Hanoi Part 2
Day 3 in Hanoi
We went to the elusive Paperman banh mi store, standing just outside St Josephs Cathedral (which was, luckily enough, only 10 steps from our front door!) I ordered the pork, peanut butter and veggie roll with extra egg, whilst Fab chose the hoisin grilled pork option - both of which were incredibly delicious, the bread was so crunchy and light!
These cost 55,000d each, which is relatively expensive in comparison to the other banh mi options you see around the streets - but it was truly worth it.
After this, we headed to the Vietnam Military Museum, where we found that the opening times are 09.00 - 11.30, then 13.00 - 16.30, so stopped in a Cong cafe - a Communist-themed chain which can be found in cities across the country - for a little warm beverage and a quick whistle-stop reminder of the history of the Vietnam war. We ordered a coconut coffee each, which was thick, sweet and delicious. We weren’t, however, prepared for the older, confusing history of this enormous, beautiful country!
The museum doesn’t stand far from the famous Vietnam train street, which has been closed off in recent years, with cafes asked to remove their outdoor seating from the edge of the tracks after a couple of emergency stops due to tourist photos. Even without the crowds, though, the street is lovely and leads to a lush, green end where we found ourselves back near the amazing frozen yoghurt shop - cue a double order of yoghurt cacao, washed down with a steaming cup of Vietnamese tea.
On our way back home, we saw some delicious-looking noodle salad dishes, which we soon discovered were called bun bo nam bo; beef, salad, peanuts, noodles, in a chilli broth and again all the additions on the table.
We made a mental note to head back here for dinner - which was definitely the best decision! Loading up with the incredibly spicy chilli flakes and constantly asking for extra salad, the peanuts gave the flavour another dimension. There is more variation in the texture with this dish, and less soup makes it much easier to slurp up the noodles while they’re hot.
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For our last evening in Hanoi, we decided to head to what seems to top the list of ‘what to do in Hanoi’: the water puppet theatre. We read that it often sells out days in advance, but we walked straight up to the ticket machine (which takes card payments) and opted for the seats furthest back. It was pretty impressive that the Vietnamese people have preserved this culture, with live puppeteers and orchestra. In all, a fun night!
Day 4
The city had come alive again overnight with the end of their new year Tet holiday in sight; the clattering of tables and stirring of broth woke us both at 04.30 and, in truth, we were looking forward to a lighter breakfast than the meaty feasts of the last few days. So, we grabbed a mango smoothie and OJ & carrot juice, stewed down some apple, added in some prunes and cooked up some oats, before heading on the road again down to Ninh Binh.
We booked our bus through 12goasia, and our travel company ‘Truly Hagiang’ was great, sending over everything in email and WhatsApp conformation; it was a little confusing that the ‘bus stop’ wasn’t really a stop, but they were easily contactable and happy to get in touch with our driver to find out his location. After a short wait for other passengers, we made the 1.5 hour drive to Ninh Binh, dropped by the lake in Tam Coc.