Scooters, Scarves and Beer.
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2010
1
6
9
Trip End
Mar 11, 2010
What I did
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
We started the day (early, at 6am) with a walk around Hoa Kiem Lake and then literally wandered the streets with a map ALL day.
"passed these weird open air stores(no doors...its so weird )- one said in big flourescent lights "PLAYSTATION 3" - inside were little stools and a wall of flat screen tvs...people lined up crouching and playing video games-you should tell him that.... also tell him the DVD black market is incredible- almost bought a 1 dollar copy of Avatar today. so today we walked around- my mom cant cross the streets bc its too scary for her so we have to get creative when trying to cross roads- i wish i could paint a better picture..... its insane.... 4 way intersections with no stopping.....literally...people just go.....even the mega tour buses.... so we walked and shopped and walked more and visited a temple... there is no place to relax...roads are crowded and people just crouch on the side of the road and eat-people just make fires and cook...its insane.... walked through an alley filled with markets- like a farmers market except not only do they have stands w fruit and veggies they have big ass sharks in little kiddy pools (i think hunting sharks is illegal now but as far as i can tell there are no rules here) , turtles in cages (yes, real live turtles), lamb heads, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fish dying on wooden boards....eels...eels...and more eels.... gross- weird smells like rotting flesh then beautiful flowery smells...non-stop insanity- you just walk on the road bc the scooters (thousands, literally) are parked on what should be a sidewalk.... so we finally found this road that was so narrow (because of the abundance of scooters parked and double parked all over) that the traffic was light...found a nice restaurant that was quiet....got a pizza bc we craved american food....pizza, big ass salad, 2 beers that were the size of 2 each and a giant bottle of water..got the bill....did the math in our heads- 8 bucks? no. really? yep.....8 bucks for everything.....have been shopping.... took out 2million dong from the bank - 107 bucks... just counted...i have like 40 left and ive bought more stuff than i can fit in my suitcase...bought 15 scarves for 30 bucks just to paint a pic of the prices..."
Had dinner at Bobby Chinns restaurant in a more upscale part of town. Definitely don't go here. I felt terrible eating there. The food was regularly priced like the US and just like US food - There was a big table of American's and that was it. The people were so polite and proper it was almost scary... We didn't like our food very much and actually didn't finish it (oops) - They sent out a complimentary dessert because I think they knew we weren't thrilled. Stay in or around the Old Quarter/Hoa Kiem Lake/Opera House areas for dinner.. much more fun and funky.
