mystery solved and a quiet night is due

---

We found the boat. For one.

We managed, after a special on jugs of LITs at le pub (actual name, not just my pretense) and playing too cool for school with the bartender of the Funky Monkey, and shooting a game and a half of pool before The Dragonfly was raided by the cops, we managed to float on just fine and do the dance til dawn thang aboard what I'm almost sure was the Titanic. I never confirmed the lady's name, but I can't imagine there's a fleet of floating clubs in Vietnam to confuse. Anyway, neither the mystery nor the boat was all it's cracked up to be, but what is.

So as it stands, Hanoi and Maw and Slink (that would be me, Maw will explain later in her guest blog coming to an email near you) have all managed to become fast friends. There's a little song I sing that's stupid and catchy and it helps me cross the road; I think it's mostly a distraction to appease the "oh my god motorbike/car/bus flying directly at you, run!" instinct that overwhelms pedestrians in Vietnam ... or the locals think I'm crazy so they're more encouraged to steer clear of me. Either way, I've managed to up my Frogger skills to a more comfortable level of confidence finally. And we've figured out how to find yummy cheap food (this duck apple noodle soup dish, no idea about the name, is just the tastiest thing ever). And there's a vietnamese suit who fancies me and teaches me things like how to say cheers in vietnamese -- and he speaks English with a Brooklyn accent and hates everybody and has fabulous bone structure. And Maw's on a date, as we speak, with a guy who hears voices in his head. Couldn't talk her out of that one.

Whatever, ahem, floats yer boat.

Hanoi holds many a man worth flinging anyway; it's amazing what happens when you remove the prostitution flag ... men are actually still accustomed to the hunt here -- as opposed to the monkeys flocking to Thailand, who, upon arrival, are given the equivalent of an easy four meals a day in a little basket in the corner of their cages -- they actually still have to try. And they do. And they've got game. 😉

Anyway, enjoying the night off and while my attempt to upload pix off my camera failed, I luckily have a sketch pad and a few untouched stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman to keep me happily entertained and flavor this long-overdue slice of solitude. T-4 days to Thailand.

---