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Published: October 24th 2009
The beginning of our trip to Vietnam has been an adventure and a half.. we definitely hit the ground running! It started at the airport when I realised that McKay and I didn’t really have a set plan on how to find each other once in Hanoi.. there were some random suggestions to meet at the baggage carousel but after realising that there were two individual areas I had to go to Plan B - nothing but hope!!
After thinking about it for awhile I decided to head to Gate B and just take my chances… McKays plane was due in about half an hour after mine… I was starting to get worried but 45 minutes after her plane landed she walked through the exit and I breathed a sigh of relief!
We had a driver waiting and once we organised some currency exchange we set off for our guesthouse.. Wow! Vietnam is everything and nothing like I expected.. a very similar experience to Thailand but hardly any signs of westernisation or tourism!! The roads were completely insane and made my hell bus ride the night before look so tame!
We arrived at our guesthouse and were promptly
Bun Cha Nem Cua be
Should we eat this or not?!?!greeted by two wonderful staff who knew my name without asking and offered us a free breakfast before heading to our room. Once in the room we were pleasantly surprised.. For $25 a night we had an airconditioned room with minibar, free wifi, television and hot water. We even had a view over the street below.
Once we settled in we decided it was time to go in search of food and also sort out our cruise for Halong Bay for the following day. The receptionist gave us a map and showed us where a few places were of interest. While we we talking to her another traveller approached us and gave us a couple of recommendations for food. One of them sounded divine so we set off to find it. He told us that it was mentioned in the New York Times and that there was no menu… you just sit down and they put the food in front of you!
DAC KIM - Bun Cha Nem Cua be
We eventually found it, although our navigational skills left alot to be desired. We were directed to sit at a communal table and before we
could say anything we had all these plates of different food in front of us and we had no idea what it was! There was a massive plate of herbs n lettuce, a big bowl of garlic and chilli, our own bowls of pork meatballs, a bowl of sauce with sliced papaya in it, a plate of crab springrolls and a large plate of noodles each... not really sure what to do we just piled a bit of everything into the empty bowl we were given and ate.. It was fantastic... they also placed beers in front of us... we were giggling like school girls as we werent sure if it was going to kill us.. the food preparation area left alot to be desired but we figured what the hell! After eating the bill came to a grand total of under $10 for all the food AND two beers! Crazy!
For those interested the restaurant is called DAC KIM and it is at 1 Hang Manh Str in the Old Quarter of Hanoi...
Scammed scammed scammed....
After lunch we decided to walk around to get our bearings, book tickets to the Water Puppet show
that night (apparently a must see in Hanoi) and reconfirm our Halong Bay tour.. On the way we started to get the whole scam hassle.. the first disaster was when we were walking along and we had 4 women approach us wearing conical hats and carrying the baskets on the sticks over their shoulders (see photos)... One suddenly threw her hat on McKay and the baskets over her shoulder.. I was yelling at McKay "no no dont do it" knowing full well they were going to charge her for it! I quickly took a photo knowing full well they would hassle her for money anyway but before I could do anything two had accosted me, thrown their baskets on both shoulders, shoved a conical hat on my head, grabbed my camera and were snapping away.... They were sooo fast and sooo aggressive and had us dressed up in their garb before we even knew what was happening... DOH!
They then started not surprisingly demanding money wanting 50,000 dong EACH... McKay gave in and gave her two the money, I gave 50,000 dong to one and then told them to share it before storming off... LOL... Within minutes of this
scam, I was accosted by a guy selling hammocks who followed me for over 20 minutes trying to sell the hammock... it got so cheap that i was tempted but was made of a material that I am sure if I tried to lay in it, would snap!
