Another morning in Hanoi, SAME SAME, but different, a standard phrase heard almost as much as, "moto? Cyclo? Where you go?" Breakfast and then walking around the city. Kyle wanted pizza for lunch, so off we went to find it. But first we had to find a DHL or FedEx to ship off more of the stuff we didn’t need. After over an hour we found a post office that had EMS which turned out to be much cheaper than DHL. So we packaged it all up and sent it off, pepper from Kampot, coffee and clothes from Vietnam, books from all over, rocks, coral, chopsticks, and other odds and ends that we didn’t need to haul around with us anymore! I find it interesting how little I actually need to get by day to day. Since we have been traveling I realized that I don’t really need all that much, of course I am still hauling my pillow around everywhere, but that is truly a necessity.
It was very hot but we walked all the way to the lake instead of taking a taxi or moto. Finally we found a place to have pizza, Kyle ordered pizza and I got a BAT, bacon, avocado and tomato, and we shared. Both were yummy. As we were finishing our meal we noticed a cat walking around the restaurant, this restaurant was actually one with a door and glass windows and ac, so it was a little strange to see a cat just walking around in the restaurant. Then it puked on the floor, nice. Oh and I haven’t mentioned this for a while but I still miss the cats very much. I think I have even suggested we go home early so I can see the cats! After lunch I had a craving for mint chocolate chip ice cream, and we remembered a place where we had had that kind of ice cream before, so we set off around the lake to the little café where Kyle and I had sat and read together the day we left for Sapa. Again the ice cream was yummy, and Kyle had a coffee. Then he wanted to read for a little while. We are such dorks!
Before we made our way to the water puppet show we needed to break the 100 USD bill we had, we needed to pay for our Laos visa with USD and you needed the correct amount. After checking at two banks we finally found one that would give us 10’s. We still wanted to find an internet place to upload pictures since it wasn’t working at our hotel. It a very touristy part of town we found an internet place and across the street was a place for Kyle to get his hair cut and I could get a pedicure.
The salon was on the second floor, and a very loud American from NY was having something done to his toes before going upstairs for a massage. He told us that his girlfriend was from Cuba, and then offered us some of his Cuban rum. We had said a few words to him, and made a few jokes between the two of us, and then after Kyle asked him where he was from, he said "oh and you guys are from Australia, right?" And he was totally serious, I think maybe he had been drinking the rum all day to mistake us for Aussies, but it was kind of fun to think that he thought we were not Americans. My pedicure was ok, I picked a bad color, and the woman who was giving me the pedicure kind of made a hang nail and then pulled it out (my toe hurt for two days after) I will probably get some foot disease now, yuck! And Kyle’s haircut was not good either. Well it wasn’t bad, the guy just basically cut Kyle’s hair, he didn’t really do much to it, or shape it nicely, I think he will have to get his haircut again before we come home. He might have been better off going to one of the guys who just have a chair on the sidewalk for haircuts, oh well it was an adventure.
It had started to rain, and of course I didn’t have my umbrella, so we got ripped off and paid too much to take a taxi to the water puppet show. Kyle seemed to think the show was mainly silly, but I really liked it. Basically it is a small theater, and instead of a stage there in a small pond with a backdrop. Then from behind the back drop they stick these puppets out and make them dance and move around. I was fascinated with how they actually got them to move so well and look so neat in the water. This was accompanied by traditional Vietnamese music performed live to the left of the stage/pond.
After the hour long performance we made our way to dinner. On the way Kyle bought a hat that says Vietnam and has the red and gold star. It is kind of like a baseball hat but flat on the top, it is a dark green color. We had Indian food, and it was superb, but a little expensive. And again after dinner we just went back to the hotel to sleep.
