Hà Nội

Hanoi, Vietnam

At the gate finally at 9 am to board our flight to Hanoi from Changi Airport.

Our flight to Hanoi departs at 9.15 in the morning and we were at the check in counter by about 8.30 am..that explains how we take the airport for granted and to be frank we have never missed a flight from Changi!! Blame it on our lazy bums or the crazy monday traffic, we made it with barely few minutes to departure, lucky us.

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Noi Bai International Airport – The newly renovated Hanoi airport, the biggest airport in the country. We heard from our friends that the airport in Vietnam is horrible and the immigration queue can take hours but i would say not this airport at Hanoi its very fast and efficient. This airport has free wifi,  on arrival visa and lots of duty-free.

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Vietnamese Taxi scams are so popular that  we decided to pre-book a private car with HTS for 16 USD for a trip from Airport to West-lake. When we estimated the fare in uber app it was around the same so why not pre-book with them?? And yes that’s my husband’s name  Ajay San means Mr. Ajay in Japanese.

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That is the Airport Arrival door pretty much similar to Changi airport terminal 2.

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That’s our car and the driver from HTS was helpful.

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Cầu Nhật Tân bridge far away

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Hanoi has a range of hotels from backpacker hostels to 5 star hotels. We had good 6 days to spend in Hanoi so decided to experience both. Much of the action in Hanoi happens in the old quarter and thus is a crowded area whereas Westlake to the north of Old quarter is a relaxed and quiet place overlooking Westlake.

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Miyuki, the friendly guest relations officer at the Intercontinental west lake. Being an IHG member has its perks we got 1 free drink, free in-room wifi, 30% off on food and beverages

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On our way to our designated over water villa. This is the second time we are staying over water but definitely not the same as we experienced in Maldives.

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Our first meal at Vietnam, with the traditional Vietnamese coffee.

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Our spacious room with a lovely bed and pool view.

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For the first time I found a  weighing scale in a hotel room, not bad.

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Ready to go for dinner.

20160804_214037 Westlake had a few restaurants that made to the top in tripadvisor, One of them an Indian restaurant called Dal cheeni.  Pretty small restaurant overlooking the lake but amazing food  with good service.

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