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HANOI ROCKS -- Our Spring Break Visit to Vietnam

HANOI ROCKS -- Our Spring Break Visit to Vietnam

Old Jul 17th, 2011, 01:53 PM
  #101  
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Just to add to this--I am a motion sickness queen (not that anybody would want that title) and I LOVED the HaLong Bay boat. It was the best night's sleep I've ever had.

Two days/one night worked out well for me for HaLong Bay, as well.
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Old Jul 17th, 2011, 02:30 PM
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ms_go,

I have a co-worker from Vietnam who highly recommends Pagolac. It's in the Tenderloin area and only open for dinner. Other good Vietnamese restaurants are Kim Thanh (for their famous salt baked crab)and Slanted Door in the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero (this is a very popular restaurant in a good area). The San Francisco Shopping Centre (home of Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom's) has a great international food court on the lower level that has Out the Door which is the sister to Slanted Door. Between the two, I'd definitely go to Slanted Door. Tu Lan at 6th & Market has some pretty good dishes at great prices (yes it's a dive)! I absolutely love their lemon beef salad and fried ginger fish!
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Old Jul 17th, 2011, 02:48 PM
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Just to add, Slanted Door is to Tu Lan as, for ex., La Badiane is to Bun Bo Nam Ho, to use a Hanoi reference.

There's an Out the Door in the Ferry Building, too.

I'll put Pagolac on my list to try ( also Turtle Tower).

We tried another upscale Vietnamese place the other day - Three Seasons - and were disappointed.
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Old Jul 17th, 2011, 03:59 PM
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Excellent! Thanks auntlisey and sf7307. We had lunch at Slanted Door a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. We'll probably stay a bit more casual and less "planned" (no reservations) on this trip, but I'd love to go back there sometime. I was in the city for the day about a month ago and had take-out lunch from Out the Door at the Ferry Building--and apparently "sold" the pork and vegetarian buns so well that now I have to take Allie there at some point. I've put Pagolac and Tu Lan on my list. Did a search on both and they look great--exactly the sort of thing we're looking for. We're staying just off Union Square, so both are in striking distance, and we're not concerned about the neighborhood or the "dive" factor.
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 04:23 PM
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ms_go,

Glad you were able to go to the Slanted Door. Do try the food court in SF Centre shopping mall - there's an Out the Door takeout and restaurant on the lower level. I can tell you more about Tu Lan and another resto at Union Square - please e-mail me at [email protected] .

sf7307 - would love to have a private discussion about SF restaurants! Please e-mail me if you get a chance.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2011, 04:58 AM
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Apologies for not following up on the post above. Right after that exchange, we found out friends from New York City also would be in the bay area on our one free night, so our plans were up in the air until the very last minute--literally until we were all standing in Union Square deciding where to go for dinner.

Ultimately, we did decide go to Tu Lan and it was perfect for what we wanted that evening. I'm certainly no authority on "authentic" Vietnamese food after only a week in Hanoi, but the whole experience and the food reminded Allie and I a lot of what we encountered there--even the prices to some extent. We spent just over $100 for eight people and ended up with WAY too much food (including a couple entire orders of summer rolls that no one had room to touch). The fried fish with ginger sauce was was great--and all the rolls ,especially the imperial rolls! Don't recall what everyone else had, but our friends eat Vietnamese food fairly often in NYC, and they also thought the food was good here. So thanks to both of you for the recommendations!

Aside from breakfast in Oakland with a Fodorite and a couple of snacks at the Ferry Building--including, yes, pork and vegetarian buns from Out the Door--all the rest of our dining consisted of sampling restaurants that were at Outside Lands (now I could also talk about the spicy Homeroom mac 'n cheese....).
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Old Aug 23rd, 2011, 10:03 AM
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Great report-thank you. I understand you can purchase really good art there at a reasonable price. Did you see many galleries and did you find it to be well priced? Thank you.
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 09:40 AM
  #108  
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Hi, southeastern. Our time in Hanoi was very limited, and unfortunately so was our luggage space. We were able to find a lot of amazingly priced gift items for family and friends (e.g. scarves, small apparel items, jewelry, etc.) but to be honest, we didn't really explore the galleries. On our trip out to HaLong Bay, the bus stopped at a very large gift shop that included an impressive selection of carvings, sculptures and the like. But none of us was interested in carrying anything, and we were content to just hang out and get snacks.
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 09:55 AM
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Mr_Go... I'm curious, did you to a trip report on Bangkok? I am enjoying your writing style. I'd love to 'see BKK' thru your eyes, on that short short short trip to my favorite city.
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 11:10 AM
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We sure did, simpson. Thanks for your kind words.

Here's the version we posted to our travel blog, with pictures and everything...
http://www.onelittleworld.com/bangkok_1.html

(Note: ms_go and I write these things as a team. The "style" is sort of an amalgam of our respective voices. The versions we post to our own site, therefore, use the third person and we refer to ourselves by name instead "I did this" or "she did that".)
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 11:15 AM
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Of course, we did post a version of that trip report here first...

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...by-mrms-go.cfm
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 01:55 PM
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Thanks so much for the link to your BKK report. As I re-read that thread, it was sounding familiar... and then, aha, there was a posting from me in the middle of it, so I really did read along with that report as it was being typed a couple of years or so ago. Anyway, a great re-read. Thanks for the link.

DS is leaving for BKK tomorrow (I'm dropping him off at ORD about 10:15ish for that long haul to NRT... and a quick shower in the Red Carpet Club... have you done that??? what a great pick-me-up!!) and then on to BKK. Wish I was going, but, alas, I was just there in April and again in July, and am going back again in October and then again in December/January for about 3 weeks, over the holidays. I will have my fill of BKK in 2011. Although... one can never get their fill of such a fantastic city, can they?

I am starting to venture further afield from Thailand, having gone to Hong Kong in April, Singapore in July, and will do Penang Malaysia in October. I must put Hanoi on my list of places to visit sometime soon, thanks to this "Hanoi Rocks" trip report.

BTW, I was not surprised at all by your comparison of crossing the streets in Hanoi and...... Naples! Been there, done that (very carefully). haha

If you are in BKK during January 2-3-4 on your next trip, it would be great to have a beer or coffee or glass of wine... whatever, and connect yet another fodorite name/face. We return from Hua Hin, back to Sukhumvit soi 8 (Adelphi Suites) on January 2nd, middle of the afternoon most probably, for a few more days, heading home to blustery cold Illinois on Jan 5th.

If it would work out, that'd be great! Anyway, thanks for that link, and thanks for the great report on Hanoi!

Carol
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 03:45 PM
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Thanks, Carol! Yes, do visit Hanoi sometime. I think you'll like it.

Haven't used the showers at NRT, but we have elsewhere, including the Asiana lounges in Seoul enroute to/from Hanoi.

Unfortunately, our schedules won't cross in January. We're not leaving here until a little after you get home...so maybe a future trip. Or, if you're ever passing by the western 'burbs on your way to Chicago/ORD, we are in the Fox Valley just off I-88, and we have a pretty good Thai restaurant here--maybe a good alternative place for a GTG sometime
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Old Aug 24th, 2011, 03:57 PM
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Sorry our schedules don't quite jibe. But, I am running along 88 quite often, actually. We'll try to schedule something sometime.
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