Archive for May, 2012

China 2012 : The Preparation

Posted: May 31, 2012 in Beijing, China, Lakwatsa
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I’ve really wanted to go to China as far as I can remember. Walking around the Great Wall, visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, or simply to experience the actual Chinese culture itself, all of this has been in my bucket list. But one thing has always hindered me to book a trip for this : the visa application. I’ve heard about the Chinese embassy imposing strict requirements for those who wanted to visit China and I thought it’s going to be time consuming and stressful to process.

So when my sister was bugging me to book a trip to China for her birthday, I said I will probably do it if I get a seat sale from Cebu Pacific. At least if we get denied, it wouldn’t hurt that much. So when Cebu Pacific announced a piso fare seat sale 12 Midnight, sometime in January, I was already waiting in front of my computer to get ready. I had already scheduled the possible dates for the travel period so that I won’t need to consult or contact my sister anymore and just go ahead and book it. As always, with big seat sales like this, the Cebu Pacific website is expected to hang for so long. It took me 3 hours to finally get through, after all the refresh, error, re-typing and re-inputing of information, I was able to finally book a roundtrip ticket Manila-Beijing for just P3,500 each. It was an absolute steal! When my brother found out about this, he immediately booked himself a ticket as well, though he was not able to take advantage of the piso fare seat sale promo since it ran out after a few hours.

So once our flights have been confirmed, I went ahead and did my research to prepare myself for the visa application. Applying for a Chinese visa is relatively simple and quick, if you have all the COMPLETE documents. So it’s better that you have everything prepared and ready before you lodge your application in the embassy rather than risk doing it all over again.

A month before our actual trip, I decided to submit our application, so that in case of issues, we would have enough time to take care of it right away. I went to the embassy with my sister at exactly 5:30 AM and there were about 8 people in front of me, already lining up, sitting outside the building. I’d rather wake up early than waste my time lining up for hours. It’s better this way. Don’t forget to bring a newspaper for you to sit on the sidewalk, and a book or a magazine to read to keep you busy and not bore you to death.

We went inside the embassy 8 AM and the guard handed out numbers to make sure it’s first come, first serve. The counters opened 9AM and we were actually #4 on the application line. We finished everything 9:30AM. It was that quick, but the embassy is already jam-packed around this time. Good thing we were able to line up very early to get the first batch of numbers once the embassy opened.

Here’s what I have submitted :

1) Passport + photocopy of the first and last page of the passport (make sure the emergency contact details are all filled out)
2) My old passport. Since I just renewed my passport last January, I had to show them my old one in case they would ask me about the countries I’ve been to in the last 12 months.
3) Application form, printed back to back, used the A4 paper size, with a 2 X 2 picture (this should be pasted, not stapled)
4) Original NBI Clearance
5) Original Bank Certificate and the official receipt or debit memo (showed money for P90,000). Please note that you should bring the OR, that is a very important requirement.
6) Employment certificate
7) Photocopy of Company ID and TIN ID (front and back)
8) Printout of SSS Contributions and personal info printed via web (I have no SSS ID)
9) Latest Income Tax Return
10) Round Trip Plane Ticket
11) Hotel Reservation Confirmation

That’s it. If you have all these requirements. Then you are almost certain you will get a visa for this. Unless there are discrepancies with your bank certificate, name spelling, TIN ID, or whatever document issue, then you’re good to go.

The consul also reviewed my brother’s and sister’s docs. I announced my brother as a student since he recently resigned from his job, but he is taking up a masteral course, or whatever you might call it. And my sister, since she also resigned from her job, and seriously unemployed, I had to write a letter of support to show that I will be shouldering all her expenses for her trip, though she presented her own requirements as well. I also brought with me our original NSO-certified birth certificates, and submitted photocopies of it to show and prove that we are siblings. Don’t ask me why these creeps are resigning from their jobs, a few weeks before our scheduled application for the visa! Good thing we all got approved.

After reviewing all our documents, the consul handed us the pink slip, with the schedule of pickup, three days later. I was approved for a single-entry visa valid within three months of issuance, and to stay in China maximum of 14 days. I paid P1,400 for this, by the way. So that’s it. It’s pretty easy and simple, though a little stressful at times, but you gotta do what you gotta do if you really want it. The next thing to do is to prepare for our itinerary for our week-long Beijing trip!

