Travel Blog: Hanoi Trip 2014 Day 2 Part 2, 河内之旅第二天第二章, 12 Sep 14

Hanoi Trip Day 2 Part 2: 12th Sep 2014, Friday
河内之旅第二天第二章：9月12日2014年, 星期五

Attractions for the day:
Bat Trang Pottery Village 蝙蝠庄陶艺村[Google Maps Link]
Quan Thanh Temple 镇武观[Google Maps Link]
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre 金龙水上木偶剧院 [Google Maps Link]
Dong Xuan Market 同春市場 [Google Maps Link]

Accommodation for the trip:
Church Boutique Hotel Hang Gai 杭盖H＆K教堂精品酒 [Google Maps Link]

We have come to the second half of day 2. Lunch was at a restaurant within Hanoi Old Town Hotel. There were some simple local dishes of fish, meat, veggies and soup. Not much different from our Chinese dishes back in Singapore.

Some fried food and tomatoes and cucumbers.

Some thick soup.

Pork.

And some fish.

Chicken.

Quite a spread.

Located within Hanoi Old Town Hotel.

Once we had finished lunch, we boarded our minibus, where we travelled past some of the old streets of Hanoi, enjoying the view of the daily lives of the people of Hanoi.

A Vietnamese Tuk Tuk.

The streets full of motorcycles.

Saw another street full of straw items for sale.

After a short ride, we reached Bat Trang Pottery Village. It was a whole village specializing in pottery. The whole street was filled with pottery such as sculptures, figurines, decorative items. We were brought into one of the shops where we were shown one of the pottery makers in the midst of making some teapots. An interesting session whereby we get to see the teapots all done by hand. Dear and I also took the chance to visit some of the other shops nearby. They were by and large quite similar in terms of offerings. It would probably take some effort to find a shop that sells items that fit your budget from these rows of shops selling identical items. Luckily we were not into pottery and hence did not buy anything.

Now we have reached Bat Trong Pottery Village.

We visited this place.

Just look at the amount of pottery items for sale.

All done by hand.

Millions of miniature figurines.

Lots of these for displaying around the home.

It's amazing how many of these are churned out every single day.

Next destination was Quan Thanh Temple next to West Lake. A 10-storey pagoda stands in the middle of the temple, which overlooks part of West Lake. It had quite a great view, however the blazing sun sort of dampened the experience.

Quan Thanh Temple.

10-storey pagoda.

There are little Buddha statues on every side of the hexagonal pagoda.

One of the halls in the temple.

West Lake

After the afternoon of sightseeing, we headed back to our hotel for some free and easy time. Along the way, we had a great view of Hoan Kiem Lake and the Turtle Tower right in the middle of the lake, which actually stood within a very small island in the lake. Why was it built there in the first place? Would be interesting to find out.

Turtle Tower within Hoan Kiem Lake.

We then headed back to the iconic roundabout where we took a few more pictures, but this time during the day. Then we went to get tickets for the water puppet show which we decided to watch later at night.

We were at the iconic building at the roundabout again.

Looks so busy even on a normal day.

A fountain which wasn't operating.

Hoan Kiem Lake during the day.

Got ourselves tickets to watch the water puppet show later at night.

And this is the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

After getting the tickets, it's time for dinner! We did a bit of research and decided to try out this restaurant inside a hotel called Essence Hotel, which was just a short walk from the roundabout area. We just tried our luck at choosing items randomly which seemed to taste good. We ordered a plate of Vietnamese spring roll, which came stuck on sticks which were stuck onto a pineapple with a hollow centre containing a candle. What an interesting decoration for a food item. We also ordered a grilled bamboo beef set and bún chả, topping it off with some fruit juice. An indulging experience tasting the real Vietnamese cuisines right in the middle of a hotel restaurant. We spent about 630,000 VND which equates to about SGD 40, what I think was pretty reasonable. The staff were really polite and even asked for feedback for them to improve their items.

Mmm which delicacy should we get?

Momo Dear can't wait to feast on the good stuff in this restaurant.

Some cocktail to quench our thirst.

Fried springrolls on a pineapple.

Dip into the sauce for extra taste.

And some appetizers.

And crackers.

Grilled bamboo beef

Bun Cha

Nice restaurant within Essence Hotel.

Essence Hotel

Address: 22 Tạ Hiền St. , Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hàng Buồm, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam [Google Maps Link]
Tel: +84 24 3935 2485
Website: http://essencehanoihotel.com/

After a hearty meal, we took a stroll along the streets of the Old Quarters. Plenty of tourists and locals hanging around the small pubs all around the area. We also visited the nearby night market, where Dear bought a dress for herself and some long pants for her mum. We then headed for the puppet theatre to catch the performance.

Many locals and tourists along this popular spot.

A night market to get something local.

Night markets - probably a must-see for all trips.

The lobby of the theatre was decorated with the many puppets and props used in the performance. Upon entering the theatre, we noticed that right in front of the audience was not the normal stage but a pool where the puppets would be appearing during the performance. On the left hand side of the pool was a small stage where a live band was seen preparing their instruments. Interesting setup there. Right in front of the audience and the pool was the huge backdrop of the scene used in the performance. There were some drapes in the middle of the backdrop, where the puppet masters would be able to see from behind to control their puppets.

A water puppet on display.

Some of the props used for the show.

The stage is set.

As the audience slowly started filling up the seats, a female singer appeared at the left hand side of the stage where the live band was, apparently preparing to sing for us. And as the lights dimmer, the singer started singing her song, and the live band started playing their instruments. The puppets also started appearing from behind the drapes and danced to the tunes in the pool of water. The puppets came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Humans, dragons, phoenix. There were water dragons spewing water and fire dragons breathing fire. Quite a spectacular performance involving water and pyrotechnics.

A singer sings to the music performed by the live band.

And the puppet show begins.

They squirt water too!

A fisherman fishing on his boat.

A pair of phoenix dancing in the water.

Another group of water puppets performs a dance.

The show ends with the performers emerging from the stage, half submerged in water.

At the end of the show, the puppet masters walked from behind the drapes and into the audience's view, right in the middle of the pool. An interesting art performance not found anywhere else in the world except Vietnam. Was truly an eye-opener for us.

After watching the performance, it was time to visit night markets again. This time we went to the nearby Dong Xuan Market. As with all other night markets around the region, it was pretty much the same things such as food, drinks, clothes, phone accessories, toys, souvenirs. We got some sugarcane juice to quench our thirst under such warm 30+ degrees weather before heading back to our hotels.

The extreme end of the night market.

Interesting sculpture.

Dong Xuan Market.

Decided to have some sugarcane juice.

What better way to quench our thirst than some ice cold sugar cane juice?

For a list of the hotels/resorts available for booking in Hanoi via Agoda.com, click here.
To make a hotel booking at Church Boutique Hotel Hang Gai, click here.

Links to our Hanoi Trip 2014

Day 1
Day 2 Part 1
Day 3 - Ha Long Bay
Day 4
Souvenirs