Another update in less than a week! Having time off work means I actually do things!

So, Friday was the day I went on my last trek around the city that I wrote about and then in the evening it was Alison and Calder's farewell drinks thing at Derry's. Lots of people came and it was fun, and best of all it only took me a minute to walk home after the police closed the party down at midnight!

The next day I met Alison and Calder at Hanoi tower for lunch and a haircut, and then the following day was their last day in the country. I went to collect some bits and pieces from them and then later in the day they bought round things they hadn't had time to get rid of for me to post on to them after Tet madness has passed. In the evening we went to Derry's for dinner and Lyle joined us. After dinner we walked down to the Sofitel for an expensive drink



then went back to Derry's for something more affordable.

On Monday i went round to Alison and Calder's place at 5.30 in the morning to help them get the last of their stuff down the 5 flights of stairs and say goodbye to them :o( After a few more hours sleep in the morning I then ventured into the Old Quarter to return Alison's bike (another thing she had no time for due to the mental traffic) and walked home through the crazy. I decided to head out again on Tuesday when I was in a slightly better mood and see what was going on. Went back up towards the flower market as it's close to the places I go to shop for food and it was rather busy with people buying all the things they need for Tet and then cluttering up the road while waiting for a taxi (there weren't many passing) or bus to take them home. There were also cars randomly parked at the side of the street causing traffic to move even slower than usual. I'm glad I was walking and not trying to get my bike through all that mayhem!




From there I walked down to the Old Quarter to see what was happening there. I went to Hang Ma which is where all the Tet shops are and walked down to see all the things that were for sale. For some reason there had been no decision to close off the street to traffic so there were cars and bikes trying to squeeze along between all the stuff that was for sale at the edge of the road and all the people walking along the street. That kinda ruined the atmosphere a bit!




The street ended by Dong Xuan market where there was the usual mayhem X 10



From there it was a pretty short walk back to my place, and on the way I passed this night light stall by the side of the street. I though that was pretty neat!



Yesterday was New Year's Eve (if you operate on the lunar calendar) so i spent the day at home to avoid to streets, but in the evening I decided to head out and see what was happening by the lake at midnight. The streets were quite busy getting there and it was pretty rammed by the lake, but I found a spot to stand at and watch the midnight fireworks. They weren't exactly up to the standard of those in places like Sydney and London but as their last attempts at fireworks for the Thang Long celebrations ended in deadly disaster at My Dinh stadium I guess the ones last night were a success!




Headed home after that and on the way back saw people setting things up on the street and burning their offerings for assorted Gods and ancestors.






Today was supposed to be quieter than usual as most people are either staying home or visiting family and friends so I went to the Old Quarter to go get lunch at my favourite cafe. The streets were quieter, I think partly because not much was open so there was no stuff spilling out onto the street. People were out visiting so they were all rather smartly dressed but were getting from place to place in a rather orderly way so it wasn't too bad to get around. After lunch I went to Long Bien bridge and walked part way across to the island in the middle of the river. There are some stairs down so I headed down and walked along the path there for a bit. It's a pretty poor place, and it's mainly farming on the island. It was nice and quiet thought, and I even saw butterflies!!




I also witnessed this guy - he spent ages balanced on his head!



I updated the album with more pictures from the past few days

This evening was supposed to be spent packing ready for my trip to Laos but so far I've not actually achieved anything much! Not going to the airport til 3 tomorrow though so I guess I have time then to pack.

