Vietnam day 3 - Hanoi (Highlands Cafe & Hoan Kiem Lake)

Vietnam day 3 - Hanoi (Highlands Cafe & Hoan Kiem Lake)

Having had a wonderful meal in Gourmet Corner, we set off for a walk around the city. This place is quite near from the lake where we are headed, so we went there on foot.

Sidewalk Cafe

 The funny thing about this city, and all cities around Vietnam is that their electrical cable is so

Low dangling electric cabble

Old coffee shop

 We went to a small mall around here, not really recomended, since there's nothing interesting to see, more like a large department store than a mall. We only head for a coconut drink there.

 Here's  a map of the surrounding area :
https://maps.google.co.id/maps?hl=id&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF-8&q=hanoi+gourmet+corner+map&fb=1&gl=id&hq=gourmet+corner&hnear=0x3135ab9bd9861ca1:0xe7887f7b72ca17a9,Hanoi,+Hoan+Kiem+District,+Hanoi,+Vietnam&cid=0,0,2788266964009064613&ei=Ppl3UOrOGofRrQeYmYGwDg&ved=0CI8BEPwSMAA


We went here at about 5 o'clock, there's lots of beautiful shops and interesting spots here.

Baguette sold in the street

 Here are two of the Cafes with the best views in Hanoi. Located in the roundabout in city center. We had to make a choice for where we want to spend our afternoon, and ended up choosing Highlands Coffee Cafe which was also an established coffee brand in Vietnam. Similar to Excelso Coffee chain in Indonesia.

Illy Cafe

Highlands Cafe

Thai Village also open up a restaurant here, in Indonesia it's quite a high end eatery. Judging from the place, it's also quite a posh place to eat. Too bad we didn't have a chance to try it out.

Thai Village

 Highlands Cafe

The entrance to Highland's Cafe is very small and non discreet, it's just a small staircase at the side of the building, short walk on the staircase and you'll encounter an elevator that will take you to the Cafe on top of the building.

Small entrance

 Inside the Cafe is very cozy, a bit darker than the usual Cafe I frequent. They have lovely couches, and the table alongside the balcony provide one of the best view of the town. You have a choice of scenery of the lake or the city center. Aside for the beverages, they also have nice selection of food, Bahn mi, Pho, Salads and Sandwiches are the popular choices.

Table with a view

 The price here is quite affordable, due to Vietnam having a lower cost of living than surrounding countries, they have one of the best deals for restaurants and cafes. It cost about 30% lower than similar Cafes I frequent, but they don't have those big credit cards 30-50% discounts like in Indonesia, which roughly equal to the same price.

The view was quite interesting, I encounter this gentlemen wearing cap with his big tele lenses that probably weigh as much as a child.

Carrot Cake

Opera Cake

Mango Mania

Balcony view

City Center

 Hoan Kiem Lake

The lake is just 5 minutes walking distance from the Cafe, the afternoon sun provide a nice lighting and exposure, so we had a chance to take some photos. There's also nice park there, with hot dog seller and drink stalls. Lots of people visit the place to have an exercise, which we quite admire. The weather was blistering hot, so we barely have the energy for a long walk, let along a full exercise.

In the center of the park there's a bridge connecting the park to a small temple. There's a lot of people taking picture here, there's not much to see in the temple as far as I can tell. Admission fee is quite affordable, only about $2. Because we were quite fatigued and it's quite late in the afternoon, we decided not to go to the temple area and just takes a picture alongside the park and the beautiful red bridge.