Okay, it was officially day 3 counted from the first day we reached. After a late night drink, we woke up late. I thought we could probably lunch nearby at those places by the lakes. Our hotel was situated on a piece of land between 2 lakes and there were many restaurants by the lakes.

From the internet, we found Hanoi Marina Buffet for about S$10. It seemed to be a restaurant very popular with Vietnamese. They were getting food there in a kiasu manner. The people cooking behind the counters had no manners and they don't bother about what you are asking. And then, they cook like little boys with oil and ingredients dropping everywhere! The oil looked like it was re-used 1000 times. Trying to put all these images away to enjoy the food is not easy.

In summary, the food was bad. It's only a chance to taste a variety of their local food. One dish they had was Bun Cha. Fried fish with noodles. It's a local dish. The fish was simple but nice.

Here it is. One thing for sure, their dishes never leave out leaves!

After this lunch, we took a walk to find the Spa shop. We wanted to go for spa again at Exotical. We took a short walk along the dirty streets.

This time I tried the dead sea scrub. I included a head and shoulder massage package. The scrub was really scrubbing off all the dirt on my body. Or was it my skin cells?? It was rough but it leaves a very clean feeling. The head massage made me fell asleep like magic.

It's early and so we went to chill out at Le Petit Bruxelles. Belgium food. It's a very nice cafe. Food is nice and the restaurant is relaxing.

First time trying Hanoi Beer. Very cheap, it's only about S$2. Each bottle is equivalent of 1 pint.

Skinny peanuts are served with the beer.

Le Petit Bruxelles

This is their counter. You can see the owner's photo there. All cafes in Hanoi has this nice cosy bar counters.

The indoor sitting

Chill out time. We wanted to chill out in the Vietnam expat's style. Headed to Minh's Jazz Cafe but it was too noisy. It looked like a pub anywhere else too. So we headed back to Sofitel Plaza. We realised that they have a sky bar on the 20th floor. Let's try it.

Summit Lounge is the name. Similar to the one we've been in Bangkok, this lounge offers a 360 degrees panoramic view of Hanoi. It is smaller in size. Quiet and suitable for sweet talkings.

It began to rain just after we reached. It's empty but they've created a nice area.

It was pretty dark but you can still see Hanoi's night view.

Drink Glasses

My Drink, forgot what it was.

Bangkok still wins.

Just finished watching the spectacular and touching Olympics 2008 closing ceremony today. I got myself a splitting headache after 3 glasses of red wine over lunch. No choice but to pop a Panadol max. Caffeine in the panadol made me woke up at 1am. So let me continue my story in Hanoi.

After a good rest in the hotel, it's time to get in touch with the French flavour of Hanoi. So... Green Tangerine restaurant is the choice of our night. Of course, we were still cynical after our first night's visit of a restaurant. Let's see how good it can get.

The restaurant's decor itself is indeed special. It felt like the alley bar in Singapore. There is an outdoor area which looked like the yard of a building, then there is an indoor area giving you the ambience of a French restaurant. Very cosy. I liked it very much.

Here are some pictures of the indoor area:

Indoor area when it was filled up. Look at the walls, windows and furnishings. Typical French cafe. The night gave a more cosy ambience I think.

Indoor area when it was empty. We were almost the last table of customers who left because we came at 9pm.

How can we have French food without wine? All right, we chose a glass of house wine.

The antique feeling it created...

Little touches of Vietnam on the dining table.

How's it so far? I'm not sure about you. I definitely fell in love with it. Next comes the food.

Lamb Rack with brown rice
The lamb was good. The rice was special. It was a mix of several ingredients. It was definitely a fusion. Somehow, I just recall that it's similar to Bobby Chinn's. They like to combine lamb with rice.

Scallops with Alaska Contreau
Okay, I think I might have spelt the last word wrongly. Anyway, I love scallops. This dish was not overly expensive for the fact that there were so many scallops given. Indeed, it's very special. Scallops spreaded across the plate in a sea of slightly saltish creamy sauce.

