Congratulations to Bond student Natsuko for her recent trip to Vietnam!
Natsuko is a pharmacist and has been studying at Bond for 3 years, she is a very experienced traveler and has been to 29 countries!!
Vietnam is about a five-hour flight from Osaka, but Natsuko chose to stop in Hong Kong, which turned out to be a 6-hour layover.
Her trip highlights included eating lots of Vietnamese food, staying in a different hotel every night, walking around The Old Quarter, and boating around UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay with a local guide.
On the first day Natsuko and her younger sister checked in to the Oriental Central Hotel in Hanoi.
Their room price was only ¥3000/night in total so it was a pretty good deal!
The hallways were a little narrow, and the elevator was a little slow, but the hospitality and service were very good.
In the afternoon they walked around the famous area of Ho Hoan Kiem, or, ‘The Old Quarter’, and at night went to a road filled with street dining, which became packed at dinner time.
They tried the local food ‘Tanashi’, a snails dish, and saw some ‘save Trump + Kim Jong-Il’ T-shirts at the local shops.
The next day was their epic journey to Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is located on the east coast of Vietnam and is about a 3-hour drive from Hanoi. Filled with thousands of islands, dramatic limestone cliffs, lush tropical plants, caves, and macaque monkeys, Ha Long Bay is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vietnam.
That night they switched hotels once again, this time staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hanoi. The room was on the 62nd floor, so you can imagine the night view! The breakfast buffet was huge but unfortunately the staff was not very nice.
On their last day, Natsuko and Rieko went to a popular Instagram spot: a small road with train tracks which has trains passing during the day. Be careful with your toes!! Many young Vietnamese have opened cafés along this road to take advantage of all the tourists, so you can expect some trendy scenery.
Their last hotel of the trip was La Siesta Central Hotel Hanoi where they had the best time of their hotel experience.
La Siesta’s manager, Kevin, gave lots of personalized attention to Natsuko + Rieko including patiently helping them with maps and even giving them a traditional Vietnamese ceramic plate as a parting gift! The staff was always opening the door for guests whenever they came and went from the hotel, and they even received a long hand-written letter welcoming them to Hanoi.
Great trip Natsuko!
