I had another 6 or so weeks in Hanoi after my last post and was kept pretty busy with work, multiple trips to the fabric market and my tailor, and making the most of eating and drinking with good friends in a cheap country!
I didn't have any more big driving adventures heading out of the city into the surrounding area, but I did get out and about in Hanoi a fair bit.
I drove down to the south of the city one day to see my friend's gym empire that he is building down there. Not many Tays make it down that way so I was a constant source of fascination on the roads in and around Ha Dong, and possibly the cause of a few minor accidents as people drove into things because they were busy staring at me rather than looking at the road ahead of them. I met my friend at the shopping centre where one of his gyms is located and we went for lunch, then we went to his 4 gyms in the area to check them out. I was rather amused by this shop in the centre:
Anyone for some Glee Wee?!?!
Another day I met one of the Vietnamese teachers I work with at a market up at West Lake, where I introduced her to the wonders of crepes and she bought me a pretty scarf as a leaving gift, then we drove to some random alley in the middle of the city to a shop that one of her students works at selling baking products and pretty bags (quite a strange selection of things for one shop to sell!). After that we went for lunch at a favourite bun cha restaurant around the corner from where we worked, a place that I really miss!
One evening I made it to Uncle Ho's mausoleum in time for the flag ceremony. A bunch of dudes dressed in their white uniforms march across the square, the flag is taken down, the national anthem is played and the crowd sing along, and then they march back again. They do this every night, and also the reverse happens each morning as they hoist the flag.
In the run up to Christmas there were a few expat markets around the city. I didn't bother with most of them as they all tend to sell the same stuff, but I did go to the HIWC bazaar. They day was a bit grim to start with but I'm glad I dragged myself out of the house and drove halfway around the lake to get there as it perked up a bit once the sun burnt of the smog/mist/pollution/whatever it is that gloomily hangs over Hanoi in the winter. There were some stalls selling locally made products that were fun to browse, but the real treat was the section of the event that was given over to stands from different countries selling their traditional foods. There were tons of different countries, and nearly all of them had several dishes for sale so it took me ages to decide what to have for lunch! A lot of them also sold other goodies so I ended up with speculoos cookies from the Belgian stall, some curry powder from the Indian stall, and (best of all!) a little sticky toffee pudding from the British stall!! There was also a stage in the middle of the venue with a bunch of performances on it throughout the day - dance, music, kickboxing demonstrations, etc - but as each one was kept quite short it never got too boring.
The run up to Christmas also meant it was time for the work Christmas do, and it was at a pretty good venue. Plenty of cool people went along and it was held at a really nice buffet restaurant I'd always been meaning to go to but never got round to. It was next to the water park and the grounds were decorated nicely, so it was a nice evening.
Christmas Day itself was actually pretty fun - probably the best one I had in Hanoi. There were several of us at work who were looking for something to do, plus a couple of friends of people who were going to be in Hanoi for Christmas, so we ended up booking a table at the Hilton for a fancy Christmas lunch. It kicked off with mulled wine and consisted of a buffet and carvery. It didn't have all the key Christmas foods (no roast potatoes!!) but there was enough good stuff there that we were willing to overlook it. There was also free flow wine which certainly helped the party spirit.
Once lunch wrapped up we made our way over to the Metropole, which amused the locals we passed in the street as the balloon hat came with us, and settled in at the bar by the pool for a drink. We ended up going for champagne, coz we're classy like that, and several bottles later we left, but not before hunting down kiwi santa and posing for photos with him.
New Year's Eve wasn't as exciting - I was working til 8.30 and was sick so it was a bit of a bust. We went for dinner and discovered the wonder of catfish spring rolls, then went to a NYE event a friend had organised, but I bailed soon after midnight to go and curl up in bed. It was probably for the best after the excesses of Christmas!
There are more things I got up to in my last few days but I think this post is long enough as it is, so i'll save that for another day. I promise it won't be several months' wait this time!
