?

Not cheap, stayed a night.

I was drinking so badly till morning, walk straight through the cabin glass door & woke up the entire crew, went back to my room to pass out & woke up & they asked me to climb the damn limestone cave...... nearly died......