A NICE HANOI FREE WALKING TOUR WITH A LOVELY FAMILY

A nice Hanoi Free Walking tour with a lovely family

Today I had a Hanoi Free Walking Tour with a big family from Malaysia arranged by Vietnam Eco Travel. There is 4 female siblings, husbands of each person and 2 kids. It is the most crowded tour I have ever had. I told them about our itinerary today: White Horse temple, Vietnamese traditional house, Quan Chuong gate, Dong Xuan market, Hoan Kiem lake, joseph cathedral Hanoi, Ly Quoc Su temple, Giang coffee.
First I went to their hotel to pick them up. They came to Hanoi for the first time and they just went to their hotel already in afternoon. Therefore I guided them to have lunch in my favorite small restaurant. They haven’t tried any Vietnamese food before so they’re very excited with my idea. In the restaurant, they tried rice noodles soup with beef, rice noodles soup with chicken, soya noodles with fried eels, steamed sticky rice with chicken, spring rolls, soya milk. I was happy that they all loved Vietnamese cuisine.
After lunch, I guided them to White Horse temple which honor the White Horse which assisted the fledgling city. They took many photos here and all of them are Buddhism so they really like this temple. Then we went to a famous Vietnamese traditional house which was buil in 19th century.  It is an excellent example of north vietnamese, urban, residential architecture and interior design. This house is presently served as a venue where the traditional performances are played and historical things are displayed. They took a lot of photos inside this house and they’re interested in this architecture’s house. We told about our culture and recognized that we had lots of the same as culture of each other.
Then we moved to Quan Chuong gate which is the only gate remaining of Thang Long citadel, Quan Chuong gate not only brings beauty in architect but also imbued with historical record of ancient Hanoi. I told her the history of this gate and they was excited with it. On the way to Dong Xuan market, we went to a small area which is sell a lot of street foods but it was crowded at that time and we had 8 people so we could not have enough space to try some street foods there but they said that they were still a little full and they could try them later. Next we went to Dong Xuan market which is the oldest and largest market in Hanoi. This large multi- storied market sells anything and everything. From fresh foods to home appliances, you will have it all here. But, what is more fascinating about this market is its historical significance which you still can experience if you visit this place. We went inside the market and they bought something for theirselves such as scarf, sorts, fabric mask. We tried to bargain all of them. It was so funny.
After that we moved to Hang Buom street to try banh my (Vietnamese sandwich). It is one of the best banh my restaurant in the old quarter. They ordered all kind of banh my here. I was glad to hear that they loved them. We talked, took a lot of photos while eating. It was so interesting. Fishing eating, we went to Hoan Kiem lake – The heart of Hanoi. It includes Ngoc Son temple, The Huc bridge, Turtle Tower, Pen Tower and the green lake. I told them about the legend of the lake, the history of those places. It was small rainy and they had kids so we decided to go to Giang coffee which is near their hotel. They said that tomorrow they would go to Ha Long Bay and then they would still in a hotel which is near joseph cathedral Hanoi and  Ly Quoc Su temple so they could visit them later. So we went to Giang coffee to try egg coffee which is very special coffee in Hanoi and Giang coffee is the best place to try it. We got there but unluckily a member of them had a stomach so we had to come back their hotel. They told me that they would try it at night after he felt better.
Although we could not visit all the place as our itinerary but we had a lot of fun and tried good Vietnamese cuisine. I admire them because they can gather all members of their family to visit Vietnam for their vacation, it seems hard when each person has their own family. And they look very happy together. I gave them warm hug to say goodbye.
I hope that they will have great and unforgettable moments in Ha Long Bay and in Hanoi.