Hanoi Trip (1) - Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum/One Pillar Pagoda/Namaste Restaurant

Penat masih terasa tapi semangat nak memblog berkobar - kobar. ye lah lama dah kan tak muncul.. gara - gara travel for 5 days to HANOI...Company trip lagi.. Upah penat lepas kerja keras.. ALHAMDULLILAH  we have been doing this for almost 5 years since 2009. We aim nak habiskan south east asia dulu.. Indonesia dah cukup kot. maybe continue nanti - nanti.. Need  suggestion  nak pegi mana tahun depan. And for sure route yang dicover AIR ASIA lah ye. Affordable by company lah..Beli ticket HANOI ni  tahun lepas. masa murah - murah lah tu..At first yang pegi dalam 9 persons. unfortunately Miz PiJa cant make it.. health problem. so berangkatlah kami 8 persons je on February 22, 2013. 

we had our early flight at 6.15am. just imagine, sud be at the airport at least 2 hours kan.. but we made web check in. so just one hour lah.  at 4.00am hubby dah hantar me and Chef CiJu.. si kecik pun hantar sama even dalam Kak Timah dia tidur je.. (si kecik lagi even dah umur 8 tahun.. heee). 

she's our new staff. Miz Husna, .first time went abroad, first time outing without family, first time naik kapal. ALHAMDULLILAH.. happy nampaknya..

after bag drop, we were asked to go to gate Y2..but we had to wait the rest sebab masih belum sampai lagi...bila dah kumpul semua terus kami ke gate Y2..  eemmm.. new entrance nampaknya..ye lah baru bulan lepas ke  B A N D U N G kan.. gatenya di lain tempat. just wanna share, melalui sini, tak ada bilik ayor.. ingat tuu.. kena lah p p di kapal nanti. heee.. (Maybe ada small renovation lah tu..)

 now just waiting... dah nak naik kapai dahh.. 

di kapal ingat nak makan sikit je sebab perut dah rasa lapar dahhh.. so i just took Black Coffee and Tortilla Tuna. Tak sedap. hee... just alas perut lah.. tak tau apa menanti di Hanoi nanti.. nak makan apa yeee..

 after 3 hours nice journey, sampai lah kami di bumi Viet Cong ini.. new experience at Noi Bai Airport, Vietnam. apa yang menanti di depan masih tak tau lagi.. 

 waiting for our luggage. so slow youuu. very slowwww.. sabar je lah kann.. aura vietnam dah mula terasa.. slow and steady katanya.. 

well, luggage sume dah dapat. ready to explore bumi UNCLE HO..Hoo..hoo.. horlick.. eehh bukannn. Uncle Ho Chi Minh. 

kami terus keluar dan nampak nama company  for our travel package. this guy introduced himself as DUK,  our Vietnamese  tour guide.  we needed to use package sebab malas nak buat home work. plus we went there with many people. kalau i pegi dengan family maybe i tak guna kan kot.. anyway, rasa bit safe lah kot kalau guna package.. but i m sure bit risky jugak  kan... ..kita tunggu je lah cerita i nanti.. 

our transport dah menunggu.. dan kami terus dibawa ke Hanoi city. 

 on the way, kerap sangat terlihat banyak sungai. Vietnam and Red River.. 

 almost one hour, sampai lah ke Hanoi city which is located about 38 km from the airport. lama sangat kann... orange building macam ni adalah bangunan government mereka.. 

bila tiba di kawasan city ni pulak, kita akan jumpa banyak lakes. i tak ambik pusing lah pulak nama - nama tasik yang i pandang. ni... tapi tasik - tasik yang penting macam Hoan Kiem Lake and West Lake. okk.. tinggal cerita pasal tasik..

lansung kami diturunkan di sini. kami dibawa ke HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM  which is located at BA DINH SQUARE...Ya ampunnnnn.. kesejukan mengigit sampai ke tulang hitam. ALHAMDULLILAH BARAKALLAHHH.. i kan berselubung..heee.. kira ok ok je lahh.. just tangan yang agak kesejukan.. but still boleh i bungkuskan dengan my shawl. 