I also realised I didn't describe the moving process in my last post - it's very different to any other time I've moved!. I enlisted Tuan's help as I don't think I could have pulled it off by myself. He came to my place and we got all my stuff piled up in the lounge, then he set to trying to arrange a truck to move it. Unfortunately they were either fully booked or reluctant to come out so close to the truck curfew (they're not allowed in certain parts of the city in rush hour). We didn't want to wait til 8 for one to be free so chose instead to get a big taxi. Tuan called then we waited and waited and waited and waited, then finally after about an hour a taxi came to the end of the lane. Tuan went to try and convince the driver to come part way down the lane but he didn't want to as it was busy so he told the driver to wait while we moved my stuff down the lane to the road. He came back with a cyclo driver and we piled all my stuff on to the seat then the guy pulled it down to the main road. Got there to find the taxi had buggered off so we called another one and waited and waited some more. We also tried a few other taxi companies but nothing was available as it was rush hour and all the ones driving past were full so in the end Tuan negotiated for the cyclo driver to take my stuff all the way to my new place. All my stuff was rearranged on the cyclo and tied down to make it more secure then the guy set of cycling to Truc Bach. Tuan drove my bike behind him and I sat on the back with various bags hanging from my hands and we slowly made our way there. Once outside my new place I was instructed to wait outside and watch my stuff while Tuan and the cyclo boy carted all my stuff up 2 flights of stairs to my apartment. It was certainly different! That weekend I also used Tuan to help me get some furniture for my place. There are lots of expensive ex-pat furniture places around town, but close to the gym in furniture street which has heaps of stuff available and is much cheaper. Only catch is unlike the ex-pat furniture shops there is not much English and no fixed prices so Tuan came to negotiate and arrange delivery - a bookshelf and a dressing table arrived soon after at my place strapped to the back of a motorbike. It required a bit more effort than it would back home to move but it all worked out well in the end.

Finally a real update! Despite only working a 3 day week this term I've been pretty busy. I had to move as my landlady decided to sell the house I was living and I decided to give apartment living a shot. It's more expensive than renting a room in a shared house, but it's actually quite nice to have my own space so I think it's worth it. Plus I get this view, though right now the weather isn't great so it rarely looks like this. -



I'm about the same distance to work, but I'm closer to West Lake and I seem to be closer to the Old Quarter. I live in Truc Bach now and it seems to be tacked onto the end of the OQ so it appears to be easier to get to places in the OQ than before, but that might just be because Doi Can was such a horrible road to drive down. I decided to walk into the OQ last Saturday evening to stock up on DVDs ready for the crazy people avoidance/city shutdown that happens at this time of year (next week is Tet and right now the city is MENTAL! It's only gonna get worse too :o/) There are lots of lights up around Hoan Kiem Lake and the temple is all decked out.



Tet seems to be sponsored by Tiger this year - past years have been Heineken!



I've spent the past couple of days checking out the neighbourhood and getting things sorted, and I also spent an hour in the bookshop yesterday. It's now just a couple of minutes walk from my house! Dangerous... I'm now much closer to bus routes (there was only ever 1 bus going along Doi Can and it went in a direction I would never want to go in!) so I've found it easier to get places without my motorbike, which is good at this time of year as people are preparing for Tet and clogging up the streets all hours of the day and night.

This is now a common sight in Hanoi! Usually most people have just one tree on their bike but anywere you go in this city right now there are bikes with kumquat trees swaying wildly on the back!



Today I decided to get the bus to West Lake and check out the flower market and the places people go for Tet trees. I encountered this broom saleswoman on my way to the bus stop (I don't know why it amused me so much!)



Once at the flower market I walked down one of the lanes next to it, just to see where it went. Passed the local fruit shop



then the lane opened up and was surrounded by fields where people were growing and selling flowers and kumquat trees for Tet. I walked down the tracks and through a local village towards the river. I guess after Tet these people grow other things, as it was a pretty poor place without much decent housing but right now it seems to be all about kumquat trees.









The river seems to be pretty low right now so I wonder what the people who rely on it to make a living are doing right now to earn money?



Followed the river for a bit, then turned back to go to the main road. Headed to the chippy for lunch (oh, yes, a chippy has opened up in Hanoi!! It's not quite the same quality as those back home but it ain't bad! It also has a view over West Lake)




Finished up walking to the flower market where I bought some pretty flowers.



