GOOOOOOD MOOOORNING VIETNAM!!! Actually it was evening when I arrived but that phrase was stuck in my head. So it has worked out perfectly for me with travel companions. I have gone from one burner to another burner and will be meeting another burner. First was Super Nat in Phi Phi and Similan then I met up with Rachel here in Hanoi and soon I will be kicking it with Kenny D for the last leg of my trip. Now that I think of it, there is a chance I will be meeting another burner my last day in Bangkok…James.
So, anyway, again I have let the journaling go down on my priority list and have fallen very far behind. We met at the airport and went straight to our hotel. This time I booked in advance so we wouldn’t have to deal with bargain hunting which was nice. Turned out to be the nicest hotel I have stayed in thus far! The staff was super cool to us and very helpful. The first day we grabbed a map and walked around the lake. We also went to the little museum in the middle of the lake which housed a preserved giant tortoise. Later in the week we actually saw a real one in the lake. There was a crowd and we decided to go see what they were looking at. There it was, a giant tortoise floating in the water and when it stuck its head up for air everyone was snapping photos and gasping.
The street food was great too. We had pho for less than a dollar on the street, we had some delish soup for about a buck on the street and we also did some BBQing on the street. That was interesting. I tried cow udder. Not bad, a little chewy but good once it was cooked up. My favorite part of Hanoi is the Bia Hoi at night. Basically they pull some kegs out, set up some super small plastic chairs and serve fresh beer for 25cents on a few corners in the old part of town. Delish Beer Hanoi. Almost every night we would toss back a few and meet some new travelers/teachers/locals. Sounds like Vietnam is the best place to teach as they pay well so I am now considering that after the travelling and before going back to the bay…we will see!
So we rented motos to check out the town. First let me speak about the traffic. IT IS INSANE. You just have to step onto the street and walk at an even pace through the mob of motos, cyclos and cars. Mostly motos though. So it was really fun to make it across any street and a little crazy. Ok, so we rented motos. I assumed we would just get one and I would drive but Rachel wanted her own. Cool, no problem. One manual for me and an automatic for her. It wasn’t until we were at the gas station that she tells me she has never driven a moto before….WHAT??! So not only is this her first time driving but it is in the most insane traffic I have ever witnessed (Rome is second but not a close second).
We cruised around to a few sites and at one point I pulled over to check the map. Now I had seen what looked like a bamboo bong all over the place with men smoking them. I had a feeling it wasn’t ganja but we decided to hop off the bikes and investigate. No one spoke English but they gladly loaded it with tobacco and handed it to me. That fucked me up. I don’t smoke tobacco and the head rush made me sweat and super dizzy…whoa…After that we wound our way through some very narrow alleys in a totally ‘off the radar’ part of town. Very cool and also kinda hairy as you can’t see around corners and have to pass at a very slow pace. We stopped for a snack on the lake and Rachel gave herself a Hanoi Tattoo…which means she backed into my muffler and burned her calf pretty badly. It is healing alright with no infection so that is good…but ow…looks like it hurt!
The interesting thing about Vietnam is that no one speaks English. In all the other countries I have visited you can find one in a group of five that has a basic understanding of English but not here in Vietnam. We went to the revolutionary museum, the imperial and artifact museum and tried to find the B-52 lake but it was closed for some reason. At lunch one day we walked into a place packed with locals, no tourists (just my scene) and were escorted to the end of a full table. The waitress basically told us what to order and then all the people at the table started pouring us shots of a digestive type alcohol. Super cool…no English…anywhere. We also went to the water puppet show one afternoon which was super cool. Super cheap and totally worth it.
One day we decided to take the motos and try to find the Beer Hanoi brewery. I wanted a tour. We were given basic directions but it was off the map we had so once we got close it got interesting. On more than one occasion we would stop and ask someone where the beer Hanoi brewery is (actually I had the receptionist write the phrase down for me so I would just show them that). Always they would say 2 kilometers and point in a direction. After about the 5th time we were able to get the address of the place and I found a dude who said he knew where it was (sign language said it of course). I gave him a dollar to escort us there and can assure you that there is no way we would have found it…no way. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a tour so we just had a beer or two and headed out. The journey, not the destination as it were.
Around the lake and at the botanical garden we saw tons of what looked like people taking wedding photos. Apparently this is wedding season and they go all out for the photos. Several outfits, full on camera crew, lots of flowers. I would venture to guess we saw at least 30 separate wedding photo sessions.
We also did a lot of shopping while in Hanoi. Since Rachel is a burner too we were all about finding cool burning man gear…and we definitely did. Along with a shit ton of other stuff. So much that we had to buy a separate suitcase for all the shit. So, if you are reading this, I have something for you…and you and you!
On our last day in Hanoi, Rachel decided she wanted a ruby ring as this seemed to be the place to buy them. We went to the Ruby Mall which is about 12 floors of ruby dealers and looked around. Finally we decided on a store and Rachel had a custom ring developed and produced in less than 9 hours. We came back that evening to pick it up and had some delish sushi on the 18th floor of this building with an amazing view.
Then we headed to Sapa!!
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