Monthly Archives: July 2008

Temples and enthnology and puppets

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All good things… the last full day in Hanoi, but at least it was to be a good one. Starting with lunch in Pepperoni’s, which now has several branches in the city. I stuck to the old favourite near the hostel, though.

Then off to the Temple of Literature. A biker outside the hostel had tried to charge us 50,000D for the ride (each, using two bikes) and seemed offended by our refusal. As we walked off, one of his mates caught up with us and offered the ride for 25,000 with us both on the same moped. Leah panicked for all of 3 seconds then agreed. Good girl!

With my sandals in my hand so they wouldn’t fall off, we zipped through the streets and prayed he’d not get stopped by the police (I didn’t have a helmet and he’s only alowed to carry one passenger) but we had no problems. At the Temple, we gave him 30,000 partly as he’d had the cheek to make fun of Leah’s size. Brave man. I’ve covered the Temple before in another post, so I’ll not wax lyrical here about it.

Next stop was the Museum of Ethnology and we were about to flag down a taxi when two xe om drivers gave us a good price to head up there. They turned out to be a great pair of guys, all fun and games, not at all pushy and became our companions for the rest of the afternoon. Again, I’ve covered the museum in detail elsewhere so I won’t repeat things, other than to highly recommend it to visitors.

We had time for an hour at Blue Dragon where we got to see a workshop they’ve started up so the kids can learn how to repair biked and car engines. Smashing idea. I also met Van again, the wonderful guy who showed me around Hanoi when I was working for BDCF the first time. He’s now married with a little kid of his own! And his only quibble was that he didn’t know I was coming so he couldn’t arrange to take me out. What a guy.

A little more time playing rock/paper/scissors with some of the smaller children and we went outside to get our motos… only we couldn’t see them. They’d popped round the corner for a beer and were checking intermittently for us reappearing! We could easily have hopped on two more bikes and vanished, but they’d been genuinely great guys so we weren’t about to screw them over.

They had offered to chat to us over a beer, but our water puppet tickets restricted our free time and they got us to the show as the doors were opening. We overpaid for their time/distance but the extra was well worth it for the fun we’d had and it was still peanuts.

Once more, water puppets are in an earlier post though I think the show is now a little shorter than it used to be. Not a bad thing as I felt it dragged the first time I saw it. We’d also gone for the 20000d “cheap” tickets this time and the only difference was being seated further back.

We decided to have dinner in a new restaurant next door to the city view, above a posh clothes shop. It has a balcony, but unfortunately the rain and wind made this unusable and we walked down a floor to their inside room instead. A great decision as we ended up with our personal waitress, a room to ourselves and a TV with the remote control… and an absolutely superb meal. It was the Bon Mua (a Hapro restaurant) at 38-40 Le Thai To Street, just opposite the north bank of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Bia Hoi next (for a change) where we met some folk we’d bumped into on the first night. Leah tried some of the dried squid sold on the street and declared it tasted like “smelly feet”, but struggled to get rid of it. The problem being that the woman who sold it had to get the little plastic plate back and she kept watching us so we couldn’t throw the food away! Back at the hostel, we had time for one quick beer before a comparatively early night in our crowded but comfy dorm.

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Down below!

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I have been updating the blog the last few days. Please scroll down and you’ll see a fair bit added since things went wayward. I just posted the July 11th item with pictures and everything!

As of this moment, I’m sat in Hanoi and we fly out for Bangkok again tomorrow afternoon. For more details you’ll just have to wait till I catch up again…

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Back to the Blue Dragon

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Our main destination this day was to be the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, the charity I raised the cash for when I did my Walk. We picked up a taxi to get there, though it turned out not to be so far out and closer to the old building than I’d thought.

The new premises are great. Much more spacious and professional and simply more convenient having all the facilities under one roof rather than spread over three buildings in a street. There are still some “annexes” such as a couple of houses for sleeping in which are close by.

Time whizzed by as we played with the kids and shared lunch with them. Mike showed off the new building and all the facilities and then they had a little presentation for me – a video they’d made followed by a gift of a cuddle blue dragon of my very own! Thanks to everyone, you didn’t have to but it was massively appreciated!

Sadly, we had other places to be later in the afternoon so flagged down two motorcycles and haggled them to a reasonable price to take us to the Sofitel Metropole for the chocolate buffet. We were meant to meet Kat here, but she never showed up and we splurged far too much money on posh chocs and lemon juice by ourselves. It’s gone up in price since my last visit to $15 plus service charge plus tax. Our $40+ bill was more than we paid per person for our 3-day Mekong trip… It’s every day from 15:00 to 17:50 if you have the stomach for it.

We found Kat back at the hostel where she’d been busy sorting things out as she had to catch her bus down south that evening. Fortunately we did get a chance to say our goodbyes as she and her new travelling companion (her original ones having to go on without her) were picked up.