People have been asking for photos of my apartment - here it is!






Here are some more pics of Hanoi getting ready for Tet

The lack of updates is due to the fact that I've been busy moving into a new apartment! Will try and write an update tomorrow about all the fun and games that moving in Vietnam entails.

Have just got back from dinner at a North Korean restaurant! Can't say it was the best dining experience ever - there seemed to be a lot of cold pickled stuff on the table but it was certainly an experience! There is sometimes a performance of traditional songs but I guess there weren't enough customers in the place for it to happen tonight. It was quite pricey but some of it was nice. Not so much the kimchi and dumplings with the pickled stuff inside though! The waitresses are all from North Korea and speak good Vietnamese, but not much English so we couldn't really find out much about them. It made a change from our usual dining experience but I don't think I'm going to return any time soon.

I had a vaguely festive Christmas here in Hanoi. Had some gifts from back home to open (I was proud of my ability to save them til Christmas day to open!) and then spent the day with Calder and Alison.



We had a Christmas lunch with lots of good stuff ordered in from the local deli. Alison also made some yorkshire puddings to go with it!



We spent the rest of the day watching TV and snacking - just like at home!


On New Years Eve I went to Derry's with Alison, Calder and Nat, and some other people were there. It was pretty much like any other night until midnight when ABBA blasted out (there is no Auld Lang Syne here!) and everyone started dancing around the place to ABBA. Thankfully it wasn't really Nat's thing either so we lurked at the back til the dancing ended!

Have been rather busy this weekend - my weekends are usually measured in how many movies and TV shows I'm able to watch and this weekend has been a grand total of zero!

Yesterday I got up early (for a Saturday!) to go meet Tuan and help him with his marketing job (tho I think really all I did was talk a lot and keep him entertained - is that helping?) which was actually rather nice! We went for some noodles first at a place where the customers got to start their day with a good long stare at the white girl, then we took his bike and drove here there and everywhere to pick up and drop off things. Started in the Old Quarter on calendar street to get some calendars, then loaded them onto the bike and drove out to some industrial estate to get stickers. As weird as this might sound, the industrial park was quite a nice place to read my book for a bit while waiting for him to get things done! Not much traffic and no horns! I could actually hear birds, and there were trees and flowers around at the side of the roads, and I guess as it was so far out on the outskirts of Hanoi it was pretty peaceful. Next up we went through some winding lanes to a printing place that was again rather peaceful before finally heading many many kilometres out of Hanoi. The main highway of doom wasn't exactly fun, but then we turned off onto the smaller roads past rice fields and stuff and that was cool. Once the stuff had been delivered we went to some chicken place that sells really fresh, good quality chicken (I guess as they get to grow up eating real chicken-friendly foods they're tastier and less scrawny than the ones roaming the streets of Hanoi!) and had quite a feast of rice, vegetables and assorted chicken bits. There was boiled chicken, fried chicken and a selection of dodgy parts:





Neither of us went for the fried chicken head, and I didn't really fancy chicken feet, especially after all the crunching that happened when Tuan ate one. The regular chicken meat was very tasty though! After that we headed back into Hanoi and he took me to a decent currency shop to get some dollars for my trip to Laos (yeah, another holiday! Just for a week at Tet to get some peace and quiet) then I spent ages trying to decide which fancy quilt to buy in teh quilt shop. It gets kinda chilly at night right now so I decided it was time to invest in a quilt so I don't have to shiver myself to sleep any more. It's been a little cold recently (apparently due to a Siberian breeze?!?) and I've taken to wearing real shoes rather than flip flops when riding around. Even had to get some gloves out the other day it was so cold on the bike! When you get some speed up your fingers get pretty chilly from the breeze. Thankfully yesterday wasn't such a cold day though as several hours on a motorbike wouldn't be nearly as tolerable in the cold!

