Black Jack’s
I went for a burger… it wasn’t even the biggest one they sold!
Black Jack’s burger
Obviously it was bloody brilliant….
Adrian's Blog
Hopefully this is interesting
Category: Travel (page 3 of 6)
After a 2 and a half hour bus ride in a seat designed for the shorter gentleman, we arrived at Ninh Binh.
A temple at Ninh Binh
We’re on a boat!
Ninh Binh
Ninh Binh cave
Obligatory photo:
Ninh Binh
Totally worth the painful bus ride!
Water puppets
The show lasted around 45 minutes and was very entertaining. If not for the plot (it was in Vietnamese), then for the music and the intricate puppetry.
The plot was easy to follow with little scenes lasting 3-4 minutes maximum, each with their own story to tell.
Before we went to this puppet show we read reviews and a handful were saying that they couldn’t believe there was no English translation (really?), or “a little context would have been nice!”. Honestly, no “context” is needed to get the point of the scenes.
The music is performed live and you can find yourself watching them instead of the puppets because of how good a job they do.
Gate of the commander of the regiment
“Lantern” Street
Fancy restaurant
We found a market where bought a few bits.
Went to the lake with an island in the middle. Visited the temple on the island that we paid about $1 to get in to.
After all that we had to barter a $2 (from $3) “tuk tuk”? back to the hotel as it was too hot to walk back the whole way.
Impeccable! Extremely polite. Extremely helpful. Their breakfast was great. Their dinner was great. Air-con. Laptop in the room. Quiet room despite being in the middle of mayhem on the streets… there was a beer festival going on and we couldn’t hear any of it.
Right in the middle of everything, so restaurants, shops, buses, taxis, everything was easy!
10 Reb points
😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹
(Nout wrong with this place)
This is a breakfast fit for a king in comparison to the previous hotel we were at. A lovely variety of fruit, cakes, and meats.
Essence hotel breakfast
We both had the French toast with cinnimon and it was great! Brilliant start to the day, we will need it to survive the hotter temperature here.
After a 45 minute drive from the airport, we arrive right in the middle of it all! The streets are 10 times busier here than in Cambodia. Streets that are the width of a large Europenian car are being walked on, driven through, cycled through, and biked through all at once … with millimeters to spare. It’s impressive. If I was driving I would have been stressed about the damage, but our driver is obviously used to it.
We got out the taxi and were greeted by this. The street was so densely packed with people, the atmosphere was fantastic. Food everywhere, beer everywhere, people everywhere.
Old Quarter – Hanoi
Our room
After dumping all our stuff in the room, next on the agenda was dinner. We had a wonder round the streets near our hotel and sat down at one of the many placed that offer food. All the place you can eat or drink at have tiny tables and chairs for you to sit on! We went for Salt & Pepper Chicken (grissle or feet, we are not sure). We tried it, but didnt eat all of it as it was basically like eating cartilidge. Great experience, though.
Salt & pepper chicken feet
Our view from our seat
The hotel room has a laptop in it. Total Good send, as using my mobile all the time is wearing thin. A previous guest was clearly a connaisseur of the adult material, with such a specific search term to get right to it.
Google search history
Oft.
You know who you are, Dirty blighter!
Took these before we landed.
Our hotel was lovely. We were greeted by very friend staff. The most polite people on the planet probably. We were given a very nice mocktail on arrival and the floor manager dealt with is straight away.
He told us about their deals for going to see the temples. Their various options and prices. Very nice experience.
On the other hand, we were not told the Wi-Fi details in full (first-world problem, I just phoned reception), he never told us about anything to do in the city, no restaurants, or shopping, or anything like that. He didn’t tell us were breakfast was.
The air con in our room didn’t work to well, but that is forgivable.
The staff always insist on replacing your towels at slightly inconvenient times. Not a big deal.
That all said, it was a lovely hotel room. Decorated well, clean, and had a balcony.
Breakfast is sub-par. Toaster was broken and nuked one side whilst a wasp farted on the other.
We did have an egg-shaped suspended chair, so that was a plus!
And this place has a lovely warm pool, too, complete with bar.
Not expensive to stay in, lovely hotel , but you might find yourself asking a lot of questions about things you should be told about.
7 Reb points
😹😹😹😹😹😹😹
(3 deducted because poor wi-fi at times, breakfast was not good, and air-con was broken)
We check out tomorrow. We came back from dinner and found this in our room:
We thank you & will miss you
How lovely! It was coffed in under 2 minutes from the time of discovery.
© 2025 Adrian's Blog
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments