Sapa photos

 

Hanoi Photos

 

Planes and pains

 Tuesday November 28

Yes there is a big gap in dates. I have been home for a week plus 21 hours and should have written this on the flight home, but it didn't happen. Hopefully I can remember enough to get me from Hanoi to at least Seattle.

Back at the same hotel I had first arrived at in Vietnam, seemed fitting to be the last hotel as well. I was welcomed like i was family, without the drama. The room was huge in relation to the past two night's Monk's cell.

I settled in and went a wandering around the area. Back to the lake for some final views and a light lunch on the shore. Back at the hotel I decided to splurge again on my final meal in Vietnam, by trying a different Michelin mentioned restaurant.

Since it's my last evening in Hanoi, I check my WhatsApp the last time and see that Gia had sent me a message last night they had an opening for lunch today. I completely missed the message last night. Darn again !

Back to the streets of the city and off to dinner. I like gadgets. The fancy restaurants here like gadgets, or maybe it's the Michelin reviewers that like gadgets. Last night's meal was Japanese and their gimmick was a tower of Sake that flowed down a glass lab condenser that was filtered through sliced apples. Great tasting gimmick. Tonight's was a pickle bar.The Lord of Pickles asked if I liked spicy or not. He gave me a dish of each. One fiery hot Kimchi and one sweet onion. Both were good, but I must admit it did tear up a little with the fiery one.

Mud crab vermicelli was the main, and really good. One of the things that I have experienced this whole trip is that when it comes to food, you get what you pay for. The serving sizes are even large for American tummys. One thing I missed about restaurants in the U.S., is kind of a love/hate is the server coming by to ask if the meal is tasting satisfactory. Generally they come at the most inopportune time, like when you are telling your best friend how to access your secret lair, but I missed it. My experience so far is the food is presented and you are left alone until you signal you need attention, whether it is more wine or the bill.

I hate having to explain the food was great, the portions were larger than I wanted. Oh, don't get me wrong, I could have eaten the whole thing, but the next day to be a eating and sitting day and  I didn't need all those carbs tonight.

Back at the hotel I shuffled things around in my baggage. I went from one checked bag and two slightly heave carry on day packs, to one pretty heavy checked bag and one slightly heavy day pack. In the day pack was my iPad, 2 days of undies and 2 days worth of meds. I  managed to get 40 pounds of stuff into my 30 pounds of stuff red suitcase.

Morning came and after breakfast with the locusts it was time to check out for the flight home. The required good byes and the reminders to mention then individually in the hotel's review on TripAdvisor.

The ride to the airport cost less than any previous ride to or from the airport and was in a very plush Suburban type limo. Guess I better remember that review for sure now.

The plane leaves Hanoi at 12:15 pm and arrives in Seattle at 1 pm. 45 minutes, with twenty hours in between.

Check in, official formalities and security and I'm in one of my most hated places in the world, an airport waiting area.

Some hours later another airport, different security and more waiting. Then boarding and into my aisle seat in Delta Comfort +. The legroom is a little better and the nose room a world better than basic cattle class. Of course the price difference could pay for a nose job but that's a different matter.

The flight from Seoul to Seattle was unmemorable except for the worlds worst meal and my seatmate with the world's worst fumigation problem. I swear, maybe it would have been better to have the middle seat in basic economy than to sit by Noxious Neville. Then he orders the Spicy Pork, Haiya ! All while complaining that they moved him (unbidden) from a window seat in basic to a seat in Comfort +. I think they did to to save lives, people are much more tightly packed in Basic than Comfort. With him in that closed environment the masks would be dropping from the ceiling left and right. Haiya !

The aircraft touches down in Seattle on time and I shoulder check invalids out of the way to escape to the clean fresh air of semi burnt jet fuel. Ahh.. what a relief.

A ride home on the Big Bus, that I had to sit erect for 2 hours, oh the humanity ! A short ride home thanks to a friend. 24 hours between bed and home. I fight sleep for 3 hours once home but surrender to eleven hours in dreamland in my own bed.

Now back to the normal routine

English lessons in the park

 Sunday November 19

Turtle Island

I walked back to the hotel and the walk was a lot easier once I figured out I could cut through a couple parks and didn’t have to play in traffic some of the time. The best part is the all the major streets and most connecting streets are blocked off from vehicle traffic Friday evening until Sunday evening. Oh, there is the occasional smog producer but it’s almost exclusively pedestrians. There are families, and teens and lovers hand in hand strolling along.

At one corner, a “Y”,  Japan is having a expo. On the v part there is a stage and it was rocking last night with I assume J-Pop, but it sounds and looks like K-Pop to me. It was a great stop for 10 minutes to catch the acts.

Pretty, but not as striking in daylight

A little closer to the lake for a repeat of photos taken when I first arrived, and back to the room.

Morning came and I just stuffed things in whichever bag was handy. I need to completely re-pack for tomorrow. Get real shoes, my big purple coat, and blue jeans (that I never wore) out of the red bag and everything except pills, 1 undies and iPad into my carry on. The undies in case I get stuck someplace overnight with out my big red bag, the iPad because between it and my phone, my ‘life’ is on it. The red bag will be checked luggage and with luck will get to my home the same time I do. Not a hard guarantee though.

Breakfast and then some wandering. No egg this time, I couldn’t see murdering the egg again, and didn’t want to risk it.

Game store

A friend had sent me a photo of a board game he played and made me ask the question if there were boardgame cafe’s in Hanoi. It turns out there are several. The one that sounded the best was a longer than I prefer walk away. There was one within walking distance though.

Usually I stick to one side of the lake, and today the other side seemed unexplored so off I went. At the south end of the lake there is a wider the the rest of the park area. It was full of people, both Asian and Western. Lots of the usual couples and in the mix every so often a mom and 8 or 9 year old. The child would approach and ask if they could practice English with you. Sure ! I need all the practice I can get.

The usual, exchange names, color preference, favorite food, animal too, place of residence. Some of the children are pretty good and some only fair. Of course the girls are better than the boys. I think the girls want to practice and the boys are forced to practice . One of the boys asked favorite foods. I said Hamburger since we Americans seem to have a burger rep. He said .. and pizza? He was right, one of my basic food groups.

Street side bike repair shop

One girl was a flippin’ genius. She was 9 and really knew her stuff. We went through the questions and for animal I showed her a picture of Dorothy and she said parrot. Then she asked if she could tell me a story. It was about her father driving them to a celebration one New Years Day and their cousin made a special cake and she was happy. I think she had to present this to class as a project, but she did really well. I talked to mom for a bit and she said it was her first time for Sunday lesson in the park. Lots of foreigners on Sundays and so it is well known for English practice. She said her daughter gets English in regular school hours, but is also enrolled in private lessons. From what I can see mom is getting her money’s worth.

Back to the mean streets of Hanoi and to board game nirvana. I found the address, but based on prior experience wasn’t sure. Tried to ask a stall keeper but she shooed me away. Number 72 was just a doorway to a stairwell. What’s the worst that can happen? Well lots of things, but carry on. On the 3rd floor I found it. Unmarked, but it was there. I took a quick picture and looked to see if anyone looked like they wanted to play. A quick trip for no payoff, but it was an experience.

Grab a coffee, leave a Post-It note

Back at the hotel I moved my bags from the room to the lobby. The reception desk asked how my stay was and I said Okay. She wanted to know why, and wanted a written review then. I told her I’d write it on booking.com. Seems that was the wrong answer. Things got very chilly from that point forward.

Changed hotels, went wandering some more. More J-pop. I waited for a family to move from their picture spot so I could use it to take my photo and the mature woman in the group without asking just wrapped an arm around me and forced to pose for a picture with her. I don’t know if this was a pickpocket situation or what, regardless it was more than a little awkward.

Back at the hotel beer finished might be time for some quiet room time.

Views, planes and shopping

 Saturday November 18 - Hanoi

Yes a different town, two different towns as a matter of fact , I did make it safely to Da Nang. The hotel in Hoi An canceled both days without penalty so that is that.

The taxi drive was uneventful for the most part. Some Google Translate, but nearly in complete silence. Neither of us could get past the Tower of Babel.

There was one detour to be made within the city due to the road being washed out. Mr. Driver expertly took me up in the hills and around that part of the problem and then two thirds of the way on a major highway we came to a complete stop behind a string of semi trucks, of course there were the other cars that knew the road blockage only impacted semi trucks and not all four wheeled conveyances , I think they were surprised to come upon a shoulder to shoulder landslide that, yes even blocked the way for them. A couple chapters in my Nook and our lane was let through. A 4X4 could have been better for passing that part of the highway, but we did weave our way through, bouncing all the way.

Da Nang came into view about an hour longer than scheduled, but at the absolute minimum I was no longer locked in Imperial Hotel jail. I got to be locked in Marriott hotel jail.

