Hanoi's Five-Star Hotel

26 August 2010 (Thurs): There are differences among five-star hotels across national boundaries due to different rating standards as there are also many different standards of five-star hotels within the same country. I realised the latter when I stayed at this in Hanoi. It's located on Cat Linh Street.

It certainly differs from Sofitel Plaza and Daewoo Hotel, for instance, in terms of service standard and ambience. Some say the staff at this hotel are cold - their greetings being more subdued and the level of their confidence differs from that of the staff at Sofitel Plaza. The staff here also look more demure and some even unfriendly. But some "warm up" after a few days.

There is a casino located at a discreet corner with scrawny "guest relations officers" in mini-mini-skirts. They told me that US dollars are the only currency used. That's not true as I saw them holding DONG notes instead.

Beside the casino, there is a beer counter which was never crowded. It's spacious, and that's what I like. I saw the usual guests every evening. More local residents appeared in the evening when pastries and buns are sold at a discount. The pastries looked good, but I couldn't buy them even if they were cheaper. I've got a complimentary breakfast everyday and I like the way bacon was done here:

I'd rate the room that I stayed in "average" by five-star standards. I checked into one that smelled of tobacco. I asked for a change.

After four days I asked for a change again because running water from the room right above could be heard. Urg ! Someone checked in and the ceiling was too thin. At first, the receptionist informed me very convincingly that the hotel was changing the 'pump'. Then when I called her again after 20 minutes, two workmen came to investigate and then they finally changed my room after another lady came up to confirm that there was indeed noise.

Overall I like the quiet here. It caters more for tourists than the businessmen - although I spotted Japanese and other Asian businessmen. I also could read business magazines and the Nikkei Shimbun. I prefer the breakfast buffet here than at the Sofitel Plaza where bacon was soggy and greasy (never crispy), if not burnt.I thought food at Sofitel Plaza has slipped a great deal in standard. It used to be one of those best places to eat ten years ago.

The breakfast spread here was ordinary to me until I went to the Sofitel Plaza Hotel. I finally realized that it tasted much better and fresher here. At least the miso soup was alright and the fruit, good. The salad was also crispier, but the rolled sushi was bad - as in many breakfast buffets across the country.

But having said all the above, I had the worst club sandwich here. Look! Greasy and unappetizing. I could have gotten a banh my (Viet sandwich outside the hotel),certainly many times lower in price and many times up in terms of taste.

Put aside the memory of biting into this tough dough, I don't mind staying in this hotel again since I've gotten to know the names and faces of some of its nice staff. Its breakfast has also made up for the club sandwich many times.

Hanoi! 再び ハノイへ

* Nem cuon chay
16 April 2010 (Fri): There's a lot to write about Hanoi, but I have no idea where to begin.
I returned last December with a camera for idiots and so, have captured quite a number of sights. I have always had pre-trip anxieties about returning to Hanoi: How could I cope with the language? How safe would it be for me? These are common fears.
But each time I returned, the happiness experienced when I was living there returned. It would take me a day or two to slip back into the linguistic fluency, and then everything would fit right back in its old place. Unfamiliarity would then gradually subside as the old faces, smiles and sounds greeted me.
I missed Hồ Tây (West Lake), and had reserved lodging just right by it. Before I reached it, there was a jam on the road. My cab driver grew impatient, and hopped out of the vehicle several times to check.

There was no accident, fortunately. A bus broke down and jammed the Thanh Long Bridge. Traffic soon returned to normal. The cab sped past Lạc Long Quân, Âu Cơ and then Đường Thanh Niên. I checked in at the Sofitel Plaza.

I was admiring the shimmering surface of the West Lake as the bullet-elevator lifted me up.

It was the first hotel with such elevators in Hanoi, and the first five-star to be built by the lake. This hotel also has what I consider the best layout for its executive lounge on the 17th floor. A businessman or even a writer is able to have his own private space in the lounge and still easily make food orders or calls out for secretarial assitance. Other such lounges lack the 'working' function and serves as F & B outlets for the exclusives. Acoustics is good here. It is very peaceful - the interior is sqeaky clean and neat, and overlooks the Red River; yet it is also conducive for group discussions. There is plenty of wood to calm your nerves. A Singaporean chap once told me that his company hired a Japanese architect to design it, and the roof is the most outstanding.
I scooted off to a downtown cafe to meet my friends after dropping off my luggage in my room.