EDITED : Effective July 16, 2012, the following additional requirements have been posted in the embassy for first time applicants :

1. Original Bank Cert with OR/Debit Memo. Acceptable accounts are Savings and Current account from commercial or rural bank and should be opened at least 6 months prior to applying for visa. The account should have an Average Daily Balance(ADB) AND Current Balance of at least PHP100,000 per applicant 18 years old and above.

Bank Certificate should include:
- with checkwrite
- account opening date
- type of account
- average daily balance
- to-date current balance

In addition to the Bank Cert:
- Statement of accounts detailing the transactions for 6 months OR
- Passbook detailing the transactions for 6 months

2. Submit roundtrip airline ticket and hotel reservation.

Good thing we were able to apply and get our visa before these new requirements were posted. For those with old and used visas already, you just need to submit a new application form and a photocopy of your old visas and Chinese immigration stamps and you’re good to go. Thank God we won’t be going through all of those listed above for our Shanghai trip this December.

Road Trip To Bandung

Posted: May 31, 2012 in Bandung, Indonesia, Lakwatsa
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While in Yogyakarta, waiting for our afternoon flight back to Jakarta, I was busy thinking of what we’re gonna be doing the next day. Surely, I did not want to go around shopping in Jakarta again, so while Grace was busy talking about all her planned trips that did not push through, she then mentioned about Bandung. I asked her how far is it from Jakarta, and she said it’s about a couple of hours drive. So I said, why don’t we go to Bandung tomorrow then? We ain’t got nothing left to do and we got the entire day to spend before our late night flight back to Manila. So Grace got the help of her Indonesian co-workers and she booked us a rental car that’s gonna be picking us up at around 6AM tomorrow at the condo. I was pretty excited about this out-of-nowhere road trip that I immediately researched about the places to go to around Bandung. Grace’s Indonesian friend also made some suggestions as well.

We woke up really early again to prepare us for the Bandung road trip. At exactly 6AM, the driver was already waiting for us and off we went to spend the rest of the day in Bandung. It took us around 2 hours to get to Bandung, popularly knows as the Paris of Java, for its resemblance to Paris and the European atmosphere back at the colonial times. The weather was a bit cooler than Jakarta, it kinda reminded me a bit of Baguio. When we arrived, there was a parade happening or some event, since they had to close down the streets and reroute some of the vehicles to go another way. We decided to get out of the car to see what’s going on and they were actually celebrating the Dago Car Free Day. This happens every Sunday morning from 6AM to 10AM, where cars are prohibited in a certain area and locals are free to do whatever they want. You can see people skateboarding, bicycling, dancing, playing games, etc. It was actually a really cool idea for them to do something like this. We tried to watch the parade and some of the street-dancing as well before we decided to grab a bite to eat since we haven’t had any breakfast yet.

Now here’s the very big problem we’ve had about this road trip: our driver, who is originally from Jakarta, does not know the Bandung area very well and he doesn’t speak English! We were all very frustrated communicating with him since we don’t know where to go to as well. I just listed down the places and shops to go to and since he was not familiar with the place, he had to ask the locals where it’s actually located. Good thing I had internet access on my phone. With the help of Google, we were able to locate some of the places we wanted to go to.

Our first stop was Jalan Braga. Jalan actually means street in Bahasa. Known to be the chicest part of the city, Braga is filled with chic cafes, boutiques and restaurants with an European ambiance along the street and had made the city of Bandung earn the Paris of Java nickname. We had breakfast in Braga Permai, a very much recommended restaurant, which serves both local Indonesian cuisine and French-influenced delicacies. Braga has this very relaxing atmosphere around it and the mode in the area was very quiet and calming. After our late breakfast, it took almost an hour to find and go to our next destination in Bandung, which was Rumah Mode in Jalan Setiabudi. Grace wanted to do some shopping and we’ve heard that Setiabudi is like the Orchard Road in Bandung, were you can find shopping outlets offering big discounts off branded names and items. I was not really in a shopping mode that time since I lost the replacement batteries for my camera and my Blackberry. So I ended up sulking outside the shopping centers, waiting for Grace and Maira to finish their shopping. At around 4PM, we decided to go back to Jakarta, so that we can finish repacking our stuff since our flight back to Manila will be leaving at around 10PM.