this mausoleum is surrounded by nearly 250 species of plants and flowers from  different regions of Vietnam. 

dapat gak tangkap gambar abang guards ni..even just dari jauh.. abang - abang guards ni took shift. depa tu dok jaga Uncle Ho yang terbaring kaku dalam glass case. this place open to public from 9.00am to 12.00pm everyday. sampai beratur - atur tu.. but now it is closed for renovation katanya.. tapi kalau bukak pun, tak kose lah teman nak melawat Uncle Ho tu.. banyak koje lain lah.. shopping lagi best kann. heee..kang ada kebadi pulak...hee

jadiiiii..kita snap snap je lahh.. sakan gak kami kat sini even menggigil - gigil bila kena tiup angin. hee.. boleh agak dalam 20 celcius. gegel lhoo..

sampaikan our tour guide jadi our photographer pulak..sambil ada lah photographer kat sebelah tu.. ooo dia ni curi - curi amik gambaq kitarang sebab nanti dia nak juai dengan kita. this is normal kat sana or even many places in this world yang jadi tourist attraction. biasa sangat kann...nak beli boleh, tak beli pun boleh. tapi kena bargain.. bargain..

bendera yang terdapat di hadapan mausoleum ni. The flag of Vietnam also known as "red flag with yellow star".

yesss..we were here. alaaa..tapi itu bukan my kaki lahh.. itu Duk punya kaki. mee??? tangkap gambaq lahh..

dah habis bergambar kami langsung berpatah balik dan terus menuju ke sini..

nak pegi ke ONE PILLAR PAGODA.

SUBHANALLAH.. punya lah ramai tourists lining nak tengok temple ni dari dekat and maybe some nak dua'a2 lah gamaknya.. kita ni takat tangkap gambar je lah kan. ye lah, kalau orang tanya dah pegi ke sini, jawapannya pasti DAH.. 

suka i with the architecture nya.. kayu - kayu cam ni memang nampak cantik. one of the most iconic temple in Vietnam. katanya this pagoda was built in 1049 by King Ly Thai  Tong. This king was childless and had a dream where he was given a son while seated on the lotus flower. then this king married and the queen bore his a son. then king pun constructed one pagoda by erecting a pillar in a middle of the lotus pond sama lotus yang dalam mimpi raja tu.  kiranya this pagoda as a symbol of  gratitude over a birth of son. i hope betul lah fact yang i tulis ni. this fact was given to us by our tour guide, Duk. 

patah balik tempat diturunkan tadi sambil tunggu our transport. 

apa lagi.. snap.. jangan tak snap.. pokok pun pokok lahh.. janji bergaya.. heee

kami terus dihantar ke hotel. LUXOR HOTEL which is located at Hang Cot.  At first we were scheduled to Graceful Hotel.. aikkk.. lain sudah.. tapi tak pe, Duk kata this hotel was better. ok. fine with us as long as the hotel bagus..

since the check in time masih awal lagi, we just put our luggage dan got ready to keluar jenjalan.. 

welcoming drink.. fresh after long journey..just to kill time, kami dibawak Duk jalan kaki je di sekeliling hotel. 

sambil jamu mata melihat sekeliling.. eemmm.. new experience. come pulak tengok makcik - makcik ni bertudung.. i m sure orang  Islam ada gak kat sini..maksudnya maybe immigrants  or maybe local people.  

dan kawasan mereka dekat dengan Masjid Al-Noor..sure banyak halal food kat sini. happy dah hati i. mana tau boleh makan macam - macam di sekitar sini. dah tu tak jauh dari hotel kami.. TAPIIII.. kata Duk, kat sini terlalu terlalu kurang orang Islam.. 