Laid in the middle was the "Alaska Contreau". Can you guess what it was in the picture? The bottom layer was a yummy pastry crust. On top of the crust was a thick layer of ice cream with pomelo. The ice cream was different as it tasted like frozen cream with pomelo. The top layer was hot souffle. What kind of dish is this? Who would have thought of it? Maybe that's the kind of wonderful surprise French cuisine could give.

I looooooooooooooooooooooved it!

After the spa and the meal at the restaurant, I don't think we can walk along the streets. Besides, the streets are pretty dirty. You see them spitting on the road everywhere, throw used water on the road and bike exhaust fumes overpower the air. To relax ourselves a little, we decided to take a "Cyclo" ride. What is it? It is like a trishaw ride where we just sit in and the rider will cycle on 3 wheels.

I won't be posting pictures of the streets, there were too many of them. We had the chance to look at almost every street in Hanoi around the Hoan Kiem Lake. We managed to see some of the streets selling similar stuff like bridal shops, home handles, metallic equipment and motorbikes. Good to know but nothing much to shop for.

Streets

We also saw hawkers on the road and what they are selling. Things along the road without much hygiene, we can't expect too much of what they sell. There was the opera house which looked pretty majestic and similar to what was in Ho Chin Minh. And there was the famous Sofitel Metropole building. It looked like a New York building. Clean and white. You just have to surf their website to find out how it look like. They have rooms that have almost 100% French flavor.

Horns

In Hanoi, there is one thing very strange. Vehicles horn for the sake of showing their presence on the road. Each time the vehicle sees another vehicle, it somehow has to horn once to tell them that "I am on the road, watch out". For example, if they change lanes, they have to horn. Oh gosh, what a hell of noise pollution.

Public Toilets

Then there were the normal public toilets. It looked like those plastic built toilets where we have in Singapore when there were events. There were also toilets that are "serviced". You have to pay to go in. Mind you! They asked for 10 000 VND which is equivalent to a dollar in Singapore! It's crazy. While waiting, the servicing person even asked me if I wish to buy bananas.

I know it's their means of surviving but I don't understand why many people like to sell bananas to earn money, not just in Vietnam.

Okay, it's time for a break to wait for the chicken to finish roasting. Probably they had just finish marinating the chicken.

The lady who served us agreed to let us take a look at the old restaurant that we knocked on just now. It was where Anthony had the chicken. According to her, the restaurant won many awards or medals. Therefore, the restaurant had framed up some of the awards, medals and magazine postings about the restaurant.

The Chef and Anthony Bourdain's visit

Anthony Bourdain's visit

The old restaurant had a bit of the oriental feel. Everything was still intact as though they were awaiting our visit. Heard that the family were actually living in the building where the new restaurant is right now.

Old Restaurant

Now back to the new restaurant. Our chicken was ready. Each plate had a quarter size of the chicken but it looked really small! It was serviced with a plate of salt with spices and sticky rice. Oh well the rice was really hard, not nice I think. So let me try the chicken. Yummy! The skin was goooooood. The meat was not bad but the highlight is eating the chicken together with the roasted marinated skin.

Famous Chicken

In a summary, the local food was good. A little different from what you usually find on the streets, yet it is local. I would definitely try again but with more skin on the chicken please.

If you have watched Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations TV series, you should have seen him having roast chicken in Hanoi. I don't quite recall what exactly was featured but we have already decided to visit the restaurant, Anh Tuyet. Of course, we don't know what the name means.

When we reached the restaurant, it looked closed. We had to knock on the door to see if anybody's there. It was like a little kampong built on the 2nd level. A narrow staircase led us to the door of the restaurant. We were reluctant to walk away with disappointment so we knocked a few more times. Abracadabra! A lady walked to our rescue from inside and opened the door for us. She told us that this side of the restaurant was no longer operating, the restaurant is now located on the opposite side of the road. At least, we would finally get one thing that was not disappointing for the day!!!

