staying in hanoi

So many hotels inside the Old Quarters, Hanoi - which one to choose?

With a budget set, i searched 'tripadvisor' for help.

The rather brand new Holiday Diamond Hotel came highly recommended for many reasons, mainly for its remarkable hospitality. 

For USD35 a night, we got an Executive Room located right at the back of the hotel. Looks cosy eh?

Nice wooden flooring makes it warm to walk around the room bare footed. There's even an LCD TV equipped with lots of station in Vietnamese. Don't worry, cable tv made American Idol available for my viewing.

See what i mean by getting a room at the back side of the hotel? You'll really appreciate the peace and quiet here, since it can get pretty noisy (mostly from the sound of horns) on the streets of Hanoi.

My favourite thing about my room - a PC and LCD monitor with FREE wireless Internet!

This six-storey hotel may not have a 5-star buffet spread, but the daily breakfast servings are just as delicious and wholesome as some of the bigger conglomerates. In fact, the girls behind the drinks counter of the restaurant would greet us in unison each morning.

The staff here (especially the one called 'Jenny') were extremely friendly and hospitable, they insisted that we  go for their buffet breakfast on the morning we were supposed to be checking-in. Hence, the very first local dish we tried was their Rice Noodle Soup.

Specially prepared with chicken slices and heaps of greens. It was very nice and full of spices.

The parents enjoyed breakfast so much that they wanted to eat it for lunch too.

Just one of my many rounds of breakfast...... hehe

yum~meh custard cream puff...

One morning, they served tender pork ribs with baked beans.

On the morning of check out, since we had to leave for the airport super early, we were kinda disappointed to be missing our regular breakfast. Much to everyone's delight, the kitchen prepared us a special breakfast set each right before we left. Just eggs and toast, but i still happily gobbled everything down. =D

This was also the first hotel i stayed in that offers complimentary fruits to their guests on a daily basis. It was nice that housekeeping surprised us with apples and bananas during our brief stay there!

Seriously, for the price we paid, we did not expect our experience here to be such a memorable one. I could never have asked for a friendlier staff, who'll answer any question you might have and who'll ask you about how your day went.

Stay here once, and i don't think you'll want to stay anywhere else.
Gahm uhn, Hanoi.... (means 'thank you')