Yogyakarta in a Day: Borobudur, Prambanan and Malioboro

Posted: May 28, 2012 in Indonesia, Lakwatsa, Yogyakarta
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Woke up around 3AM in Jakarta, had to get ready for an early flight to Yogyakarta in a couple of hours. We barely had enough sleep, approximately just about two hours. We made our way to the airport and checked in to our flight via AirAsia, which, for me, is definitely one of the best budget airlines I’ve ever been in. The service does not feel low-cost at all.

It was just an hour’s flight to Yogyakarta and we arrived at around 7AM at the Adisucipto International Airport. I had arranged with our hotel to have us picked up at the airport and it took us about 30 minutes to arrive into our hotel, the Venezia Homestay. I had made prior reservations via email with the hotel for our tour the entire time we will be in Yogyakarta. We were just scheduled to be here one whole day, so we had to make the most out of it. Once we arrived at the hotel, we immediately went down to confirm our tour. We had rented a car with a driver to drive us around Yogyakarta for 12 hours. I forgot what we paid and I really don’t care, I was there to roam around the city and visit Borobudur and Prambanan.

Our first stop was Borobudur, which took us about 2 hours from Yogyakarta. Borobudur has always been a dream destination of mine ever since I have seen pictures of it online. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the single largest Buddhist structure in the entire planet. The heat was absolutely unbearable, we arrived at around 10:30AM and it’s probably the worst level of burning, scorching heat I have ever been in, from all the travels I have done so far. But despite that, we were pretty much determined to circle around the temple complex and climb our way to the top. What really amazed me was the remarkable attention to detail that went throught the constructions of these monuments. I know it tells a story about Buddshist stuff and all, but I really didn’t care. I was there to enjoy the sights and the views. I learned one thing though, it’s a Buddhist temple complex, which separated it from the other UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan, which is focused more on Hinduism. After that very tiring climb to the top of the complex, we went down back to our driver and decided to have lunch in this really cool and fancy Indonesian restaurant a few kilometers from Borobudur. After a few minutes, our next destination was Prambanan.

Also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan has always been overshadowed by its Buddhist counterpart, Borobudur. The two sites are quite different in style with Hindu Prambanan being a collection of sharp, jaggedly sculpted towers in contrast to the vast horizontal bulk of Buddhist Borobudur. I liked Borobudur better though, maybe because of the way it has been created, and the keen details they have placed into the wall carvings just tops Prambanan in a whole new level. I was a little disappointed when I found out that some parts of Prambanan sustained significant damage as a result of the May 2006 earthquake that happened in Yogyakarta. The remains were left untouched and we can see some of the damaged temples as we walked around the area. There are a number of temples in Prambanan and we tried to get inside each of them to take some pictures. Each shard-edged temple is in representation of a Hindu God. Some of them even have their own shrines inside. I did enter one shrine and took a picture beside this tomb-like statue and it was definitely one of the eeriest feelings I have ever had there. Very eerie.

After circling the area, we went back to our van and decided that it’s time for us to do some market shopping. So we instructed our driver to bring us to Malioboro. Malioboro is a well-known shopping promenade and very popular among Indonesian as well as international tourists. Malioboro is 2 km in length and home to hundreds of shops and street-stalls offering various kind of handicrafts, shirts, trinkets, and delicacies. They’re even selling fried bats on the streets. I decided to buy some souvenirs and some shirts and it was around 6pm that we then decided to return back to our van so that we can have dinner.

Our driver took us to this wonderful restaurant called Via Via, which also doubles as a travel agency. The place was absolutely relaxing and packed with tourists. And the menu was just superb. I am so glad our driver took us to this place to have dinner. It was definitely a perfect way to end our one-day Yogyakarta tour. We arrive back at our hotel at around 9:30PM, slept a little longer than usual, since our flight back to Jakarta was scheduled to leave at noon the next day. Yogyakarta is truly one beautiful place, I have enjoyed much better than the modernized appeal of Jakarta. I wish we had one more day to explore this city but a day is enough for us to make the most out of it, given the time that we have.

Starting the Indonesian Getaway: Jakarta!