Once back home one housemate was leaving and another was moving in so I had a brief chat with them, then got in touch with Alison to find out about our plans for dinner. Was told that after heading to a wedding party at 11am and drinking all day (at this point it was 4) dinner probably wouldn't be happening. Went to join her and Calder, Emma and Russell and the new boy at ACET, Mark, for some drinks at a new bar. About 6.30 people decided it was time to eat so we went back to Emma and Russell's just down the road for pizza, and of course more booze. They have a dog that was shut in the bathroom while the pizza was being eaten but somehow Emma accidentally locked him in. This being Vietnam, of course the screws are all on the inside of the locked bathroom door and there appeared to be no way to get in so it took quite an effort to get the door open again. My hair grips were sacrificed for the cause, though I don't know if they opened the door in the end as by the time the dog was freed I'd got bored standing round listening to drunks discussing the problem so was sitting in the lounge having a chat!

Today just seemed to be a day of errands, and then I ended up at the gym as the step class was starting. Got talked into joining and it was hell!!! Probably good for me though.

I don't even get my relaxing start to the week, working just 2 hours each evening for the first 3 days as I've agreed to cover for another teacher so will be at work every day for an afternoon and evening shift. It is the last week of this term though so it's not too hard, particularly at the end of the week when it's just exams and a movie!

Things I've done recently -

Went for a somewhat international Thanksgiving dinner at Alison and Calder's place with Nat. Turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding! Had pumpkin pie for dessert - not sure if I like it or not. Perhaps I just need to eat more of it!



Also went for dinner at their place last weekend and stole their toaster oven to make a syrup sponge with custard. It was an interesting experience baking in a toaster oven but it worked out right in the end!

Sampled some random Vietnamese food. Met Tuan for lunch a couple of weeks ago and we went to some restaurant in Hanoi that serves a whole range of Vietnamese food. Most stuff I knew but we had some weird deep fried rice paper thing with meat and bean sprouts in the middle that was then broken up and rolled in fresh rice paper sheets and dipped into a fish sauce of some description. Despite sounding rather strange, it was pretty tasty. He also took me to what is apparently the best pho shop in the Old Quarter one evening when he was killing time between tours. It was certainly very tasty, but I don't think I"m enough of an expert to judge if it is the best!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to walk into the Old Quarter on Saturday evening and see what was happening in the city. I'd gone in the week before to meet Tuan briefly and forgot how mentalist it can get on a Saturday evening so I decided to venture out (on foot - driving the Saturday before to get there had been horiffic. I was quite glad that when I met him he insisted on riding my bike. Realised that I suck at being a passenger though as I'm used to being in control of my bike!) and see what I could find.


Exercising by Uncle Ho.


Stopping for corn at the side of the road.


Hoan Kiem Lake at night - it's nicer then coz you can't see all the crap floating in it.


She's dressed in her finest Saturday night pyjamas for a night on the town!

The rest of the photos are here

I might get round to writing something this weekend!

Finally writing about my trip home! (Even though most of the people reading this are people who saw me...)

Apart from overindulging in ridiculous amounts of food and going crazy with the shopping, I visited a whole bunch of places and saw heaps of cool people.

I spent a few days in London and went to the Imperial War Museum (yet again) because I love the place

and then spent the rest of the time catching up with Gemma. We mainly shopped and gossiped, and it was fun!

After that was my trip to Brighton which was awesome.


Stayed in a flat there with Liz and due to access to a kitchen got stupidly excited in ASDA about simple things and the ability to buy everything you could ever possibly want to eat under one roof. After doing this I think I cooked twice (if you count a fry up as cooking!) and spent the rest of the time eating out. We indulged in chips on the beach which is aways a good experience, and went to the Chinese place for a feast. Also spent an afternoon in a pub in Lewes where there was good pub grub to be had. The other gastronomic delight was a feast of dubious snacks from China that I'd sent to Kyle, Mary and Liz back in February but they had been too scared (:op) to try. There was of course some more shopping to be done, and a couple of walks along the pier,

