After another early breakfast at the eco lodge that not only didn’t feed me last night but also has beds that feel like concrete….our guide collected us. We caught an early morning cruise to Cai Rang Floating Market- the busiest floating market with heaps of boats. So much people watching! We ate some tasty fresh fruit purchased from one of the boats.
We were meant to walk around a village and visit a rice husking mill but as you can see from that last photo, the weather turned. Instead we went back to the pier early, had highlands coffee and people watched some more. We then visited Binh Thuy ancient house and learnt all about the different aspects of pottery, Chinese gifting and family life during the Nguyen Dynasty.
Around 10am we headed off for Can Tho Airport to take a domestic flight to Hanoi. This meant saying goodbye to our south Vietnam guide John and driver Ben.
When we arrived in Hanoi we were met by our northern guide (Lucie) who took us to the hotel. She is very efficient! In a 30 min car ride she booked us on a food tour tomorrow night, moved our meeting time to 10am instead of 8am and showed us heaps of dog photos haha. She also recommended a restaurant a few mins walk from our hotel (Palago Hotel) in the old quarter.
The restaurant was called Cha Ca Tháng Long and serves Cha Ca – a unique specialty of the Hanoi people. Cha Ca can be made from mudfish or snake headed fish, but the best one is made from Hemibagrus (Ca Lang). The fish bone is removed to keep the meat moist, it is seasoned, covered by hanana leaves and grilled by coals to about 70% cooked. It then comes out to the table and a small table hot plate is used while serving to keep the Cha Ca hot. Cha Ca is served with roasted peanuts, rice noodles, spice vegetables (dill, spring onion, coriander, mint) and fish sauce. It turned out they also have a 2023 Michelin guide mention so I’m super glad we went!
Note to self: next time I plan a trip itinerary like this I need to build in a few nothing days throughout rather than lump them at the end. We have done 3 x early wake ups in a row and have 8 more to go. I have regrets. It’s been so long since we had a trip like this I didn’t even think of it!
Mel's Travel Blog 