* Paris Deli Cafe, Pho Nha Tho
It's Christmas time! This is one of the few places with decor. The slightly more elaborately decorated place was Sofitel Metropole Hotel. It's where I usually go for a cuppa nowadays when I go to Hanoi besides Hoa Sua. Not Ciao, not Moca (where I used to go eight years ago)...Juliana is gone and Highlands Cafe has made its mark in the cafe scene; Tonkin has moved to 39A Lý Thường Kiệt. I did like the bitter coffee at the Tonkin.

* Second floor, Paris Deli Cafe
I think this "big church" street (where the Paris Deli cafe is situated) is incredibly tasteful. There's still no tall modern buildings. There's a lot retained along the street including the deep-fried bánh store at the corner. The oil is certainly "off" and the texture of the "curry puff" rather hard, but it's obviously very popular among folks in the city. I think its weak points are drowned in the fragrance of the herbs and the pungent nươc mắm(fish sauce). The resultant taste becomes one which is rather difficult to duplicate anywhere else in the world.
I like the ambience at Paris Deli, though I will not rate its food too highly. I couldn't meet Bien this time and I don't know his roster. The manager that I met was absent as well. I only met some of the lady staff and waiters that I met before.
I returned to my hotel in the evening. I was literally starved, but went to bed.

The next morning, I had my "vengeance" and ordered a huge bowl of phở. Most Hanoians must think I was silly- fancy eating phở in a hotel! The noodle should be partaken in the street or some famous small shops (Phở Thìn, Phở Mai Anh, etc.)
I returned to my old school which is beside this tower. It looks newer than before after the renovation- the alleys and streets have been paved with tiles and layered with concrete.

The classrooms are given a fresh coat of paint outside;the courtyard has also been tiled.

I had missed the charming kids at Hoa Sua - more than the food (see vegan rolls above).

The only disappointment in this trip was the lounge at the top of Sofitel Plaza (once known as the "Top of the M" after its former owner, Mandarin Group of Hotels). It used to be very lively - not sedate like it is now. Being "the" place where one could enjoy the beautiful sunset of Hanoi, it was cozy. Now the space outside and inside was limited to couples, but only accomodates a few of them. One can tell it's designed for very young couples who will not mind perching on high chairs and staring into each other because even certain parts of the glass window are covered, blocking out both view and ambience:

Black is overused; it makes the lounge spooky rather than warm.
On my way back to Singapore, I met a friend of Thoi, the driver who used to take me to Noi Bai. Duong is as nice as him.
Time flies! I will be back again in Hanoi soon.

Hanoi!

22 June 2008 (Sunday): I'd missed Ha Noi. I haven't returned for several years since my last stint.

I really didn't know how I felt on my way home from Ha Noi to the airport. I met Phuong through the hotel staff of Intercontinental West Lake Hanoi (1A Nghi Tàm, Hồ Tây). Phuong said that he's Thoi's colleague. Thoi is the driver that I have hired in these recent years for trips to the airport. He's a stout and cheerful guy of 30 years old. I couldn't reach him this time because the telephone line in my room was out of order. I'd the repair men of the hotel examine it, but by then, it was too late to contact Thoi. (The front desk happened not to take the initiative to offer to call Thoi on my behalf).

I saw familiar faces this time: Hung, a young man at the Foreign Language University, is now a receptionist at G's one-year-old inn where I stayed for a few days; Hien, a teacher at Hoa Sua (a school which trains orphans and poor kids vocation skills) is now a waitress at the Lac Cafe in the Intercontinental...I also met a talkative and cheerful waitress formerly from Daewoo's Palm Cafe; and Bien, from Hoa Sua, is now the captain at Paris Deli (Pho Nha Tho). I was both happy and tired after several days of chatting, at different hours, with all these people including folks in the street.

