More Hanoi memories and the weekend ahead...

Only a few days to go before Hanoi's 1,000 year birthday bash.

Continuing with my theme of "Hanoi Memories", in December last year we hired the very talented Hanoi-based photojournalist Julian Wainwright to take some souvenir shots of the girls at our favourite places.

Here's a few of my favourite pictures from the shoot:


On the Sunbeam Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi



Jade Mountain Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake

Temple of Literature

Temple of Literature

Dong Xuan Market

Our local flower market

Now to the weekend...

Before we head back to Australia on Sunday night Rob and I will spend the weekend in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Not only will we celebrate both my and Hanoi's birthday on Sunday (my downhill slide to 40!) this weekend will be our first holiday without our children.

The reason behind our sans-kids weekend is a chance for me to tick another item off my growing "travel bucket list" (i.e. my top places to visit before I die!) with a weekend stopover in Siem Reap to visit the ruins of Angkor Wat.

Just as exciting is the fact that we have booked two nights at The One Hotel Angkor - a boutique hotel in Siem Reap where, as the name suggests, we will be the one and only guests!

I saw a feature on The One on the Discovery travel channel earlier this year and have been planning a trip there ever since!

Think royalty, think exclusivety, think feeling like the only people on earth as you are handed a mobile phone so The One's staff can cater to your every whim...welcome to the hottest boutique hotel in Cambodia! (PS - no kids allowed!)

To say that I am excited to be seeing the ruins on my 36th birthday is a slight understatement, but the fact that my birthday will also be celebrated with a stay at one of the most talked about hotels in the region...as Mastercard would say...priceless!

I have promised Rob that I will shut down the laptop until we are back in Ho Chi Minh, so I will try to post some photos of our weekend on Sunday night on route to Brisbane.

A fabulous birthday weekend ahead! And to my (very) slightly older twin sister Belinda - happy birthday for Sunday! May your next 12 months be all that you could wish for and your wrinkles not as pronounced as mine! xx

{Hanoi Memories} Fanny's Ice-cream Hoan Kiem Lake

In Sunday's post I wrote about our visit to Fanny's ice-cream in Thao Dien.

Fanny's ice-cream is a Vietnamese institution - french style ice-cream and sorbet that has been a huge hit with tourists since the mid-90's.

One of my favourite outings in Hanoi was to take the girls to the Fanny's parlour on Le Thai To across the road from the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake.

Huge glass windows provide a perfect view of the lake making this one of the most popular ice-cream parlours for tourists visiting Vietnam.

Add to that the Fanny's all-you-can-eat ice-cream buffets on the first Friday of every month and it's not hard to see why this is the best spot in the country to over-indulge!

Here's some snaps of our last visit to the Fanny's parlour in Hanoi before we moved south: 

Hoan Kiem Lake

 

Hanoi's 1,000th birthday - the countdown begins!

Tomorrow is the start of a ten day celebration to mark Hanoi's 1,000th birthday. Vietnam's capital turns 1,000 years old next Sunday on 10/10/2010 (coincidentally also my 36th birthday!).

To be honest, as much as I love living in Saigon, I'm sad we're not in Hanoi at the moment as I'm sure the build up to next week's celebration would be fantastic.

Even over the last 12 months when we lived in the north, the excitement was clearly visible as the city underwent renovations to dress itself up for the big occasion.

To celebrate Hanoi's birthday I will devote a few posts over the next 10 days to some of my favourite places in, and memories of, Hanoi.

No better way to start off than with my memories of Hanoi's 999th birthday party!

I don't really like birthdays, and turning 35 years old didn't fill me with much excitement, but the fact that much of Hanoi literally shut down for an all day party on my birthday (despite it not being in my honour!) made it a day I'll remember for a long time to come.

On 10/10/2009, the People's Committee closed Hanoi's iconic Long Bien Bridge, normally reserved for motorbikes (and trains!), and opened it to the public for an all day festival.

Hanoi's Long Bien Bridge

The Long Bien Bridge stretches 1,682 metres across the Red River and has quite a chequered history.

Built in 1902 by French architect Gustave Eiffel (yes, the same Eiffel of the tower in Paris!), as the only access point at the time from northern Vietnam into Hanoi the bridge played a crucial part in the war against America.

Given its critical position in Hanoi, Long Bien was bombed a number of times between 1967 and 1972, rendering it completely unusable for periods at a time.

Today, only half of the bridge retains its original structure and due to its dilapidated state only motorbikes, trains and pedestrians are allowed.

For the city's 999th birthday the Long Bien Bridge Festival celebrated the structure that has held a prominent place in the hearts of the northern Vietnamese for more than a century.

Long Bien was turned into an art gallery for the celebration with many artworks hung along half of the bridge. Add to that the street entertainers, stalls and crowds of locals enjoying the chance to walk along the bridge without the traffic, and it was a great day out in Hanoi city.

Georgia and Shell on Long Bien Bridge

Long Bien Bridge Festival



Artwork on Long Bien

Georgia, Shell, Lotta, Darrin, Mackenzie and Rob

Mackenzie and Georgia loved the bridge's playdough artists



Team Somerville on Long Bien Bridge

It's a long walk!

Happy birthday to moi! Shell and me on the Bridge