3 local brews in one day......

Trip Start Sep 19, 2002
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Trip End Sep 22, 2003


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Sunday, May 11, 2003

7th May - Got up feeling very nervous about going out again but felt much more at ease in the light of day. We spoke to the lads in the guest house about our little fracas and they told us to tell them if it happens again as they "know people"! We bumped into our friends from the journey from hell the day before and went for breakfast together. As with each new country I attempted a coffe and then afterwards vowed not to again. Very strong with the old favourite condensed milk lurking at the bottom. I'll stick to the lemon juice which is really good in most places as long as they don't add too much sugar. We were pleased with the different feel that Hanoi's old quarter had in the daylight. Still very few cars but lots of cycles and motorbikes weaving all over the road; ladies in blue mandarin collared suits with conical hats carrying baskets on a bamboo stick selling fruit, veg, and bras!; similar ladies selling hot noodle soup made to order with a water boiler in one basket and the veg and noodles in the other ready to set down in the road to cook you up a treat; men laying in hammocks, on the floor or across the chairs while the women toiled in the shops and restaurants; and children in smart school uniforms playing tag around the customers in the market. Very Vietnam!

In the afternoon we headed over to the history museum to get a feel for Vietnam's background other than 'that war'. Our guest house told us it would cost 10,000 vnd each (it was too hot to walk). When we asked a cyclo driver how much he said "up to you" so we said "10,000 dong each?" and he just laughed. Thinking, here we go again we asked again how much and he said "$1 for 2" This is in fact only 15,000 vnd so he had turned down money in a desperate attempt to make us come back for more. Which we did. The museum was very well laid out and had some interesting stuff but not much in the way of translation. Our cyclo then took us to the pagoda on the lake which was very Chinese looking and we were reminded again of the Chinese's big influence here (other than communism obviously). We met up with our friends again to go for dinner with the intention of going to the water puppets afterwards but somehow we never got there. Instead we bought some supplies from the supermarket which took over an hour as it is a long time since we have all been in a proper shop (such as it was). Pip sat down to make his decision and was approached by a chubby 3 year old Vietnamese boy who asked "hello what is your name?" in his very bestest English prompted by his proud mum who was excited to have an Englishman to speak to. We ended up buying soft cheese (Laughing Cow again) and ritz biscuits to go with our vodka Hanoi for which we paid 1 pound 33p for a litre bottle - Wey hey! Needless to say the rest of the evening was a bit of blur and we drank to the fact that the day had passed largley without incident. I say largely because young Pip (who seems to attract problem types) (I mean, just look at me!) he must have brushed a young lad with his bag while we were looking in a shop window and these youths were sitting in the road. He started having words with Pip who obviously didn't understand so the youth frog jumped into the air holding onto his buttocks and spewing what we assume was Vietnamese expletives. Hey ho, a minor incident compared to the previous 24 hours!
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