After Halong Bay

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Just got back from the market in Saigon where I bought a number of indispensable items, including a knockoff Burberry watch, which the lovely man assured me was a good fake. I won't tell you what I paid for it, but less than he asked.

It's been hard to keep up with reporting on everything that's been happening...there has been so much. I'll try to keep things in order though by posting a few pictures kind of in order. I really pity poor Vard, as he's going to have to sit with me for hours on end while I spin yarns for hundreds of pictures, most of the stories involving food, traffic, temples or toilets. The toilet stories are some of the most interesting, but you'll be happy to know I have no pictures.

We left Halong Bay after lunch so arrived back in Hanoi with enough time to snoop around a bit before heading to the station to catch the night train. I went to see the Temple of Literature, and then to a restaurant called Koto, which stands for Know One Teach One, similar to Kids in the Hall where they take street kids and teach them skills and they work in the restaurant. After that I had one of my famous “I'm sure I know where it is and we can easily walk there from here” moments, dragging along Trent and Sarah until we eventually gave up and caught a cab. We were at a point where we knew we had to cross the street, knew there was no way in heck we'd get that done and live, so hailed a cab on the other side of the street who was facing the wrong direction and watched him pull the slow motion U-turn to come and get us. Then it was off to catch the night train. I shared a cabin with 3 guys.

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Photos

Night train
I didn't get under the covers as Dara told me they don't wash them between people. The walls were quite alive with cockroaches, and I couldn't figure out how to unlock the door when I had to get up to pee. Sigh. Trevor eventually woke up and showed me how. Not a lot of sleep that night, but fun in a OMG kind of way.