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Another day in Hanoi

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Next day we walked the streets with Kat and Hanno. Nothing new, just checking the shops and seeing what’s changed. And believe me, Hanoi has changed since my last visit. Prices are higher, housing is making way for businesses and there are four or five KFCs including one at the top of Hoan Kiem Lake where we had lunch. Madness.

As the day wore on I seemed to develop a rather annoying cold but managed to survive by eating all my remaining painkillers. And drenching a hanky. And every paper tissue I could lay my nose on. Not a pleasant way to spend a day.

Back at the hostel Kat discovered that her package had turned up so she could leave the next day. To say she was over the moon was an understatement! We also met three lads from England who were here to volunteer at a small village outside town, playing with children and attempting to teach them English. We took them to the City View where I found that the prices had gone up, but so had the quality of food and service although the menu’s still a little bizarre. I had pork with an apple sauce, potato, pasta with tomato sauce, and veg. Yes, potato and pasta on the same dish. Weird.

Of course, we followed that up with Bia Hoi. Back at the hostel, my attempts to buy a beer were met with cries of “put your money back in your pocket! If you don’t know how to get your own beer now, you shouldn’t have come back!”

I ended up tending bar (for myself and others) for an hour. I was also informed that next time I was just to check myself into the hostel and not bother the staff. I’m going to try that…

Afterwards I had a late night tapping away on the laptop as an Irish guy and an English girl sat near me in the otherwise empty bar telling each other how fantastic they were… before sucking tongue and finally leaving me in peace before I was sick. Seriously, people – there are alleyways for that kind of thing. Think of my sanity.

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Hanoi – again!

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We walked down the road to have breakfast in a boulangerie which supports a local charity. The pastries were excellent and just right for a starting meal. We panicked a little as it got close to the time when our bus was meant to pick us up, so flagged down a taxi to take us to the office with our luggage. Actually, at first we thought the taxi was there to pick us up, but we rapidly realised he was just cruising and looking for a fare!

Fair do’s though, the driver was polite and helpful and despite a language barrier between us we got where we needed to go in good time to jump on the coach… and watch as it rounded the block to stop in front of our hotel and wait for us. Oh dear. So for those of you who book a Vietnam Airlines bus in Hué with pickup – it will come for you. If you’re patient.

We chatted to a French couple on the bus who had been visiting their daughter, a medical student based down in Hoi An. They were on the same flight as us and seemed remarkably unphased by the whole Vietnam thing. Hué airport isn’t huge, but here’s a hint – if you don’t like people smoking round you then go through the security check as soon as you have your boarding card. It’s not obvious from outside, but there’s a waiting lounge on the other end with seating, a TV, food and a no smoking policy. I wish I’d known this before I came close to vomiting on the guy next to us.

Our flight was called and we piled down stairs and were shoehorned onto the little shuttle bus. Which then – and I kid you not – did a U-turn then let us out at the plane doors. I do not exaggerate one bit. The bus travelled more distance doing the turn than we would have covered walking directly to the steps in a fraction of the time. The bus engine was running the whole time. Madness.

The actual flight was probably more ecological as it was fairly full and we got into Hanoi pretty much on time. I feel like I know this place backwards now, and we walked outside and straight onto one of the Vietnam Airline minibuses which took us into the Old Quarter for 30,000 Dong each. Apologies to the French couple as we got the last two seats on the bus, meaning they had to wait for the next one to fill up!

At the hostel I got my usual “What the hell are you doing back here?” from Mike and Max, as well as a welcoming beer and a hearty handshake. Luggage dumped, we made the most of happy hour (believe me… I really made the most of it) loading up on beer and cocktails before attacking the burger bar for dinner. This is three nights a week, and on the balcony bar of the main building.

Ah, main building. Yes. The Hanoi Backpacker’s Hostel is now in three buildings along the same street, such is the popularity of the place. There’s the original place (now with a new bar on the ground floor), The Annexe and The Other Side across the street. 179 beds and almost always full to the brim. They even had two camp beds down in our dorm at one point to accommodate overflow.

We met a girl called Kat who was in much the same state I was 2 years ago – sat waiting for a new bank card to arrive after hers had been stolen. Also in the hostel was Hanno, a German guy on holiday from working on his thesis at the Primate Centre in Ninh Binh. As we settled down to eat, Mike announced a second happy hour in my honour as I’ve been at the hostel so often!

Along with a bunch of other people we headed out to the Bia Hoi, which was a lot quieter than I remember. I have a feeling the police have clamped down on the way the chairs used to spill onto the roadside. Bunch of killjoys. The beer’s also now 3000D, up 1000D from my last visit but still cheap enough!. Leah and Kat headed back to the hostel, but I stayed out with a couple of other guys for a few more beers in the Buddha Bar. Apparently it was around 4am when I got back to the hostel. All I know is I spent around eight quid and had a great night out!

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