First thought as the plane was landing: boy, the air sure was hazy. But at least it wasn’t raining. Took a cab into the city (US$10 or 160,000 dong) to Green Park Hotel (http://www.hotel-greenpark.com/). It took a while since the driver didn’t seem to know where it was located. Good thing it was a flat fare.
After depositing our luggage, the first order of business was lunch. The hotel’s recommendation was Pho 24, which was too clean and proper for our liking. Decided to amble over to the old quarter instead where we finally settled on a place on Pho Ly Quoc Su. Alas, given that the copy of Lonely Planet I was lugging along was of the 2001 vintage, we found no sign of pho at the given address. The place we eventually ate at had only pho ga, bird flu be damned. Besides, the outbreak was in the south. Had a most satisfying late lunch (15k dong a bowl).
Moseyed around the area after and took in St Joseph’s Cathedral. One of the strangest sights in Ha Noi was seeing people all decked out in winter wear: woolen caps, scarves, puffy jackets, coats with faux fur trimming. It was enough to make one sweat just looking at them.
The girls went in search of a tailor and ended up at Lotus (89 Hang Gai, Luxe Guide) for made-to-measure ao dais etc.
Coffee break was at Trung Nguyen (20 Pho Hang Mam, LP). Figured if an LP recommendation was still around, it had to be good. Had a cup of chon, aka weasel poop coffee (12kd), which was very thick and very sweet, a definite pick-me-upper.
Signed up for a Ha Long Bay package at Kangaroo Café on Hang Be, found out later it was a rip-off of the original cafe on Pho Bao Khanh. Not that it made a difference. We were happy that the US$30 2 day/1 night Ha Long/Cat Ba package was cheaper than the US$45 quoted by the hotel. There were packages offering a night onboard the boat but we needed to stay on land given J’s motion sickness.
Dinner was at Green Tangerine (48 Hang Be, LG), which served French food in a lovely little courtyard. Enjoyed the pork fillet and the apple and mango crumble. P ordered the fig’s fritter with gorgonzola cheese, which was very good. The scallops were nicely done, though the presentation was rather fussy with the pieces laid out on a chess board of vegetables surrounded by curlicues of mashed potato. S’s five delicacies dessert platter sounded more enticing than it tasted. Waiter was a little snooty though. US$20 each.