Today is our last day in North Vietnam. After spending a whole day in Ninh Binh, we are flying backing to Saigon at night.

Binh An Nhien Hotel served breakfast buffet too but it actually sucked. They served bun bo hue and a variety of hot foods. The bun bo hue was just okay.. the broth was drinkable. The hot foods looked hopeful but in the end, everything wasn’t good. I couldn’t finish anything I ate at all because it wasn’t good; hence, not worth the calories.

My mom said this time, the tour food was nowhere near as good as in the past. She said they all sucked! Haha.

We went on a beautiful 2hr sampan ride through Trang An Sao Khe and visited a few temples inside. We also went under 3 different caves. It is so very beautiful. No words can describe how lush and green the nature was.

So.. on the way in we saw a soybean tofu dessert place. My mom was like “I want this on the way out.” When we concluded the sampan ride, I asked the tour guide if there were time to get it. Even though he said “no,” my mom went anyway. She really loves soybean tofu!! I didn’t realize..

The soybean tofu is called V Tau Hu. It had some similar soybean tofu and tea/coffee options as 1900 Coffee House in Ha Long, but obviously different.

I ordered the soybean tofu with avocado. It was served in a to-go paper cup. It was 35k VND. I looked inside and noticed clear pearls and just a tiny scoop of avocado. It looked so sad and definitely not as appetizing as the other place. It tasted good still! It was soft and smooth. The avocado was yummy even though minimal. The clear pearls were sweet and chewy, but more rubbery texture than boba. I was content!

We ate lunch at Cat Tuong Restaurant before walking up to a temple. We were served the same generic food to eat with rice again.

Goat. This cold goat dish tasted much better than yesterday’s. It was soft and tender. It’s supposed to be used to make spring rolls with rice paper and Vietnamese herbs, but I was lazy and ate it by itself.

Fish. It looked like catfish because it was served next to the hot and sour catfish soup. The meat was very soft.

Salad. I was excited to see this dish but my mom said to not eat fresh lettuce because it’ll give me a bad tummy.

Fried tofu. I was so excited to see this too but the first two pieces I bit into were sour (same for a few other people) so I spit it all out. I didn’t want to risk eating spoiled tofu. It’s just not worth it.

Goat sauce. We were served a thick goat sauce with goat bits, mushrooms, onions and carrots to eat with the fire rice. This restaurant made it so much better than last night’s. The fire rice was served hot, crispy yet soft at the same time. The sauce was very flavorful and many goat bits on it. The mushrooms were a nice added touch.

Rau Muon Xau. Stir-fried with garlic. It was yummy. I ate two big spoonfuls of it. Soft, no bitter taste.

Then we went walking around the temple right next to the restaurant. This temple is the biggest I’ve ever seen it! Multi level on a huge hill!

And that concludes our Ha Noi tour. We got dropped off at the airport to fly back to Saigon.

As a farewell, our tour guide took us to try a pho place that’s right at the departures wing before security checkout. He says it is very good and it is Ha Noi pho so we decided to go, why not!

Pho Bo with iced tea (50k VND). It was really good. It was very simple but the broth tasted very flavorful with lots of depth. I approve of this broth compared to the last few days! The meat was also cooked perfectly too.

To my surprise, we were served dinner on our flight back to Saigon. I opted for chicken and rice. At first I was going to get shrimp and noodles, but I looked at Carol’s shrimp noodles and it didn’t look appetizing to me so I changed my mind.

I am glad I did. Even though it looks plain and minimal, it’s the kind of basic sauce for chicken and rice that I don’t mind eating and enjoy. It had some carrots and green beans. The dessert was chocolate mousse cake that was very dry and not that good. We were also served hot jasmine tea with it.

And that concludes today! I am kinda excited to have one last day to explore Saigon tomorrow and even more excited to finally get to fly back home tomorrow night.