A few months ago, I had the opportunity to visit Vietnam. The trip was originally planned before COVID happened. I never thought it would still push through. But with the hardwork and perseverance of some people at the workplace, it finally happened. 

We had an early morning flight to Hanoi. Arriving early meant we had the entire day to explore Hanoi. 

We enjoyed exploring Hanoi's Old Quarter. It has the perfect blend of Vietnam's past and present times. While there are a number of historical sites, each street is also filled with traces of today's modern Vietnam. My only regret, I should have taken more photos of the Old Quarter. 

Hi there Terra and Marieken! Postcards everywhere, but ever since our local post office in Manila was destroyed by fire, I no longer have a place to send postcards. :(



Entrance to Hanoi's oldest university

I should have bought more of these pop-out cards.

St. Joseph's Cathedral 

The famous egg coffee


As a non-coffee drinker, my opinion on the egg coffee does not count :p


Once in a while, we encounter pocket parks in Hanoi 


We forgot to try this Paris Deli. 


There's a Lotte Mall in Hanoi. After a tiring trip from Ninh Binh, we decided a no-brainer fastfood meal from Lotteria. The mall reminds me of The Podium, though Hanoi's Lotte West Lake Model is bigger and equipped with more mid-range to high-end international brands. 


The usual pasalubong from Vietnam, it's best to avail deals from Lotte Mart. This was another reason why we decided to visit Lotte West Lake Hanoi. We want to see the cheapest pasalubongs we can score from a local grocery. 


After a long day from Halong Bay, we explored Old Quarter and ended in this makeshift Chinese restaurant.





Our last purchase from Hanoi. We tried their iced fruit tea, which was quite different from the Philippines' sugar level measure. The tea was not sweet at all. 

Vietnam is not necessarily in my bucket list of countries to visit. But the workplace organized this trip, which was intended for a pilgrimage. I'm thankful because I enjoyed Vietnam for many reasons. It's the most affordable among all the Asian countries I visited. We never had issues on safety and security. We felt safe in Hanoi, even while walking the streets during night time. While not everyone may speak English, most locals are accommodating and helpful to tourists.