Cyclo Man Curse
Once at the Halong Bay tour office we ran into problems with our confirmation.. they said we hadnt paid our deposit when in fact we had paid the full amount... it was eventually sorted and when we started to walk back to the guesthouse a cyclo driver approached us to 'take a ride'... well he took us for a ride alright... Its kind of confusing but the ride was $3 and McKay gave him a $5 note.. he then gave her $2 change in $1 notes then started freaking out saying the $2 she already had in her hand was his... It turned into a really aggressive situation with him trying to snatch money out of McKays hand...
We grabbed the $5 back from him and I gave him 60,000 dong (equivilent to $4 roughly) ... he still kept screaming at us saying
we had stolen his money... a massive crowd of Vietnamese people crowded around us to stare... it was so embarrassing and eventually a young girl who spoke English came to our rescue to try sort out it out... He was claiming we stole his $2!
We explained what had happened to her and all she could do was apologise while he continued ranting and raving... eventually two Vietnamese women came over and started going off at him in Vietnamese... it appeared that they were defending us and telling him to get lost... Right before we walked away, he got really close to McKays face, pointed his finger in her face and says "YOU.... VIETNAM... NO GOOD" .. We swear it was a curse! LOL
Floating Ants... the curse kicks in!
We ran to the safety of our guesthouse and mused over how bad his curse would be!! On the way in, we noticed a couple of chickens milling around next door with a crowd of Vietnamese. We stopped to look and realised it was a cockfight... it was pretty full on, and they would seperate the chickens every so often and wet them down, massage
them up then throw them at the other one for another round... I probably shouldnt laugh but it was interesting to watch... After all the drama we decided we needed a strong coffee and so we crossed the road to a little cafe... we sat at little tables on the street corner and ordered a traditional Vietnamese coffee (black with Sweetened Condensed Milk on the side).. it wasnt exactly traditional and when I almost had finished my coffee, McKay pointed out the dead ant on the inside wall of my cup.... as I took a further look there were another two floating in my coffee.... the curse had begun!
We headed back to the hotel, had a quick freshen up and left for the water puppet show... we were both expecting it to be an outdoor event at the Lake but soon realised it was inside a theatre... slightly disappointed we trekked inside.. I then had to pay an extra $1 to take photos... hmmmm....
WTF....
The show started and there was noone else in our row so we decided to get in the middle for better phototaking.. about 10 minutes into the show some
men walked in and we were like 'uh-oh' ... next thing you know we have some Vietnamese official lady yelling across the theatre at us to MOVE!! She was coming towards us in front of the whole theatre and show and yelling 'you move you move' ... so embarrassing but so so funny.... like naughty school girls we scuttled back to our seats on the end....
As for the actual show.. it was SOOOO bad... people around us were falling asleep, yawning, reading books... doing anything to stop the torture... if you are 5 years old you might find it ok but I hated it... I appreciate the artistic side of it... but the show itself was BAD!! That is one hour of my life I will never get back!!
After the puppet show, we headed to a small restaurant called Al Frescos which was said to have the best Frozen Margaritas and Mexican in town... the guide book is pretty spot on.. the JUG of Margarita cost us less than $10 and was STRONG! We shared a plate of Nachos and then McKay had fish n chips and I had Fajitas... the Fajitas were sooo good.. it
came out in all seperate dishes and you put it together yourself! The table was a paper tablecloth with crayons provided so after we ate, I gave McKay a lesson in Australian geography... and while we were finishing our Margaritas I heard a noise above us.. I looked up and there was a GIANT rat running across the beam... we both sat there staring at it... it turned and ran back towards us.. we were out of there quick smart! LOL
As we walked home from the restaurant the whole town shut up shop. They have a midnight curfew and it was amazing to see this crazy little city turn from a noisy bustling jumble of people, cars and motorbikes to a dark almost deserted town... Back at the guesthouse we collapsed into bed exhausted from Day 1 in Vietnam!
Love to all
Reet and McKay xxx
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Lee
non-member comment
SAME, SAME BUT DIFFERENT...?
WOW Reet, what an interesting first day, keep your wits about you. Looking forward to reading more. Lee xx