Da Nang is flat, flat. Away in the distance are hills, but the city is flat. Except for the billions of dollars in high rise buildings. If 1967 American G.I. Could see it today they would faint dead away. The Marriott is located on an island along with the Sheraton and other names your recognize. It is too far to walk to the actual city of Da Nang, that is why I say another hotel jail. Similar to Las Vegas where the next hotel is just over there, and it turns out it is a 20 minute walk, so is this island in Da Nang.

The rain was still coming sideways, but without as much fury as 24 hours previously. Getting a sandal full of wet sand from the beautiful beach didn’t appeal to me. My new cell was on the 25th floor with a beautiful view of the long white crescent of beach below.

I did the usual while in jail. Had a drink, watched a show or three on the iPad and did something completely out of character — I ate a bag of nuts from the mini bar. It wasn’t as good or satisfying as mini bars seem to have an aura of.

The morning, breakfast. I didn’t need to be out of the room until noon. The hotel provided a traffic report form for the in the room that broke down the congestion expected at various hours of the morning for the breakfast dining room. I’m too smart for such frivolity. I definitely should have headed the report. They weren’t the usual ravenous locusts, but there sure were a lot of them.

It was the expected spread, and ate my expected amount.

Noon came and the taxi was waiting. The 3:15 to Hanoi Gate six. You know what to expect here …..  ZZz…… an airport waiting area is the same from Los Angeles to Laos. Some are bigger, some smaller. Some clean some not. All seats uncomfortable and consumables are expensive.

Gate change, but airplane left timely and safely landed. The flight was an hour and 5 minutes and I was in economy. The row directly in front of me was an exit row, mega leg room. I am 26C, Mr. 25C nods off quickly and Zee’s his way until water is offered. He is awakened, took the proffered water and immediately slams his seat back! Lucky for me a motorcycle accident in the 1970’s broke my nose so it might be a hint smaller the the factory built one, and this seat back missed my nose. No one else in that row reclined, just Mr. 25C.

The 'Bitch of 26C', woke up within me. Fear her wrath! I have traveled with children in the seat directly behind me on aircraft and know how that can be. Drop the tray table. Put it back up. Take things out of the seat pocket. Shove them back in. Take them out again and then drop the tray table.

This bothers Mr 25C and he leans forward on his knees to try and get back to sleep, I stop.

He then leans back. Rinse and repeat. What does it take for this guy to get a clue? My bet is on ‘Never’ and I win. Until the landing instructions came of the seat back remained back. Yes, I feel bad for my childish actions, but they felt so good at the time.

Airport to city Uber was 300 Ho’s, 390 Ho’s for nicer car, taxi 500 Ho’s but he was there and I didn’t have to remember a license plate number. Traffic from 4 until 6 or 6:30 is rush hour in most cities, except for Seattle when it is is all the time. Hanoi is the same and then there is the construction. The 50 minute drive turned into more novel reading. The guy earned his Ho’s for this ride.

This hotel in Hanoi is different from the previous one. Mostly contrast and compare, but with the added bonus of being in the heart of the action. Well there is a big difference in similar priced hotels in the same general area in Hanoi, and I picked a winner the first time. The elevator is small. The hall is small. The room is small. The breakfast is small. The only thing not small is the price. This place must have gotten it’s stars on TripAdvisor from people who hadn’t stayed elsewhere in Hanoi. Room to value minus 5.

This morning I had some trinket shopping to do. My recently discovered (5 years is recent isn’t it?) second cousin remarked on the silk lanterns in one of the snapshots I sent her. She has a new home in need of more things to take up space. My plan was to get them in Hoi An where they are the city’s symbol, but that fell through because of the Noah’s Ark situation in Hue. There was a shop that caught my eye last evening on the way to dinner on Beer Street that held promise lay just down the block. They had exactly what I was looking for and the price was reasonable. So I hope wearing my heavy clothes home allow me to transport a fragile silk lantern home in my over packed main bag.

Then some real coffee after the awful hotel fare. The included breakfast was so lousy I didn’t eat it. I didn’t know you could fry an egg until the yolk turns to powder. A local coffee shop did alright. Still that strong chocolate notes at the end. Not a bad thing, but not what I was looking for.

Then off for a mile walk to Dong Xaun (Don Juan?) a huge shopping machine. An entire city block, three stories high. Merchandise sacked almost to the ceiling, the aisles one person wide and hand trucks in the aisle with man sized bales of tightly wrapped mystery. I tried to explore but was overwhelmed with the magnitude of the machinery of retail and wholesale embodied in these walls. I know I am a little claustrophobic and have had a panic attack so maybe a short visit to Dong Xuan is enough. Yes, it is enough.