Anh Tuyet New Restaurant
Fully air-conditioned and it still has a smell of fresh furniture.

New Restaurant Interior
It seems like Hanoi people like the lotus flower. It can be seen in many places, particularly in this restaurant.

This is their spiral staircase to the second storey. It has a fusion of the oriental and zen style.

Golden Lotus in Vase and Table Setup

Oh well, we were told that we had to wait for an hour for the chicken to get roasted. We were the only customers who were having lunch at this 3pm time. Okay, the lady had to entertain us with some stories about the restaurant and get us to order some starters to try. Since it's famous, it's worth waiting. Like the Ibu Oka in Bali.

We got ourselves cheap heineken beer to chill out while the lady entertained us with some stories. She told us that the name of the restaurant is actually the name of the lady chef, Pham Anh Tuyet, who started this restaurant. The lady introduced herself as the niece of the chef. This new restaurant just opened for two days and we were lucky to get the air-conditioned place.

Usually guests who come to the restaurant will call in advance so that chicken is prepared earlier for the guest. We had time and so we waited. She agreed to show us around the old restaurant that we knocked on just now after our starters.

Fried Spring Rolls
It is of course different from the usual raw Vietnamese spring rolls. It is also especially nice because it is very crispy on the outside without getting the stuffings overcooked. Forgot what is inside though.

Okay, I forgot the name of this dish. It has a crispy crust. The stuffing is actually pork rolled with fish meat. Something quite special.

Pork Fish Stuffing

Namecard

Okay, story is getting long. You must be tired! End of Anh Tuyet part I.

After the spa, we wanted to visit the Ho Chin Minh Mausoleum. We thought it would open at 1.30pm according to some internet articles. So we took a taxi there. We boarded a cab and discover that the meter was running super fast. It was really faster than usual. The price of a usual trip tripled in price.

We realised that we boarded a taxi which has the meter tuned. Must be.. The meter box looked slightly different from the usual Hanoi taxi we took. It costed us 100 000++ VND for the taxi trip instead of the usual 40 000++ VND.

The meter of the actual Hanoi Taxi 8.53.53.53 should like this with a box that locks it up. It'll always start from 15 000 VND.

And so there was a fight between the taxi driver and us. The taxi driver wouldn't give in and we eventually obliged. Sigh.. Taxi driver spoilt our day. And then it happened that the mausoleum was not open at this time! Oh well.. so much for the cheating day and the incorrect information on the internet about the mausoleum opening days/hours. What to do next?

Okay, we thought, let's visit the biggest market in the capital. Cho Dong Xuan market. Before setting off from the mausoleum, we bumped into a caucasian couple trying to get the actual change from a taxi driver. The driver had tried to avoid giving the change to them. Initially we wanted to board his cab, we changed our mind seeing this. We boarded another taxi.

This is the market. Unlike the big market in Ho Chin Minh, this market is like a Singapore chinatown market. There's nothing interesting to buy. Ho Chi Minh's one was much more interesting.

Again, it's a failed trip. No shopping, nothing to buy. Arghhh...

I think it's lunch now.. 2.30pm though.

Well well, we are lazy bums! Haha. It's holiday man, relax. We shall have breakfast in the room.

Room service never felt better with trolley of nicely displayed food and a tray filled with extras. Those bell looking covers made me felt like a royalty.

Our american breakfast came with a full basket of baked pastries and a full load of jams!

After a filling breakfast, it is time for some spa. The hotel guy recommended us this place, Thu Cuc Exotical Spa. It is like the Health Spa in Bangkok. Cheap and good.

Their signboard.

Their lobby. Even on entrance, I never imagined it to be a 9 storey spa house with a proper lift.

My spa room! Not bad eh..

Somehow, I still think they learnt from Healthspa in Bangkok.

It's our first night here and other than Bobby Chinn's restaurant, we couldn't think of other places to go. So let's do it!

