We aimlessly roamed around Hanoi – discovering some
new nooks and crannies that we hadn’t found last time including “Grave Headstone”
Street, “Buddha Shrine Adornments” Street and Toy Street filled with lots of enormous
fluffy animals and cheap plastic trinkets. We were thinking about indulging in
a little shopping but didn’t unearth anything that caught our interest. We
found a minimalist, Western looking cafe/cooking school for lunch where the
children drooled over the menu which included sandwiches! They both had a
chicken, bacon and salad roll while Adrian and I shared some Vietnamese salads
including my favourite – lotus. We spent a little time people watching around
the lake and had a very relaxing day.
In the afternoon, after realising that we were not
able to get a room as it had been double booked, we booked flights with Jetstar
back to HCM the next day. We decided the price tag of $10 more per person than
the sleeper on the Reunification Express (which has an average speed of 50k’
p/hr) was not a sacrifice when we would land at the other end of the country in
less than 2 hours instead of “approximately” 40hours. By this time, we were
starting to feel a little time poor and concerned that we wouldn’t have enough
time for a decent look around both the Mekong and Cambodia.
That night we went in search of dinner and were happy
to discover “Gecko” – a cafe/bar/restaurant and cooking school. And here is the
address as it comes highly recommended (although we spent a little more than
usual enjoying drinks, desserts and getting a meal each instead of sharing 3
mains!) – 56 Hang Trong with website: www.geckocafe.net I gambled with another curry order and this
time I wasn’t disappointed with a tasty red chicken curry, although not spicy.
Adrian had a claypot with coconut prawns and rice while Asher and Nimah ordered
a triple decker toasted sandwich with tuna that was accompanied by French fries.
Asher suggested it was the, “best tuna sandwich ever!” As the children enjoyed Vietnamese
fruit salad with ice-cream, Adrian and I were served flaming rum and chocolate
bananas which went down a treat as the drizzly cold weather breached the cosy,
funky restaurant. Along with an Australian TV network playing, the music was
cool while the decor was a mix of ethnic art and eclectic fabrics. It was a delightful
find and I believe they have a few more eateries around the country with the
same name. In the downpour, we skipped home a little concerned about our very
early departure from the dorm the next day- and hoping we wouldn’t leave
anything behind in the dark or disturb anyone at 4:30am!