ingat nak masuk, tapi disebabkan macam berkunci, maka tak lah kami nak masuk. ingat nanti - nanti boleh lah..kebenaran nampak gak when i saw starfruit tree.. memang banyak di sekelilingnya dan buah - buah sudah masak.. Masjid ni just for tourist and maybe for embassy people lah.. and SURPRISE!!!! makcik yang bertudung tadi tu bukan ISLAM.. depa orang Vietnam yang memang pakai macam tu sebab sejuk. Aduiiiiii...then after this we all patah balik ke hotel dan our driver dah sedia menunggu.. 

we went to lunch.. dah lapau bonar. we went to Nameste Hanoi Restaurant. It serves HALAL food. at first we were told that our lunch not included in the package.. eeemmm..confusing nampaknya. but we just agreed at first. but terus Mem Sue text Miz PiJa for double confirm. well...included actually.. nampak macam merapu package ni.. even our lunch included, but not for our drink.. hantam sajalah belalang. kitarang nak makan. laparrr...

tengok presentation je hati dah tak tahan nak tunggu.. 

meanwhile i pun keluar ke verandah. MASYALLAH.. the wind blew..so nice..even sejuk tapi nyamannya rasa.

dalam gambar tingkap nak runtuh pun nampak cantik.. but mata i kata ia tetap cantik.. 

as photographer tak bertauliah, tangkap gambaq lagii...sambil tunggu food mari..

i love this.. ada acar, and dua sauces tu lah.. tak ingat apa namanya.. terus ingatan melayang ke K A S H M I R.. the bekas and food really recalled the memory there.. baru lah i perasan, food kat sini adalah southern/northern india cuisine. 

dont worry latte bagai pun ada..

i took Mint Tea..

bekas  ni  memang menjadi perhatian i.. suka sangat. 

BHINDI MASALA as our starter. rasa macam makan maruku..

sedap.. but i lopa nama dia.. ikan dalam ni..

aloo something - something lahh..

Ini like Udang Kurma lah.. hee. tak hengat langsung namanya.. perut lapar lah katakan..

Nasi dia pun sedap.. kami makan berlapan dan hanya ambik 4 bekas nasi putih ni. sebabnya lauk - lauk yang lain so rich.. so ratah je..

yang merah tu pun sedap...so we took 3 dishes berasaskan seafood.. better lahkan daripada ada macam  syak - syak gitu.. plus ada sayur. and one of us took rasam.. i tak soke.. masam..

penuh konsentrasi..

ALHAMDULLILAH BARAKKALLAH.. we were happy coz our stomach also happy lah.. konyang..

tengok tu.. licing kann..

bergaya sebelum meninggalkan this resto.. between 1 to 10, i gave 8 stars.. marvelous.. highly recommended. ambik seafood je pun dah memadai..sedap. bukan macam food mamak di Malaysia tau.. curry depa ni mild saje. SEDAP..

selesai makan kami meneruskan perjalanan.. a lot to explore.. many places to cover. tapi badan macam dah penat kan.. iya lah dari subuh lagi dah keluar rumah. anyway, kita sambung nanti. lagipun jenuh nak pilih gambar ni haahh.. my N3 kalau tak de gambar sure tak sah.. :-)

as referral to the others yang teringin nak ke sana, this is the location and contact number for the Nameste Hanoi Restaurant. 

Mobile: 0903266997 (Gopi)

Namaste Hanoi
47 Lo Su str.
Hoan Kiem District. Hanoi.

Telephone: 84.4.3935 2400/ 84.4.3935 2401
Fax: 84.4.3935 2402

Email: gopi@namastehanoi.com

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Volume 2, Book 20, Number 190 :

Narrated by 'Abdur Rahman bin Yazid

We offered a four Rakat prayer at Mina behind Ibn 'Affan . 'Abdullah bin Masud was informed about it. He said sadly, "Truly to Allah we belong and truly to Him we shall return." And added, "I prayed two Rakat with Allah's Apostle at Mina and similarly with Abu Bakr and with 'Umar (during their caliphates)." He further said, "May I be lucky enough to have two of the four Rakat accepted (by Allah)."