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Published: October 31st 2009
My last blog was getting a little long so I decided to cut it into a couple of blogs. don't want to give you information overload!
Romantic Spa For Two ;-)
After a good shower and breakfast we caught a taxi to a day spa which the hotel had already booked for us. The day spa paid for our taxi and we were shown to a romantic massage room for two... we walked in and cracked up laughing.. the room consisted of two massage tables and a lovely combined shower/spa/steam room in the corner... we had booked a 5 hour package consisting of body salt scrub, mud wrap, aromatherapy massage, facials and foot treatment (which consisted of getting rid of dead skin, exfoliation, massage and parrafin wax)..
Our massage therapists then told us BOTH to strip to nothing and get in the 'steam room' together... they then handed up really attractive disposible panties before leaving the room... we just looked at each other and completely lost it! Oh well no time like the present to really get to know each other!!! We stripped off, got the camera out and took some silly snaps (most not fit
for publishing in blog!) before squeezing (literally) into the steam room together... it was tiny and we were both squeezed onto a tiny bench, hands covering boobs, sweating our asses off hysterically laughing... visions of my Xmas day spa in Thailand back in 2006 came flooding back...
Once the steam finished we individually showered then jumped onto our massage tables... Once the salt scrub was done we were told to shower again ... sans panties.... lol we went individually and I remember sitting there on the massage table waiting.. I looked over and there was McKay showering like she didnt have a care in the world... it was almost a scene from some bad porno!!
By the end of the day we were completely blase about each other being naked and had taken about 4 showers each... we were sick of showering! But the spa package was divine and cost $100 each! At the end of our treatment we had to walk downstairs to exit and pay... I waited downstairs while McKay visited the ladies room... a few minutes later I heard McKay coming down the stairs... I then heard her scream and a crashing sound.. I looked
up at the same time to see a look of horror on McKays face as she fell down the stairs!! LOL... soooo funny! There were a few other clients sitting near me and a stack of staff around bottom of stairs... they made such a big deal about it and McKay was doing the whole "I'm fine" speech while rubbing her arm! She was sooo embarrassed... What made it even funnier for me though was that this was the SECOND time McKay had fallen down a set of stairs in a week... having did a big fall down the stairs at our Hanoi Hotel... only that time noone was around!! Hehehehe!
After leaving the spa we decided to walk back to our hotel.. we are both so in love with Hanoi and loved walking through all the busy streets of the Old Quarter where we were staying... I found a little coffee shop that was selling weasel coffee and purchased two bags.. I just hope I can get it through customs! For those who dont know what weasel coffee is, its coffee beans that have been 'shit' out the butt of a weasel.. they apparently eat the coffee seeds
and then shit out the beans... its meant to taste awesome having spent a small amount of time in the digestive system of a weasel!
Hungry we decided to eat and stumbled across a place called the Blue Butterfly... it had a lonely planet recommendation up in the wondow so we thought why not.... why was more the question by the end of it?! The food was disgusting and the Lonely Planet recommendation was probably 20 years ago... we were both getting stomach cramps by days end!!
Bia Hoi and Bugs.. Mmmm....
After getting back to the hotel we got in contact with Matt who was staying in Hanoi for a few more days alone and arranged to meet later that night for dinner... Chatting to Narelle on Facebook she told me about a recommended restaurant called Highway 4... we decided to check it out since we have been finding it hard to find a good quality authentic meal so far...
We were shown to a table upstairs and were seated on cushions on the floor.. good idea until you have to find a comfortable position with limited room for movement! We decided to
order a stack of dishes and share to try a good portion of the very yummy sounding menu... We ordered:
- stirfried crickets with prawn crackers
- shredded coconut covered deep fried prawns
- cured buffalo meat with sauces
- beef wrapped in crisp cabbage leaves
- deep fried salty duck
- AND their specialty catfish spring rolls...
Verdict? The crickets were interesting, but after about 2 crickets each we were over it.. the popping sound/feeling when you chew them made us all a little nauseous... the cured buffalo was like a strong version of beef and nice... the beef wrapped in crisp cabbage was quite nice coming with rice paper and other sauces/veg to make your own spring rolls.. the catfish spring rolls were fresh (not deep fried) and quite nice although one was enough for me... the prawn dish was DIVINE but we were so full by the time they came out that we only ate a couple each.. all wishing we had saved room for them... and as for the duck.. it was really disappointing.. the outside batter tasted like KFC chicken but there was absolutely NO meat .. just bone and gristle... it
was quite funny when McKay asked the waiter if we were meant to be eating the bones!!
On the subject of duck, both McKay and I are huge duck fans and so far have been really disappointed in all our orderings! We are yet to find a good duck dish in Vietnam but will continue the search and keep you posted!! After dinner we decided we should go out for a few drinks so decided to head to a little bar we had heard of that had 2 4 1 Caprihanas on a Tuesday called "Hair of the Dog"...
Bia Hoi Time!
We started walking but on the way stumbled across one of the famous Bia Hoi corners that Hanoi is famous for.. this is basically a street intersection that sells bia hoi on each corner.. bia hoi being the daily brewed beer that Hanoians can be seen drinking all day every day, it has no preservatives so must be consumed within 24 hours. Each day new bia hoi is delivered to the various bia hoi stands.... it basically has small chairs (kind of like those ones you used to sit on in Year 2)
out on the footpath and some of the road! Everyone sits around and drinks 3000 dong beers (that is 20 cents per beer!!).. too good an opportunity to pass we grabbed some small chairs that were vacant and found ourselves sitting in the gutter with motorbikes and cars driving past dangerously close.. oh well.. all part of the experience! We got chatting to a couple of New Zealand backpackers and drank bia hoi....
After 3 beers we were busting for a toilet which these places obviously dont have.. they are just shopfronts... one of the NZ guys Casey offered to show us to a toilet just around the corner... the privilege to use this toilet was paying 4000 dong .. which gave you the filthiest squat toilet I have EVER seen in ALL of SE Asia... EVER! No toilet paper (thankfully I travel prepared) ... I put some tiger balm under my nose, covered my nose in my dress and was still dry heaving... it didnt even have a friggin light in there so you were pissing in the dark down a squat toilet... and all over your feet.... sooooo gross!
Once back at Bia Hoi corner the
decision was made that we had to move on to a bar before the next toilet break was needed.. and since it was almost 11.30pm Bia Hoi corner was starting to shut down anyway.. Hanoi has a midnght curfew so the whole city really starts to shut down around this time of the night... We had heard that Hair of the Dog had a lock-in.. meaning that at midnight they shut the doors (lock you in) and you can keep drinking... if the Police turn up the music goes down and everyone is told to be quiet until they leave...
We had a couple of drinks and sure enough at the strike of midnight the roller door came down and we were locked in! Not long after someone banged really hard on the roller door and the music was turned down and everyone was told to be quiet... Not long after we decided to call it a night as we were meant to be getting up at 5am for a 6am tour called Hanoi Sunrise Tour... we left Matt and walked back to the hotel,
It probably wasnt the best idea but we were pretty close.. the streets
were way too dark and we had one guy approach us on a motorbike offering us a lift.. we told him no but he followed us for a block.. we were starting to get a little worried but made it home safely... knocking on the guesthouse door we were let in by a sleeping staff member and we stumbled into bed exhausted... To be continued...
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Patty
non-member comment
Hello spa and cricket lovers
Keep it up GIRLS!!!.What fun.love all the details and pics. Luv Patty