Posted: May 18, 2012 in Indonesia, Jakarta, Lakwatsa
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I had no plans in going back to Indonesia after our Bali trip last year, since I was more looking forward into visiting other countries that I have not been to yet. So when Maira, a college friend of mine, texted me that there was a seat sale again from Cebu Pacific specifically for the Manila to Jakarta route, I actually considered it. Since Grace, another college friend of ours, is based in Jakarta, and is working there as a partner in an audit firm, we were thinking that maybe we could drop by and give her a visit since we haven’t seen each other for almost ten years already. So we went ahead and booked a flight for an April trip. At that time, I was not able to book the Holy Week trip to Vietnam with my high school friends yet (which actually was scheduled a week before this Jakarta trip!).

I did a little research about Jakarta and most of the feedback I got from the online forums and blogs was that it’s just similar to Makati. That’s just about it. Then Karenjj, an officemate of mine, said she was also able to book a Jakarta trip a few months from our scheduled date. She mentioned about how much she wanted to visit Borobudur (at that time I seriously do not know how to spell this tongue-twister of a place). So I quickly googled Borobudur and when I saw the pics, I knew I had to go there. The thing is, Borobudur is located in another province, about a 2-hour drive from Yogyakarta, which is quite far from Jakarta. So I suggested to my friends that we go visit Borobudur and in order for us to get there, we had to travel via plane from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. So I went online and booked us the domestic tickets from AirAsia, which cost us around P5,000 roundtrip. Fair price, considering that we were that determined to really visit Borobudur.

So after a few months of careful planning, hotel reservations, organizing and scheduling, Maira and I are finally bound to Jakarta. I had to take a domestic flight to Manila since I am based here in Iloilo and had to meet up with Maira there. Grace met us up at the airport and we stayed at her condo in Taman Rasuna, which was quite a drive from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport of Jakarta. We arrived around 2am, did a lot of catching up and woke up early to roam around the city. Grace had to report for work since it was a Thursday, but she was scheduled to join us for Yogyakarta the next day, so Maira and I decided to roam around the city ourselves. Grace advised us to always take the Bluebird Taxi since they’re probably the only ones you can trust, especially if you are a tourist.

Jakarta is just like Manila. It’s a mix of Old Manila where there are street children, a bunch of sidewalk vendors and the scene of Makati, where you can find high-end shops and stores, a bunch of tourists shopping around, etc. It’s been some time since I was able to splurge on shopping so I’m fine with it. We went to a bunch of malls, from the high-end Grand Indonesia and Plaza Senayan, to the Greenhills-type Blok M. We basically spent the entire day malling and shopping since there’s hardly any tourist spots in Jakarta. Grace had to do overtime so we just went back to the condo around 7pm to wait for her. She came home around 12 midnight already, serious overtime there and took a power nap and tried to get as much sleep since we have to wake up in a few hours to prepare ourselves for our 6 AM flight to Yogyakarta.

Falling In Love With Hanoi

Posted: May 18, 2012 in Hanoi, Lakwatsa, Vietnam
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Every night in Hanoi, we always make sure we roam and walk around the city. The place has this homey feel to it and it’s really safe to wander around. My favorite part was chilling out at Hoa Kiem Lake, enjoying the cool breeze and watching locals hang around the park, playing with their dogs, cycling around, and watching a bunch of people making out. There’s a whole lot serious make out sessions going on around here, I even took some pics of them in the act.

Saturday Night – We were able to experience the Night Market in Hanoi at Dong Xuan. It’s similar to the night market in Hong Kong, wherein they occupied almost an entire street, with vendors selling the usual night market stuff: shirts, pants, shoes, toys, bags, and a whole bunch of knick-knacks, as I wanna call them. And the place is seriously jampacked with locals and tourists, buying stuff, haggling, walking around. It was so chaotic and noisy, I actually got lost when I separated myself from the group. The night market in Dong Xuan is only open during the weekend (specifically during Friday and Saturday nights only), we only found out about it when we decided to visit again during Sunday night only to find out that the place was empty.

The thing about Hanoi is that it’s not like the usual city metros, where people enjoy hanging out in the malls and in bars, go clubbing, etc. It has this laid-back feel where people are all about chilling and relaxing. At night, the sidewalks are filled with young professionals literally sitting on the sidewalk, hanging out with their friends, having their own little picnics, playing cards, talking and chatting. It’s the same scene we find in bars and clubs, the difference is, they are doing it on the sidewalk and on the streets, with their shoes neatly placed beside them, together with their individual motorcycles nearby.

