Hanoi Still Sucks (but not as bad)

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Well. If you read my previous entry “Hanoi Sucks” then you’ll have an idea of the setbacks my relationship with Hanoi has endured already. I must say I am only back here because there is no other way to get from Sapa to Halong Bay. We got to Hanoi at some ungodly hour of the morning, got ripped off twice by cab drivers and largely due to this it took us just over 2 hours from disembarking the train to finding a room and checking in. My flu had freshened up a bit after all the exercise and air-con and not sleeping properly on the train and what not of the day before, so I went to bed for most of the day. I’d kicked myself the last time in Hanoi for not crawling under a blanket and forgetting the world outside. So, considering our last time in Hanoi and how I wished I had spent the day in bed rather than out amongst it, getting screwed over and also taking into account the start to this day I thought it was a good idea.

It was. No more awful things happened - which they surely would have had I been outside in Hanoi - and I woke up feeling much better. It was our 2yr anniversary as well as being St Patricks Day. Somewhat depressed that we were spending such a special occasion in our least favourite place ever we still decided to walk around a while and look for somewhere that seemed good for food and a drink. This decision was brought on mostly from hunger and thirst which necessitated us to leave our room as our guesthouse only served sandwiches. We came across an aussie pub called The Spotted Cow, who’s sister pub must be - no doubt, I’m sure of it - The Spotted Cow in my home town of Toowoomba.

It was quite a fun night. The pub was offering a free pint to anyone wearing green so we walked back to our room and changed our shirts. Hey, free beer is free beer folks. The best part of this is I actually got Jim to wear my shirt that has the word “Treehugger” emblazoned across the front, since it was the only thing green he could wear. No chance of turning him into a hippy though. We had a giant slab each of aussie meat pie (better than any aussie meat pie I’ve had in Oz, incidently), with mashed potatoes, onion gravy and peas. We got a free beer, I beat Jim at darts, I grafitied the wall, we had interesting conversations about Vietnam and the government and politics and how it all sort of works with some expats. A good time was had by all. We walked home in the rain and went to bed.

So ends the second Hanoi entry. This must be my shortest blog ever. Sorry if any of you were looking forward to another massive rant or expecting more stories of accidental excursions to dodgy massage houses. Next stop is the beautiful Halong Bay. Let’s hope the weather holds out for us. Hope you are all doing great and as the Yiddish proverb goes: “ May your cows udder always point down.”*

Til next time…

* I really have no idea what that means but I know it’s meant to be a good thing. Feel free to message me with your interpretations.

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Photos

Hoan Kiem Lake
Could have spelt that wrong. This is a nice area in Hanoi. Yes...difficult to believe, I know, that there is a nice area in Hanoi. But there is. I promise.

The Spotted Cow
'Free Beer if you wear green for St Patrick's Day.' is what the sign said. So, we went home to change. Note Jim is wearing my 'treehugger' t-shirt. It's truly amazing what boys will do for free beer...

Grafitti
Me scrawling a message on the wall of the pub.

Grafitti
Awwww, so romantic...

Aussie Meat Pie
Ordinarily I'd be appalled if Jim took me for a meat pie on our anniversary. But I wasn't. I was as close to heaaven in Hanoi as one can be!

Darts
I won. That's all that matters...