2nd day - insight Hanoi

Day 2 - VECO day

Breakfast  7.30 AM

Everyone would have a great time with the nice buffe in the hotel. 

Leaving to VECO office  8.30 AM

Arrive at VECO Vietnam office and Meeting with VECO Vietnam 9.30 AM

I guess everyone felt the same way about VECO where they could feel we are always like a warm family. 

We arrived at VECO and thanks to everyone who helped us to prepare the meeting room with fruit, candy and chairs in order. VECO staffs let students sit on chairs while they stood because the room was cozy. 

The meeting went well with the help of Charlotte who introduced overview about VECO, c Nhung introduced about GPS. More interestingly, we got a session to get used to with the innovative platform - SOFF. 

Students could use the platform to find organic and safe shops around Hanoi. We then later on had a shopping game session with the application. 

Lunch outside Bun dau cay da 12pm~2pm 

And now is the time for us to try another most common dish in Vietnam "Bun dau". We were impressive to see how they decorated the dish on a very small beautiful basket. However, most people expressed that the dish was not their cup of tea. 

And yes, we had ice tea there as well as Cocacola as always.

Temple of Literature, Hanoi 13.30 PM - 2.30 PM 

We had open options for students to go to Temple of Literature or stay back the hotel for a rest. We then ended up to all go to the Temple together except for me and Hannelore who went to pick up the lost luggage in Yen Phu street. 

The airport staff promised us to bring the lost luagge at 11Am then 1Pm then 2Pm but none of the promises were ketp. Thanks to An to remind us to be more tough, we finally made them tell the truth that they never actually sent it back to Hanoi.

After some phone calls, we felt thankful to meet the transporter who received the luagge from the airline. We finally could get our luagge safe and sound from him when he quickly passed by Hanoi to give us the luaggue then went to Hai Phong.

Bac Tom super market visiting  2.45 PM ~ 3.30 PM

Shopping games with SOFF. We didvided the group into 3 to buy some organic and safe vegetable in Hai Ba Trung area. 

We all went to visit one Bac Tom supermarket nearby Hoa Lu - the one was known as the biggest shop in Hanoi now. And as the sharing of a Chien, Bac Tom owner, there are 27 Bac Tom shops till July 2016. Bac Tom shop in Hoa Lu has really nice and big view but now so popular compared to other old shops. 

Our cameraman, An and me decided to go to the oldest Bac Tom which was also the most popular Bac Tom in Hanoi. There are a lot different kinds of products sold in this Bac Tom in Nguyen Cong Tru. 

We divided the group into 3, one stayed back Bac Tom for interviewing, one went to nearest Bac Tom and one went to nearest Soi Bien to buy tomato, cucumber, and apples, etc.

An didnt forget to capture the moment of a Bac Tom staff "Thong" who went to delivery the products to customers on his motorbike. 

We got an interview with a customer inside the cozy Bac Tom. The lady named Linh had a beautiful story with Bac Tom. Linh got to know Bac Tom because of her mother who used to work in Bac Tom before. She smiled to share that mother's advice about food would be always the best. 

We then got to interview Huyen - a staff in Bac Tom Nguyen Cong Tru. Huyen believed in her job and felt happy to make a contribution to organic and safe food market. Huyen was happy to let us take photo and didnt forget to tell us that she would only love to be on media when she was in Bac Tom uniform. 

We also had a chance to interview with Hang - working as a communicator who shared with us about her worries of food safety in Vietnam. She shared that her mission is to help everyone in her family, her community as well as in Vietnam to be aware of the issue and prepare healthy food for their family. 

The two groups went to buy organic food came back and we all sat in a small coffee shop nearby Bac Tom Nguyen Cong Tru. We enjoyed the juice and fruit that we bought from the shop.

An and Mike didnt forget to take some nice photos of the worker who was on the electricity pillar to fix the system, as well as the sence of drinking coconut or playing with the babies. And we did enjoy a lot the coconut but not the apples. 

A lovely story when we called the drink for An. We wanted Mango juice and An mentioned in English that made the lady thought she wanted custard-apple because in Vietnamese custard-apple has similar pronunication with mango "mang cau". 

We felt fresh and ready to continue the rest of the day. 

Get back hotel for taking shower 5.45 PM

We couldnt make it to the market because it was closed so we were in peace to just go back the hotel and took a rest before dinner time.

Dinner at Gecko  6.30pm

It was a lovely dinner in the place with pizza and vietnamese food "Ga rang". I was happy to hear a 'serious' question from Jana about my necklace because it was not in the right side. I felt interesting and it would be a reason for me to keep it as it is. 

Beer corner^^  

The group of students decided to go to check out the old quarter. It was hustle and bustle with lots of people except for a nice disco not in the right time. We enjoyed the music and ended up to stay inside a bar which faced the Ta Hien corner. We talked with each other about going back the disco at the end of the trip.