The place is so safe that I even told myself I could stay here till the wee hours of the morning or even sleep at the park without anyone bothering me. It is that beautiful. I have to say that it’s definitely the best, if not, one of the best places I’ve been to in Asia. It’s a far cry from Singapore, but I fell in love with Hanoi without me expecting myself to. I know I will be coming back here. I have to. And I absolutely recommend to everyone planning a trip to Vietnam to visit and spend a number of days in Hanoi, just skip Ho Chi Minh if you want, Hanoi is just wonderful. I love, love, love Hanoi!

The Ha Long Bay Adventure

Posted: May 18, 2012 in Hanoi, Lakwatsa, Vietnam
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While I’ve been doing my research about Vietnam, a few weeks before our trip, I was able to stumble upon some blogs gushing about Ha Long Bay. Ha Long, which means “Descending Dragons”, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and probably the most popular travel destination in Vietnam. I’ve seen some pics of it online and I knew then I had to go to this place. We had the option to do an overnight tour in a junk or do a daytrip instead. I opted for the latter since there’s not much to do or see anyway overnight and we wanna roam around Hanoi some more.

It took us approximately about 4 hours by van from our hotel to the port of Ha Long Bay, and the place was packed with tourists! We were assigned to this junk and was seated per group. The tour included lunch and we had to share our table with this Serbian guy, who looked older but was actually younger than us. The food was nothing special, it was actually meh. I was more excited about taking pictures of the amazing sights and just simply taking it all in. Ha Long Bay was so beautiful and breathtaking and I was so glad I was able to experience it. Good thing the junk had an upper deck, I had to climb up and take more amazing shots there.

A few hours later, we stopped by a floating village and we had the option to do some kayaking. I have never done any kayaking before, and as I mentioned the last time, I don’t know how to swim. I’m scared of the water. But since this won’t probably happen again, I told myself to go for it. I went with Jeany, and just like me, she doesn’t know how to swim as well or have done kayaking before. Before jumping in the kayak, our guide briefed us first a little about it. And yeah, that briefing was very helpful indeed ugh. I asked him what’s going to happen if we fall off or if the boat stumbles upside down or something. He just said: you pay for the kayak. Wow. Very helpful indeed. That thought actually scared me since I don’t think it would be that easy to get off if the kayak turns upside down since our legs are actually being inserted inside. It’s not like the usual small boats that you can just maneuver easily on your own. But I’m always into adventures and trynna conquer my fear, so I had to do it. So when we were already rowing, I’m not even sure if we were doing the right thing, I could barely move from the fear. If I turn around, if I move a little bit, I was scared we’re gonna fall off. Jeany and I were able to go as far as we can, but not too far, since working that kayak was just so hard. I have no idea how to work that thing and there were junks and boats everywhere, we almost got hit by one while kayaking. I have to tell you, I was busy praying the whole time we were inside that kayak and I was seriously scared out of my wits inside. But the experience was all worth it. After a few minutes, we decided we were done and went back to our junk.

We had to wait for some of the other tourists to return to our boat since they all went kayaking on their own as well. We decided to hire a small mini-boat to drive us around the area and into some more hidden islands as well, that our main boat could not get into. I was so glad we did that since we were able to see more amazing sceneries and had the chance to take some more great shots. I felt like I was in another kingdom, there were more villages and more people, it was like they have their own little own world here. Ha Long Bay also has their own currency by the way, aside from the actual Vietnamese dong of the country.

Another highlight of the trip was exploring the Dau Go Cave. After a few hours, we were on the other side of Ha Long Bay and had to get out of the junk for the last part of the trip, which was, to visit the Dau Go Cave (in Vietnamese writing: Đầu Gỗ Cave). The place was stunning! Preserved stalactites, stalagmites and limestones, in a plethora of various colors glistening from every side of the cave, greeted us as we walked in. That was definitely one of the best locations I’ve been to and had a blast taking shots after shots of every possible nook and cranny of that place. There were walls and rocks, sculpted in the form of animals, from goats to lions to elephants and a mix of other stuff as well. And oh yeah, there were a number of phallic symbols there as well. And I wonder what were those for.

