Ha Noi

Touching down in Ha Noi was a fascinating experience. For some reason my flight arrived in the domestic terminal, instead of international. While I was waiting for my bag, which was delayed, a group of passangers hanging out by the No Smoking sign lit up a cigarette. On seeing this, a number of other passangers went and joined them.

After clearing customs I headed out in the hectic terminal. I managed to get past the throng of drivers there to pick up tourists with booked connections, and was thence tailed by keen cab drivers offering me a lift. I sat my bag down for just a few seconds and someone was in the process of picking it up to carry to his waiting taxi. I managed to convince him that I was waiting on a pre-booked connection, and he started trying to offer me assistance in finding an ATM. Eventually I managed to shake him off, found an ATM, and set off to find a bus.

My vision of a public bus station outside the airport with large 67 seat busses taking people into the city was quickly dissolved. In this area it seems bus refers more to something like a Toyota Hiace. I found a bus full of locals (and at 16 people, I do mean full), paid my 40,000 Dong (The locals paid 35K) and we set off. Of course, I had no idea where I was going, or how I would know when I had arrived. IU had a chat with the old woman sitting next to me but she spoke very little English. She said she has lived in Ha Noi all her life and was just coming back from Saigon. She would very much like to come and visit Australia some day, and she had a friend who now lives in Melbourne.

Somewhat at random I got out of our van in an area that looked like it must me the city. About a dozen motorbike taxis came to offer their assistance; I turned it down in favour of a vehicle taxi. The driver had never heard of my hotel (Anh Hoy), nor the street it's on, and spoke practically no English. He asked some motorbike taxis, but they had no idea, so he eventually pulled out his mobile and called someone, presumably someone with Google Maps open, and got directions.

The hotel was fantastic; I went in and slept a few hours before heading out for dinner. Sam's flights were delayed yet again, so it was quite late by the time he eventually got in.

The following day we visited temples and museums galore, all in the teeming rain. Sam and I both bought ponchos at a stall and I'm still amazed at the quiality, durability and value.

We had lunch at a cafe filled exclusively with whiteys: Koto. Actually a really cool place, Koto is a training restaurant set up by an Aussie (I think) to train Vietnamese students in hospitality and kitchen skills. The kitchen ran at the speed of a normal Vietnamese kitchen (remember the one of the country's most important animals is the turtle) but the food was splendid. After lunch we hit the bar upstairs where I got a proper espresso based coffee with Kaluah, and a bananna and toffee cheescake of sorts. The menu writing leaves plenty of surprises when the food arrives, but it is quite good. I would highly reccomend visiting this place for anyone in Saigon or Ha Noi.

For dinner we had (amongs many other things) frog legs and a local beer which is served the day it's brewed (and hence sells for AUS $0.30 a longie). This was followed by Karaoke (very popular in Ha Noi) where whisky is by the bottle and the staff (about a dozen of them) hang outide the door watching and laughing at whiteys making foold of themselves.