You must have heard this name on Discovery Travel and Living. Stories of his travel and food rings in your mind. This is his restaurant in Vietnam, at the corner of a street overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake.

Bobby Chinn

Photo of the restaurant from the streets during the day

The restaurant has this symbolic pea on the signboard.

At night, the restaurant interior has a taste of the oriental nightclub. Beautifully red, dark and mysterious. It reminds me a little of the Indochine in Singapore, though it was blue.

Here was where our seats were. Few minutes later, it was raining heavily. The cosy sofas, the rose petals on the dining table, a glass of red wine and the rainy street view makes it a romantic night.

Our orders include a palette of sampler starters and racks of lamb to go with our red wine. There they arrived. Vietnamese fusion. After tasting them, 75% Vietnamese and 25% Western.. we believed!

If you have been eating Vietnamese food, you will know that their food usually include a lot of greens. Even in a meat ball, it seldom run away without any shoots of mint or greens.

The starters were very Vietnamese, they are pretty tasty.

Racks of lamb that were a little disappointing. It was good but nothing very special about it.

Their house wine was good. Looks like more touches were given to the service, ambience and wine. We were looking for the special taste in the food and it was not really there.

Nevertheless, it was great to seat by the window chilling out and enjoying our first night watching the streets.

After a flight delay and the 3 hours flight itself, we reached Hanoi. I had a great laugh watching the comedy "What happens in Vegas". A relaxing and funny movie to start our journey.

We waited quite a while at the baggage area. The luggage don't seem to come. It's like there is only 1 man helping to unload luggage from the air plane. We waited, waited and waited...

After getting our luggage, we made our way to the hotel via the taxi.

Taxis at the airport

Sofitel Plaza Hotel

I was so hungry after reaching the hotel. The street food was still an unknown in terms of satisfaction. We shall satisfy ourself with room service. It is my first time getting room service food. To my surprise, food delivered is presented so beautifully. I'm starting to like room service.

A bowl of yummy hot pho bo!

Changi Airport Terminal 2! I came to check-in again! Though it was not too long ago where I was on a plane, it is still quite long ago before I boarded a SIA plane. This time, with a gift of a free flight on SIA from here to Hanoi, I was pretty excited to play with the Kris in-flight entertainment.

We came in early and got our breakfast at the Soup Spoon. I have seen this label a couple of times but just didn't thought of trying it. There were seats and there were breakfast sets. We gave it a chance.

Hey! It was super good! I ordered the smallest size of soup in their soup, it turned out to be a big bowl too. If you look at their menu in the URL here, you'll drool... It's yummy, healthy and good. They use fresh juice without ice. The breakfast set wasn't fantastic because the servings of sausages were small. I think it was just a small set to compliment the big bowl of soup. Way to the healthy life.

The Soup Spoon

I forgot to take a photo of the soup but this is a photo of the cafe.

Our flight was supposed to be 10.00am, we boarded the plane and was ready to wait for the take off. Pilot finally announced that there was some problem with some system and they would be preparing the spare plane. Argh... Okay, we thought, it's just a very fast change. We were asked to proceed to another boarding gate.

Little did we know that there is a long long queue at the security check area. We had to do this again to prevent any security breach. Phew.. look at the time.

Now the flight is going to be at 12.30pm or 1pm something. They prepared lunch at the boarding area to keep us from feeling hungry and to prevent us from feeling the long wait. There were mee, fried rice, samosa and sushi. They gave each of the passengers a box of chocolates as an apology.

Not so bad. If only, there is a discount voucher for next air ticket.

Did you ever find that there are times where you don't understand your boss and your boss don't understand you?

Did you ever find that sometimes you and your boss see things differently?

Did you ever find that sometimes you just don't agree with him but you have to listen to him?

Did you ever find that sometimes there is a communication barrier between you and your boss?

ARGH... how frustrating it can be. It's hard to please everyone. Most importantly, we need to find ourselves a second boss whom we can cling on to.

Recently I've just witnessed the big difference between the old and the new management leaders. Or are they leaders?