I met Chi Michelle and her love at Au Lac House, a Vietnamese restaurant at 13 Tran Hung Dao (Tel:9.333533) one of the evenings. We ordered a wide variety of dishes while chatting and only realised that it was 10:30 pm when a sleepy-looking lad came up and asked for the bill: "Chi oi, please settle the bill and then you may stay here as long as you want." I didn't think anyone cleared the table after that. There was hardly a trace of any human being after that except for the guard locked up the front gate of this old beautiful and romantic French villa. Outside the gate, we embraced one another farewell and climbed onto our waiting cabs.

The next morning was spent at my former university. Thay XX was there to welcome me. He then called for another colleague of his, my former Vietnamese teacher, to come into his office. We chatted until 11:30 am and left for lunch in a university car - a black Toyota. What greeted me at MYWAY restaurant - a haunt for university guests -was the richest spread of food that I've ever had in Vietnam. Incroyable! Big shrimps,roast duck, fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, sour sea eel (cá chình) soup, grilled sea eel with rice paper and herbs, rau muong xao (stir-fried kang kong), fried pork cubes, beer and mango juice...followed by a fresh fruit dessert with tea. It was very much more colorful than any of the wedding banquets that I attended in the years from 1998-2000. I felt sinful from overeating...

Đường Nguyễn Trái (Nguyen Trai Street) on which my ex-university stands has changed. There's a rather ugly Parkson shopping mall, an endless line of small shops, a high-way (not expressway)- but I am glad I could still spot the entrance to the wet market. I remember the road was perpetually flooded whenever there was a downpour about eleven years ago. I recall having to wade in knee-high waters and brave occasional sand storms while walking to school.

The area where MYWAY restaurant (17 T3 Hoang Dao Thuy St, Cau Giay) is located is a new residential estate that reminds me of a small Singapore-style HDB area. I heard there are Korean and Japanese restaurants nearby within the estate. When I enquired about the rent and price of an apartment, I only got repeated replies from one of the teachers that he has several apartments for rent outside the area.

I hopped onto a mini-cab back to the lake after that endless 'grazing' while the teachers scuttled back to school for their afternoon meetings. Along the way, I saw changes along the streets of Dong Da, Pham Ngoc Lanh, leading to Bach Khoa. The young taxi-driver hailed from Thai Binh. When I expressed my surprise at the rather 'roundabout' route he took, he reduced my fare from 69,000 dong (shown on the meter) to 50,000 dong. How's that?!

I needed a coffee - hoping to still stay awake to savor the city in the afternoon heat. I was happy to have found Paris Deli near Nha Tho Lon (the big church). This is a rather new branch, standing in the place of old traditional shops across Moca; now the Moca crowd has flocked to Paris Deli.

The waiters at Paris Deli Ha Noi seemed to enjoy chatting with me whenever they could catch their breath. I never felt lonely in Ha Noi everywhere I went. That was how I spent my five full years in what was then known as a 'no thrill' city.

I relaxed at the Intercontinental with swims and filled myself with the wonderful fruit juices and a Mouton Cadet on (not 'by') the lake after sunset. These activities were followed by another swim at 6 am (sunrise is at 5:20 am now) and a huge buffet breakfast at Cafe Du Lac. The hotel guests were made up half of Japanese, a few Koreans and the other half were westerners. The cafe is also patronised by a few nouvelle riche of the country.

At Noi Bai, after tolerating a long messy line, a customs officer offered me his handphone number and scribbled a line which read 'Younger brother ...' on a piece of paper, then informing me that foreigners like me can now buy land and build houses. I'd met those familiar faces at the SQ check-in counter... My luggage was overweight, but the lady kindly wrote it off after threatening with a "Chị phải trả tiền" (You have to pay).

I saw "Okabei", the movie by Yamada Yoji, on the plane. My eyes, bloodshot from swimming without goggles, felt alright but tears were rolling down - and I wasn't sure if it was the heart wrenching story of the character, Kabei (played by Sayuri Yoshinaga)?

Walking on the arrival passage out of the plane at Changi, I heard an interesting conversation among a group of Vietnamese officers. One said:

"Không cần mang quần áo mấy đâu...Ở đây không bụi mặc cả tuần cũng được."

[Don't have to bring so much clothes... It's not dusty here; it's alright to wear the same clothes for the whole week!]

I chuckled, walked past them and headed for the duty-free stores.

I am sure I will be back in Ha Noi again very soon...Tôi sẽ quay trở về sớm!