After a few hours, we headed back to our boat and back into the Ha Long Port, and another four more hours back to our hotel. I really had a great time visiting Ha Long Bay and it’s one more destination checked and done from my bucket list. We spent the rest of the night roaming around Hanoi again, and I’ve got to say it, I really, really, really love Hanoi.

Hoa Lu Temples and the Tam Coc River

Posted: May 15, 2012 in Hanoi, Lakwatsa, Vietnam
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On our second day in Hanoi, we were scheduled to go to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. These Vietnamese people have a thing in breaking syllables into words. Have you noticed? It’s like one syllable = one word for them. I was able to book this with our hotel to arrange an entire day’s tour to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. We woke up early and we had the van pick us up at our hotel at around 8am for a 2-hour drive to Hoa Lu. Our first stop was the Temple of Dinh Tien Hoang, which was located on the grounds of the former main palace of the royal citadel. Situated with a river to the front and a mountain at the back, I don’t know what’s with it, but it has something to do with feng shui.

The second temple was the Temple of Le Dai Hanh, which was just beside Dinh Tien Hoang. I have no idea what’s the deal with all these temples since I was not paying attention to our tour guide. As always, my main concern was to take a whole bunch of pictures with all these amazing sights rather than be bothered by the history of the place hehe.

The scenery outside the gateway of the temples was absolutely stunning. We really didn’t care about the pesky Vietnamese vendors out there because the weather and the views were just perfect. I also had a great time buying a bunch of trinkets here at a very cheap price. Haggling is a must and I bought myself some good finds here.

We then went ahead to have lunch before heading to our next destination, the Tam Coc River. This was one of the highlights of this trip, riding the sampan boat along the river and passing through a number of caves and grottoes with many stalactite and stalagmite formations, which I believe was created almost a thousand years ago. We chit-chatted with our Vietnamese “rowers” or whatever you’d want to call them and I felt sorry for them with their way of living. Imagine yourself rowing back and forth this river for eight hours or more, making sure tourists get the most of the experience. Most of them we’re actually using their feet instead of their hands when they were rowing. Maybe because their hands and arms are too tired from doing this every day.

After this amazing boat trip, we then went ahead to bike around the mountains within the area. I was a little bit concerned because it has been like ten years since I rode a bike. But all was well since I was able to enjoy it and take in the wonderful views of the mountains around me. I seriously did not want it to end. But it did end. At around 5pm, the tour ended and we were brought back to our hotel, getting ready for the much-awaited Ha Long Bay trip the next day.

Hanoi and the Crazy Snake Restaurant Experience

Posted: May 5, 2012 in Hanoi, Lakwatsa, Vietnam
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We woke up around 7am the next day, had breakfast, paid our hotel bills and got ready to be brought to the Tan Son Nhat Airport’s domestic terminal for our morning flight to Hanoi. This is actually the first time for me to fly on a domestic flight in a foreign country, so I was also excited about the process. Their domestic terminal even has free wifi! Now they really beat Manila and even Bangkok for that. I was able to take a quick nap from that 2-hour flight to Hanoi. Yeah, it took us 2 hours to fly. Hanoi felt like another country. It’s actually farther than Cambodia from Saigon since Cambodia is situated right in the middle of Vietnam.

Once we stepped out of the plane after arriving in Hanoi, I knew that this place is gonna be different. It’s really cold here. The exact opposite of the Saigon weather. I think mainly because it’s near the boarder of China already. Our hotel pickup was there and it was a really loooong drive back to the main city center of Hanoi. I think it took us about 30 minutes to finally arrive at the Prince Hanoi Hotel. I had already booked our tours for the next two days with the hotel before we arrived so that our itinerary was all planned out already. We decided to do the Hoa Lu and Tam Coc tour the next day, which was a Sunday and placed our Ha Long Bay trip on Monday. Sunday is definitely going to be a busy day so putting the Ha Long trip on a Monday was a really good idea to avoid the many crowds when we get there.