There was a meeting with a new management leader who brought good initiatives into the discussion. And there were the old management people who are afraid of answering his questions. For each question, there is almost a noticeable silence before someone answers. It is such a straightforward question and there is no need to hide. Facts are there, we just need to acknowledge that something isn't there and work on it. Somehow, these people take it as finding someone to blame on and getting more unnecessary work to do. From my perspective, the initiatives are good and not difficult to do.

I am not understanding why the older management cannot take things objectively and work on it together. Waiting safely for retirement? Their age is not there yet. Trying to arrow the task to others? It just shows how "professional" they are.

*clap hands*

It's not a house.. it's not a church.. it's a restaurant! Name of the restaurant is White Rabbit. It just opened about a month back. We didn't try the food but went in to take a look at the restaurant to see if it was suitable for a big event. It appeared to be too country looking.

It has a interesting namecard that looks like a poker card.

Last month, we visited an ice cream cafe in sunset way. It is a cosy ice cream cafe in the heart of private residential areas. There are limited seats. The ice cream is hand made, not so sweet but great flavors!

http://www.thedailyscoop.com.sg/flavours/index.html

I thought Jumbo and No SignBoard restaurants have been real good in Chinese wok dishes. They have been fighting their way up to be a great Chinese restaurant for families.

Long Beach at Dempsey Road recently surprised me with their well done dishes when I brought my family there. I didn't know that their chilli crab is soooooooo good, they really make you suck your fingers with it. Well, didn't manage to take a picture for that.. but the following is a platter starter which I didn't know that it would look and taste so fine.

4 Seasons Platter

I never knew that Italian food is so tasty until I tried the food at Ricciotti. Pizza Hut is where most of us started from. You thought that the taste of pizza ends there or at any beer pubs. You thought that the best of pasta is just like what you've tasted in any normal western restaurant. You are wrong! Now I know what it means to know something, you must try it.

Salmone pizza

Pasta with Pesto

Lovely roses...

Last Sunday, I brought my dad to Dempsey road. It is his first time there. A sunday at Dempsey road in fact, feels very different from night time. I have always associated Dempsey road with wine because it has 2 famous wine place over there. Recently, it had more restaurants and pubs too.

We went to the Japanese restaurant which my dad had caught an eye on. It's called Rakuichi. Link to Rakuichi.

The restaurant is pretty quiet and private. Feels a little solemn for lunch but it's still a nice place.

My Cold Soba

My Dad's Sashimi Bento

My Barbeque Set

I had subway breakfast during one of the 30min morning break. I didn't expect it to be quite tasty as well.

I had 3 days of PMP class training last week and took some pictures on what we did. Though I already had a class before, this time it was really prep. class for the exam. I have to take the exam within 6 months because I wanted to get the CITREP funding to get 50% off my training budget. The cost included my exam fees. That sort of "motivates" me to listen in class.

First day in class

Bible to study for PMP and course notes to help

Although we did pseudo projects, this is however used in real life for major projects to identify big scenarios.

Last Sunday, I had lunch with my Dad at this Hoshi japanese restaurant at IMM. I didn't expect them to have such a value bento set that is enough to fill you for the whole afternoon. About $25 for each of these..

It's been a long long time since I ever study for tests or exams... It has been tough trying to get back into the study mode. Luckily they have these mock practice systems that really allows me to pass on one shot. The whole test was simple but it only takes 6 tricky questions to knock you down and fail the test. Only 5 allowed to be wrong..

I think study hard really helps

To follow up on the last post, my mum really flew a kite that day. With the last night's reminder and the actual day morning's reminder and request to ask her out to have Mother's Day lunch, she actually ignore all my words and have lunch by herself while my dad and I were waiting at home for her. She finally came back without even saying anything.. until I asked. She didn't even have the slightest courtesy to inform.

