Hoan Kiem District in the Morning

Hanoi,  September 25 2009


First thing in the morning, Hoan Kiem Lake. Got up at 4:30, take turns using the bathroom with Tia, and walked to the lake. The night before at Blue Butterfly Restaurant I got a Japanese map of Hoan Kiem District. It was a map printed by AP Travel. Careless me. I assumed I was dinning at AP Travel's restaurant. I didn't read the name card I got carefully. Assuming that the restaurant yesterday was APT, we read our position in the map incorrectly.

Suddenly I heard a voice behind me. "Konnichiwa."

There were 2 guys approaching us. They probably must have thought we were Japanese. Later on I found out that there are many Japanese tourist in Vietnam. One of the guys kindly drew lines on my map and told us the direction to Hoan Kiem Lake and found out that we weren't far.

So this is it what I use to see in travel guides. As written in Insight Guides, there were many people practicing Tai Chi by the side of the lake. Mostly elders. I think this is the best place (and only?) in the whole hectic crowded Hoan Kiem District.

We decided to continue our morning walk back to the hotel while taking some pictures of the city life. 

Hahaha... Bata Shoemaker! Except for the address written on the sign board, it looks very much like Indonesia. I wonder, are these people favoring Bata because of its quality, or simply because it is RED?

This one is also somewhat like my home country. But mom commented that the pedestrain crossing here looks so clean. I think I have to agree to that. 

LOL!! Doner Kerbab!! These people can't pronounce "R", but instead adds an "R" when there shouldn't be an "R". My friend commented on this photo in Facebook: Since they aren't pronouncing "R", either they write "kebab" or "kerbab", it will be after all pronounced right. That makes sense.

Except for a few shopkeepers, I think, the day starts early in the Old Quarters.

Fruits, anyone?