Happy Birthday to Me!

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Hey avid blog readers,

Today is my birthday :D yep, I'm officially OLD (as a certain Tali Osen would say- (at least I can now legally drink in the US)). This year it is the big 2 1, which is important as it will now be my perennial age

My birthday came in whilst we were on the train to Hanoi on the epic 14 hour journey. By that point, I was the only one awake in the carriage, and so was left to wish myself happy birthday. How sad. .

Arriving in Hanoi, we decided to walk to the hotel as it was quite close, although I have to write that I was not relishing the prospect given that it was 4am, wet and cold. Soon enough, we arrived at the hotel and checked in. We had called the hotel from Hue to inform them that we were coming early and asked for them to give us a room to store our cases until check-in time, and perhaps give us a free room to rest in (as otherwise we would be waiting from 4am-2pm), however, the hotel wanted to charge us for a whole extra night. Elana got him to concede to not charge us on the grounds that we didn't need him to make arrangements to have our room empty on arrival.

In any case, the receptionist took our cases and showed us to the room. We were both too tired to question this, but probably should have established that we wouldn't be paying any surcharge to avoid hassle later . Needless to say, we both fell asleep within minutes .

We awoke at midday, and since it was my birthday, Elana gave me the choice of where we went sightseeing . However, HCM's mausoleum, the Presidential Palace and other sights were too far away to spend any decent time visiting them. Instead, we decided to see the Opera House, the History Museum, and the Hoa Lo Prison (AKA: Hanoi Hilton. We think this is why the actual Hanoi Hilton calls itself the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel).

Prior to this, I decided to open a few cards that I had been given before our departure. Having taken them out of my case, however, I realised that I had lost/forgotten the card from my parents 😞 (apparently it is at home). Still, it was nice to have some cards, especially one from Theo, our dog, who I must say has excellent handwriting (it definitely couldn't have been written by Alex, then!). Elana also gave me a present- the first one that I have ever received from her! It's an awesome pocket watch, with engravings on both sides. As I told her at the time, it's the best present that I have ever received from her!

As for sightseeing, what we saw was OK, but the History Museum was a little disappointing . Mind you, it only cost $0.50 for entry, so no real complaints. The Opera House, the interior of which you can only see by viewing a performance (sadly there wasn't one on whilst we were in Hanoi), is stunning from the outside, and really gives a flavour of the colonial period.

The Hanoi Hilton was pick of the bunch. Atmospheric and evocative, we learned how the prison was used to house political prisoners during the French colonial period, and later the US POWs during the Vietnam War. One inmate is worth particular mention; Senator John McCain (runner-up, US Presidential Election 2008) was held there having been shot down over Hanoi's West Lake. There were lots of propaganda photographs at the prison, portraying the POWs as carefree and jovial, playing cards, drinking and enjoying a game of basketball. . Needless to write that these sorts of leisurely activities did not occur too regularly during their imprisonment. We also saw one of two guillotines used by the French to execute prisoners (including a gruesome photograph of 3 unfortunate victims, which left nothing to the imagination ), and death row, which played rather eerie music just as Elana reached the end of the corridor .

We returned to the hotel to freshen up for the evening, and received a phonecall from the hotel manager who still wanted to try and charge us the full rate for our early arrival. He decided to charge us only 50%!o(MISSING)f the rate ($50), and not too long after we made him capitulate entirely . Victory never tasted sweeter, particularly true because he arranged for a birthday cake to be brought to our room along with a small card.

Elana took me on a surprise taxi-ride to a restaurant a little out of the centre called Bobby Chinn- a US/Vietnamese fusion restaurant, which had received excellent reviews in RG. The menu was lively and written in a humerous style (I've got a copy as a souvenir)- it proudly told us that all the food was Hallal and as close to Kosher as possible , which put our minds at ease ! The food was delicious- we both started with pumpkin soup. Elana then had smoked duck salad followed by apple-roasted duck . I had a goats cheese and beetroot salad, followed by Barramundi fillet, which I had never had before. It is an Australian member of the cod family, and was cooked to perfection. Our meal was finished with dessert. This was the most surprising part of the meal , as Elana had ordered a tiramisu cake for my birthday with the words 'Happy 21st Birthday, Mike'. It was really thoughtful (no, I am not writing this under duress), and capped what had been a superb meal, and a memorable and fantastic birthday. I was certainly glad that Elana had chosen this option rather than one of the others, which was apparently a personalised bouquet of flowers . As we waddled out of the restaurant, both of us extremely full, we noticed that the restaurant had quite a reputation. Indeed, it turned out that Hilary Clinton had eaten at Bobby Chinn's when she visited Vietnam in 2001.

As I wrote above, I had a really memorable and awesome 21st birthday thanks to Elana . She went out of her way to make the day full of surprises, and has left me with the enormous challenge of making her 21st just as good!

Love to everyone back home, and see you soon.

Michael

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