After the cyclo dropped us by the Hoan Kiem Lake, we just decided to sit around and take pictures while waiting for Aunty Sha's sms or call.
Of course taking pictures is in the agenda of sitting around and people watching.
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| A very unique street where both sides are for oncoming cars rather than 1 side for oncoming and another side for ongoing |
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| Another snap shot of the pagoda on theTurtle Island |
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| Mummy tried to use the timer to take Mummy's picture, but somehow Mummy was out of frame! Can u see Mummy's head at the corner? Ha ha ha... that was so funny!! |
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| In the end Iman took Mummy's picture. Good job Iman!! |
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| Iman took another picture of Mummy. Trying to get more of Mummy in the picture, Iman forgot that the focus object was supposed to be the pagoda on the Turtle Island. Ha ha ha... |
These are good pictures of us with the pagoda on the Turtle Island
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| The Post Office building in Hanoi |
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| AirAsia office on the street facing the Hoan Kiem Lake. |
Scenery around the Hoan Kiem Lake.
A Vietnamese guy offered to help take our pictures together
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| Caught a bride and groom catching a taxi after their photo session. |
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Wish we had enough time to go to Halong Bay (the bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay is 3 hours!!)
... maybe next time... |
The day was getting darker.. a few more shots of Hoan Kiem Lake before we call it a day.
By this time Iman was getting worried. How come Aunty Sha has not come to fetch us. Mummy was rather reluctant to sms or call Aunty Sha earlier because Mummy didn't want to interrupt Aunty Sha's regular routine. But since it was getting darker, Mummy decided to send an sms to Aunty Sha.
"Hi Sha. Where are you? Hope you have not forgotten us? :-)".. The message somehow didn't seem to go out. So Mummy wrote another message and noticed the second message didn't go either. Mummy decided to reboot Mummy's phone. When the phone restarted, many messages started to come in and suddenly Mummy's phone rang. It was Aunty Sha! And Aunty Sha sounded panicky! "K.Immey!! Where are you? Where have you been?" Mummy just calmly told Aunty Sha that we have been circling the streets of the Old Quarters several times.. on foot and on cyclo, waiting for her to come and fetch us. Mummy didn't want to call or sms her coz Mummy thought Aunty Sha went to the hairdresser after finishing her chores at Petronas and didn't want to disturb or rush her.
Apparently Aunty Sha's appointment with the hairdresser didn't take place and as soon as Aunty Sha was done at Petronas office, Aunty Sha has called Mummy but the call went direct to the voice message. Aunty Sha tried a few more times to call then decided to go with Vanh and just drive along the streets in Old Quarters looking for us. Somehow they circle a few times and didn't see u. Tried calling again and got the voice message again and again. They gave up looking through the streets in the Old Quarters. Mummy didn't blame them. There are 99 streets in the Old Quarters!! So they went back to the apartment.
When Aidan came back from school, he noticed Iman and Mummy not there, so he asked "Mama, where are Cik Long and Iman?" And Aunty Sha told him about losing us in downtown Hanoi. Aidan said "Oh no!! Mama, you are busted!! Did you tell Papa about you lost Cik Long and Iman?" Somehow Mummy could just imagine Aidan's tone of voice and the expression on his face. It must be a mixed feeling of panic and of happiness to see Aunty Sha in trouble. Ha ha ha... Aunty Sha has also called Uncle Joe to tell about what happened. And Uncle Joe has also been calling Mummy and getting the voice mailbox too.
Aunty Sha's daily-helper was thinking that Mummy was robbed and the bad guys must have taken the phone and remove the sim card. That's why all the calls went straight to the voice mailbox. Everybody has some theory or another of what has happened. And there we were in downtown Hanoi, walking about doing our own business not knowing that everybody who know us in Hanoi were in panic-stricken mode at that time.
When Aunty Sha managed to talk to Mummy, she was so relieved. She asked whether we want her to come and fetch us or can we take the cab from there back to Fraser's Suite. She actually sent picture of a reliable taxi we should take to get us back to Fraser's Suite. Mummy decided it would be faster for us to get on a taxi and go back to Fraser's Suite than wait for Aunty Sha to come and pick us up. Somehow the reliable taxi we were supposed to take was not in sight and by that time it started to get darker and darker and Mummy didn't want to be in foreign place with just Iman. So Mummy jumped into a taxi that came along. The driver knew where Fraser's Suite is. Phew!! Managed to take the picture of the crescent moon below:
And got the picture of the lighted pagoda on the Turtle Island while we were in the moving taxing.
Aunty Sha told Mummy that the taxi fare to Fraser's Suite should not be more than 120,000 VND so Mummy was keeping close checking on the taxi's meter. Somehow the driver went into the streets that are more jammed that the usual route that we took to go back and we ended up having to pay about 180,000 VND. And when we arrived in front of Syrena Tower, Aunty Sha was already waiting! She informed Mummy that Mummy has taken an expensive type of taxi. Mummy was just glad to reach back to Fraser Suite safe and sound!!
