Hanoi - Stop-over Day

22-Nov-2017, Hanoi - Our train pulled into Hanoi around 5am? We waited for someone to pick us up to send us to our hotel, but nobody ever came. So we decided to walk to our hotel instead before the traffic started to get crazy. It was quite a long walk, mainly due to us having to drag our luggage with us on the road with us. Luckily it was a straight road to our hotel and we managed to reach there really early. Unfortunately although they say check-in is anytime, they ask us to pay half a day's fee to check-in early. Note that this was the most expensive hotel that we were staying in our entire trip, and the service was pretty lousy on first impression. We decided not to pay, and said we'll come back later. Leaving our bags there, we went out to look for breakfast. The hotel was situated on a big main road where a lot of embassies were located. I even managed to find my bank branch there and snapped a photo of it for my collection. Above is one of the sights on the road. 

First thing first, breakfast! And after dragging my husband around looking for a few pho, I drag him into an alley and had a squad down sitting type of pho. Lady selling it couldn't communicate with us, so she showed us whether we wanted chicken or pork and showing us the actual meat. We pick chicken and sat down and wait for the food. Above is what was served. It was yummy but too herb-ish for me. It cost less than SGD2. I can't quite remember how much it cost actually. Maybe 30k VND?

Even after breakfast, it was still too early to visit any attraction. I wanted to visit the jail there since I've never been to a jail before. But it opens at 9am. So we decided to spend some time in a cafe drinking coffee. Above is one of the cafe we went to. This is the 2nd floor view, and we sat at the edge looking over the cross street. I really really love it cause the weather was lovely and cold, but it was apparently too cold for my husband, so we moved indoor downstairs where he took a nap while I read the newspaper. Finally after 930am, we made our way to the jail which was just 5 minutes walk away.

Above is what the jail looked like. It was called Maison Centrale, which reminded me of Japan (Maison Ikkouku), and Italy (Centrale means Central, like Terminal Centrale) both at the same time. Which actually doesn't make sense for the Japan part cause Maison is actually a French word... Anyway, I will post about the jail in a separate post. Stay tune.

So apart of visiting the jail, we also wondered around town a bit looking for lunch. I will blog about lunch in a separate post too. But past forward to our check-in, we finally managed to check-in to our hotel at around 230pm. I was so sleepy I just took a bath and nap all the way. I didn't even went out for dinner. It was like a solid staycation for me.

Above is what our room looked like. It was nicer than the rest of the hotel, but there was a permanent smell of fried food in the room. I suspect the kitchen or restaurant was nearby, and the smell was really stagnant in the room. My husband actually went out for a massage and dinner without me. But I was too tired and just slept all the way.

Above is what the lobby of the hotel looked like, all woody and kinda european looking. The name of the hotel was De Sylvia Hotel. I actually wrote a bad review about them, which they email back to apologies for the misunderstanding on the 24hour check-in issue and promptly updated the website information in hotel.com accordingly. But overall, the damaged had been done. I guess they cater to a  more upper class business client. I felt pretty much ignored through out my stay. Even the breakfast staff's service in the restaurant the next morning was quite bad, with hardly any service. Which goes to show that expensive doesn't always mean the best. The only thing I am glad about this place was that I didn't leave the hotel the moment I checked in till the moment I checked out, which makes it kinda value for money. Lol. Make sense?

And although the mini bar is not free, it was rather well stocked. And I really love the tea set and coffee set available. If only it had better view, or if I weren't so tired, I would have love to just spend some time sipping coffee or drinking tea with those adorable drink sets! Will I be back here staying in this luke warm hotel? Hell no! I found an awesome hotel on our last two night stay in Hanoi which I will write about later on!