as well as lots of time spent generally just catching up with people. Shockingly there was no trip to Audio - we were unsure about the DJ playing there on the Wednesday I was in town so instead we opted instead for a trip to Digital to see what the cheap student night was like. We came to the conclusion that if it sucked we could always leave a go check out Audio but the cheap drinks plus (and I'm surprised to admit this) good fun music meant that we stayed put and had a merry old time,

topped off with a trip to the all night diner for a late night grease injection afterwards. We also went to a second night at Digital, the incredibly lame sounding shades rave

and I was not nearly as impressed by that one. Gem came down on that day so the trip to the pub beforehand was far more exciting as even smelly Mary came along and there was good company with kiwi fruit vodka. What more could you want?! After the lame shades rave Gem and Kyle stayed at the flat with us and then we got up at stupid o'clock to catch a bus to the station for an adventure in Wales.

Wales was far more sedate than Brighton but still good fun! Liz put Kyle and me up in her house, and I finally got to meet Mr Liz. He made an excellent first impression by cooking an awesome roast which was welcome after a long train ride following a night of little sleep! We went to Cardiff for the day and Kyle suggested getting a face pack so we spent one evening beautifying

and the other evenings were just rather chilled out at (Liz's) home. We also got shown the sights of Newport as well as getting lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was pretty tasty stuff and close to the real deal that I can get here.

Another weekend, another trip, this time to Birmingham to see Nina. Lots of shopping was done, as well as lots of movies watched. Of course there was a trip to the cinema, and we watched some movies at her flat too. She lives close to a canal that's been tarted up and turned into a dining and shopping place. It has a branch of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen that she took me to for some L&P (I hadn't realised this place stocked L&P otherwise I'd have been there a long time ago!) and a place that did ace breakfasts that were two for one on a Sunday so we spent a lot of time being lazy and not venturing very far from her place unless absolutely necessary.

The final weekend was filled with a trip up to Derby with the parents and the sister. We went for dinner with Dad's family at a pub (pubs featured heavily in the month or so I was home - you can't beat good pub grub!) on Saturday night and went to the cemetery to see the plaque for my grandparents. Also spent some time with Mum's family - some came to visit for a day soon after I was home,

and we went to visit my Grandfather as well as taking another trip to London to meet my uncle. Saw some truly spectacular (!) works of art at the Tate modern and walked around the place a bit. It was a really nice day - one of those days with a super blue sky and it was all very pretty - much more so than Hanoi ever is!

Also spent some time at home and went to a few places nearby like Lacock

and Avebury. Met Jen a few times to go out for dinner locally (more pubs) and did a pub quiz with her and her friends. It was nice to spend some time at home in a familiar place doing familiar things, and it was great to see people again after so long.




Was not that impressed with coming back to Hanoi and kinda wanted to stay in the U.K., but I know that the reality of staying at home would be very different to the holiday I had. For starters I spent all my money pretty much and so would be flat broke, plus I would probably have found myself in the same situation as my sister, trying desperately to find a job.

Now I'm back into the swing of things here it's not so bad. After our failed attempt at visiting the citadel in that first week back, I went back with Alison and Calder and this time we got to see it. One side is a large pit where they have found the remains of a king's old palace and it's really just a series of small walls (:op) that you can walk past on an elevated platform, and across the street on the other side is the complex with a temple or two and a bunch of random buildings that seem to now be offices. Not the most exciting of places, but apparently it recently became a UNESCO world heritage site so we thought we should check it out.

Last weekend I went to the wedding of a couple from work. The Vietnamese side of things had happened earlier in the week in Dung's hometown and the thing on Sunday night was more the British side of things for Simon's family. It started with a long time spent standing outside the venue waiting for things to start, and then there was a ceremony inside with the usual vows, also translated into Vietnamese for Dung's family, followed by the toast and a buffet meal.

The citadel and the wedding

A ton of photos from home