It's the not the first time it happened. So many XXXXXXXX times there were. I always get angry and then forgive and forget. This time she really did the extreme. She had to do it on a Mother's day. She thinks we have so much time to arrange and wait for her. She actually thinks that it's okay that she don't eat with us and we will enjoy by ourselves even though we waited for her. She never put us in her mind AT ALL~~~~~~

I was really damn pissed off, upset and angry. I shall never ask her out for lunch/dinner again. When she's free AND when we are anywhere in her thoughts, let her arrange. I know that this day will NEVER COME.

She can stay out of the house forever and I shall not care. She treats this house like a weekday night stay anyway.

I feel that people really need to improve on their sincerity when it comes to giving presents, giving a treat or asking for someone's hand (aka proposal). It's Mother's Day today, so this topic really rings the sincerity bell when talking about "giving".

I really detest the idea of asking someone what they want before giving a present. You should be sincere enough to go and find out what they want indirectly. Why try to give something for the sake of giving without putting in effort? If you want to give, you give with sincerity... if you don't want to give, don't try to look for an easy way out to show how insincere you are. It's the thought of putting into what to give that is admirable, not literally what the present is. I think EVERYBODY should really do a review on themselves, same for those who ask for specific presents directly.

Definitely, nobody wants to give something that the receiver doesn't want. Then we should be putting some thought into it! Just to facilitate this logic, we ask the receiver. If I am the receiver, I would say that I could buy it myself if I want, you think I don't have the money to buy what I am going to tell you? Surprise is the key. Don't everyone feels happy when someone really notice what you need and get it for you as a present in a surprise? It doesn't have to be any festival or a reason to celebrate.

My younger brother does not celebrate my birthdays or anything specifically. However, he takes the effort to choose and buy me presents when he comes back from other countries. I always appreciate them and I love him for that.

My mum didn't agree immediately to go out with the family today because she says she's going for swimming. So it seems like we may not go to lunch and she never suggests alternative. Even though, we asked her out but seems like this is in second priority to her other WEEKLY ACTIVITIES. In this case, I don't suggest that I show any sincerity for this event because even the recipient does not want in.

Givers and recipients should review on themselves nowadays. Everything is taken for granted.

Kind of a relaxing and nothing-to-do saturday. So I sat in the cafe, drank a cup of cappuccino. At night, we visited Cosmo the Bistro just outside Wisma Atria. Great Happy Hour Stella Jug for $24++.

TCC
I saw many tai-tais with baby prams in the cafe. Looks like it's a favorite place for all mothers to catch up.

Cosmo the Bistro
Nice place to chill out by the busy streets.

We have always passed by this small bistro style restaurant and never dropped by to try it. This time, we wanted something bistro and so, we decided to take a seat there. They have this big signboard with "Fisherman's Wharf" title on it. It looks like an old english cafe.

Weather has been hot for the past 1 month. So sitting there without any air-conditioning feels a little warm. Luckily they have cold draft beer. Surprisingly food here ain't that expensive and they have a wide selection of fishes! So with the wide selection, sounds like they are an expert in fish eh?

The result? Cool! Although I didn't like thick crispy batter on the outside, it was well done. With the crispy crust, the meat inside is soft, bleach white and super fresh. Even their fries tastes good. Fish and chips like never before. I will truly recommend this place for fish and chips.

The fact that all types of sauces are available shows that they give a damn to what we are eating.

Nice comfortable bistro

It doesn't look anything special. Wait till you take a bite at it. Look at that bleachy white flesh. Soft and mmmmmmmmm...

For those who like oysters, you may think the oysters will be rock hard. Damn wrong! Crispy batter and real soft oysters inside. The wierd looking tomato sauce tasted strange and I didn't like it. Tobasco on it will taste good. You just have to ask for it.

After the whole day, we met up with my family for dinner at east coast. There is this newly built area called Playground@BigSplash. Quite a number of eateries out here, though mostly are just outlets that exists in commercial places. Only one....... is different. There we are, at the Mingles. This was the only restaurant which looked different from the rest.

It's called "Mingles La Bra