After settling in our rooms, we just washed our faces and decided to explore the city ourselves. One thing’s for sure though, from the moment I stepped out of the hotel, I knew I was gonna be loving Hanoi more than Saigon. Aside from the weather, the place just looks so different and it feels so cozy to stroll around the streets. It took a while for us to familiarize ourselves with the area, then we arrived at Hoa Kiem Lake, my favorite place in Hanoi. The lake, surrounded by a park, is definitely one of the most scenic and relaxing spots in the city. There were people playing, exercising, running around, biking, just about everything. This is definitely the perfect place to unwind and de-stress from the bustling streets around it, with motorcycles everywhere. Oh yeah. Vietnam is never going to be Vietnam without those motorcycles. Even little kids have their own bikes as well.


We decided to go grab a bite and eat, so we walked around the city to go look for a mall, but can’t seem to find one. We then came to the conclusion that, yeah, there were no malls in Hanoi. We saw the popular Fanny Ice Cream diner across the lake and decided to eat there. I’ve read from some blogs how much they highly recommended Fanny Ice Cream in Vietnam. And I was not disappointed at all. Their ice cream was definitely delicious, and was presented in a number of artistic ways, from sushi designs to other cute little presentations. After we’re done eating, we decided to go to dinner, and that, folks, is another story coming.

So after our little Fanny ice cream moment, the guys decided it’s time for us to have dinner. Naina recommended this snake restaurant she read from a magazine from their Jetstar flight from Singapore. Um yes, SNAKES. They were pretty serious about trying this restaurant out. Naina had listed down the address and we decided to go look for it. We told the taxi driver to bring us to that address and that’s when we realized that it was located in the outskirts of Hanoi. The drive was around 30 minutes and the driver dropped us in a dark compound, where there were no establishments, no stores or anything. Just a bunch of vendors selling some street foods and a number of Vietnamese guys drinking at the side of the streets. Some of those guys were actually drunk. We asked some locals for the location of the restaurant listed on the piece of paper that Naina had, but could not point us at the right direction. The language barrier did not help at all since a lot of these guys do not know how to speak or understand English. We went back and forth around the area, until we were finally directed to the place we were looking for: the Quoc Trieu Snake Restaurant.

Once inside, we were greeted by a young Vietnamese girl that ushered us to go upstairs. There were displays of snakes everywhere. From snakes inside jars, to actual cobras inside small aquariums, to snakes inside their cages. The place actually looked like an old Chinese mansion and has this eerie feel to it. There were a number of customers there when we arrived and I felt like I was in a Chinese gangster movie. We decided to sit ourselves near the balcony, all the while, trying to observe if there were any snakes around us that might just pop out of nowhere. The waitress, who was having a difficult time speaking in English asked us if we would like to have ratsnake or cobra for dinner. I was like, let’s just try the ratsnake. Obviously, we have no other choice. I wouldn’t dare go ahead and eat a cobra right away!

So while we were waiting for dinner to be served, the unthinkable happened. A guy all dressed in black came to our table, stood beside me, with the waitress right behind him, carrying a tray filled with shotglasses, partly filled with rice wine. Mr. Man In Black was carrying something wrapped in a blue clothing. At the back my head, my heart pumping so fast, I was already thinking of so many things. That’s when I suddenly whispered out loud: Is that actually what I think it is???? A few seconds later, Mr. Man In Black removed the blue covering and booyah! It was a real live snake! We immediately stood up from our table away from him and just watched in horror as he slit the snake open with a knife while the waitress was holding the snake from the other end to control it. He then took the snake’s heart (it was still pumping), then took the bile, squeezed the blood from the snake and mixed it to the shotglasses of rice wine. He also did the same thing to the bile (this one’s colored green). The waitress then asked us to drink it. We of course hesitated, but after too much coaxing from each other, we all took turns drinking the blood bottoms-up! I did try the bile as well, but the waitress told us not to drink it straight but drink it little by little since it’s too strong.

After that, they then served us a seven-course snake meal which ranged from snake soup, snake skin (that seemed like Philippine chicharon to me) to one that reminded me of a lechon kawali. It wasn’t that bad. I was not that all excited either. Audrey then proceeded with swallowing and eating the snake heart, after we requested to fry it. No one would dare eat a pumping snake heart right then and there on our table. After an hour or so, we requested for a taxi to come pick us up at the restaurant since we do not know how to find a taxi on that semi-secluded place to drive us back to the hotel to take some much needed rest.