Scenes From A Restaurant | La Badiane, Hanoi

Went to a great restaurant while in Hanoi called La Badiane. One of the best vegetarian dinners I have had, though this is not a vegetarian restaurant.  Had the vegetarian plate with mushroom cannelloni, a sweet potato puree, and grilled eggplants.  Absolutely delicious.  And the owner was so kind to let me into his kitchen to do my iPhone restaurant scene series.

Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An is rich in history dating back to the 1st century when it was known as Champa City. The town is on the coast of the South China Sea and has been a major trading port in Vietnam. Hoi An is an incredibly charming ancient town.  It almost looks like a movie set with it's old buildings and illuminated lanterns.  The buildings are so colorful and full of textures and contrast.  I found myself taking pictures of a lot of walls.   A river called the Thu Bon River, flows through the town and often floods as you will see below.   In fact one night we had a torrential downpour resulting in this.

This town is full of street food, market food, bars and restaurants.   You  would not have any problem finding a spot to indulge your appetite.  They even had a great Italian restaurant that we hit called Good Morning Vietnam, just when we were crazing a little pizza and pasta.

OK. I know.  More market pictures.  I can't help myself.  I just love these markets in Vietnam.  This one is called the Central Market and it sits on the river.  You can eat at one of the many food stalls in the Central Food Hall or shop in the outside market for pretty much anything. And that is my segue to another subject.  There is a great cooking school in Hoi An called the Green Bamboo Cooking School.  Van, the owner and chef, picked us up in the morning and we visited this market to buy the ingredients for all of the dishes we were going to cook.  There were 10 of us and each person picked 1 recipe.  Needless to say, thats a lot of food.  But so delicious, and with an ice cold beer……… 
Next stop is Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Hue, Vietnam

While in Hue, we spent the day with our guide Tranh from Urban Adventures.  All of the photos above are in the Citadel.  This Imperial City is situated on the Perfume River and is around 200 years old.  Many Vietnamese emperors lived here for a time but a lot of the buildings were destroyed in both the Indochina (1946-54) and the Vietnam wars.  As you can see from above, they are in the process of restoring it.  I had to include this picture of the wedding couple posing outside the gates, as you see this all of the time in Vietnam.  

We also hit the Dong Ba Market in central Hue.  You can get pretty much anything there, from clothes, souvenirs, cooking utensils, and of course fresh vegetables, meats, fish and chicken.  And of course you can eat here also at many of the stalls.  The market was originally located outside of the Citadel's gate but it burned down in 1885.  Two years later it was rebuilt and eventually moved to this location.  It is the biggest market in Central Vietnam and something not to be missed.

Bao Quoc Pagoda is a seven tiered buddhist temple, built in 1670.  We stopped here before our short cruise up the Perfume River to have lunch at a Buddhist monastery.  And what a lunch it was, all vegetarian, prepared for us by the monks.  We started with fried spring rolls and a mung bean salad which was incredible.  Next came a soup, a vegetable stew and finally a "vegetarian taco," of some sort.  Amazing lunch.  After lunch we met with a couple of the young monks, one of which just was initiated a few days before.  That was the highlight of the day!

The Tomb of Tu Duc is one of several royal tombs in Hue.  It was built between 1864-1867.  Tu Duc was the longest reigning Nguyen emperor and used this site as his home away from home.  There are gardens, pavilions and a temple that he used for a palace.  He had 104 wives and many concubines but never had any children.

While in Hue, we stayed at the Pilgrimage Village Hotel.  What a great hotel.  The staff couldn't have been nicer and the food was incredible.  I would stay there again in a second.

Hanoi

We started our visit in Hanoi with our two young guides from Hanoi Kids.  Hanoi Kids is a volunteer group with one of their activities being tour guides throughout the city.  We went to visit some of the city's landmarks like Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and presidential palace, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Hanoi Hilton.

One night while in Hanoi, we went on a street food tour.  Our guide took us on a walking tour through the small alleyways and streets of the Old Quarter, dating back to the 13th century.  We stopped at many stalls and eateries tasting everything from fresh spring rolls ( my favorite), to traditional Pho, to fresh Eel.  He took us to the most authentic spots, be it an outside stall where you sit on the street to a tiny little restaurant tucked away in an alley.  This is something we probably would not have done on our own as I heard a lot of "what is that???" We ate and ate and ate until we could eat no more.  Our guide was quite disappointed in our stomach capacity.   He also taught us the fine art of crossing a busy Hanoi street with hundreds of motorbikes coming at you.  Just cross the street, keep on walking and don't ever go backward.  You will get hit if you do.  I think I mastered this craft.  According to one of our taxi drivers, there are approximately 7 million people in Hanoi and 4 million motorbikes.

The highlight for me was the day we went on the Red River Bike Tour through Urban Discovery.  We started our tour on a tiny little street in the Tay Ho area of Hanoi.  We passed women selling vegetables on the streets to larger open markets.  We visited a cemetery and learned the customs of burial.  We sampled fresh blossom water at one stop.  Again, we dealt with the chaotic traffic on our bikes.  Just merge on in and keep your fingers crossed.  We rode across Long Bien Bridge that crosses the Red River.  It was built by the French between 1899- 1902 when they controlled North Vietnam.  Now only bikes, motorbikes and pedestrians cross the bridge.  We also visited Bo De Pagoda, a Buddhist temple.  It also houses an orphanage that we visited.  We were able to walk through the rooms of the orphanage and see the kids.  There were a lot of volunteers caring for the children, and visitors also.  A group of elderly women also live there because their children are too busy to care for them.  They were so happy to receive the fruit from the market that Minh, our guide, had bought on our bike ride over.  What an eye opening experience this was for me.  And heartbreaking.  

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

I am back from my 4 week journey to Southeast Asia.  After arriving in Hanoi, we took off on a 2 day cruise through Ha Long Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin.  Ha Long is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The bay is filled with thousands of limestone pillars and caves.  It is really something to see.  So beautiful.  We visited a floating village and it's school, and biked on Cat Ba Island.  We cruised with AUCO Cruises and I highly recommend them.  Next up.......Hanoi.