Hanoi has 3 Michelin starred restaurants and 15 Michelin mentioned ones. Gia I tried to get reservations at while still home in the States but failed. I thought I’d drop them a quick email saying if the have a cancelation to call me. I also did this with a different starred restaurant. The second one got back to me, but their starred eatery was not available, but the main dinning room was well it’s better than Pho with your chin on your knees. I had also left emails at one or two of the 15.

Te phone rang with an unknown title. The woman said she had a 7pm available and I told her I had already made reservations at Kiki. We hung up and I checked my email and saw an email from Gia. They had a 7pm opening. Crap that was Gia !! Quick as a viper I called Gia back, and the spot had been filled. Darn, darn, darn.

I re-sent the email for tomorrow, but am not holding out any hope.

Killed a bit of time in the room and walked to tonight’s restaurant. They said Smart Casual, I should have worn a formal and tiara. The meal was really excellent, service not the same level. In A Chorus Line there is a song “Dance 10, Looks 5” totally sums up this meal.

Time to pack up my iPad and head on back to Smallville, without Clark Kent.

Change of plans, and another change of plans

 Thursday November 16

Now in Da Nang. More hiccups than usual.

Woke at zero dark thirty and watched the dark clouds change into lead colored clouds from my  bed. I was moving on today, I wasn’t sure where, but I was tired of this nice room and great view. I’ll trade it for something else somewhere. Maybe catch a flight out if the roads are still a mess. Maybe go to Hanoi on the train if the flights are full. Maybe Hoi An if the road Gods allow. Time and I hope patience will tell.

Last breakfast and then peruse the inter web for what information I can gather. One of the posts yesterday had a thread to follow . Two of the replies were from the southbound Hanoi train and one from the northbound Hue train station. Both said they were stuck, the Hue poster said the train was at the sttion, but just sitting there. You could access your seat or cabin, but it wasn’t going anywhere. The one from Hanoi was in the middle of B.F. Vietnam and had been sitting there for hours and hours. That killed the train idea.

I couldn’t find Mr Van Duc, but did find Miss Thuy Van at the front desk she started calling around for a private car to Hoi An, and found one for a king’s ransom. Normally it is a Queen’s ransom, but future kidnappers knew a fat calf when they saw one. Normally 1.8 Million Ho’s, today’s special was a mere 2.8 Million Ho’s. I may be forced to rethink private car, but not quite ready to surrender to another horizontal bus.

Mr Van Duc “Psst”ed me over and said how about 1.7 Million Ho’s to Hoi An? A million Ho’s less? Well Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas just came early.

I packed as quick as a NASCAR pit crew and was in a taxi in an alley in a second. I kinda think the was on the sly for a better tip and more importantly that booking.com review mention.

The river was back in it’s banks this morning, and we only had to skirt one landslide on the way out of town. Once we hit the open road of a secondary highway it was smooth motoring until the driver Google Translated me that Hoi An was still flooded. I knew that their river had overflowed it’s banks, but had assumed it had subsided in the past 24 hours. Guess not. Maybe he just doesn’t want to go to Hoi An. I tried calling the hotel I had reservations in Hoi An and succeeded, but my English was so bad that neither of us could really understand the other.  So message app and that wasn’t much better, but the bottom line is, canceled and not charged.

New plan, Da Nang. They are open for business and have a big airport for making a quick escape. But first a short 30 minute rest stop in the middle of the highway, because of a landslide that had been cleared enough to let alternating single lanes of traffic through.  The price changed too. From 1.7 Ho’s for a 3+ hour ride to Hoi An to 1.6 Ho’s for a 2+ hour ride. What am I to say, we are already 2 landslides on the way out of town?

So reservations made on the phone in the car and in Da Nang in about 2.5 hours.

I go to check in and the woman says I have a reservation for next week, but nothing for today. Damn, I am a Bozo. Sometimes I expect hotels.com to just default to today’s date, and we all know what ASSUME does. So a quick cancellation and new reservation for the correct date and all set. Kill an hour writing this and my residence should be ready.

Great recommendation and soggy plans

 Wednesday November 15th


Dinner was really really good. A slight walk in the rain, but the raincoat I bought for my trip to the Amazon jungle and never used has finally earned it’s purchase. After I got home from Peru I put it into a freezer bag and vacuum sealed it for the next 3 years. The Egyptians couldn’t have done a better job preserving their mummies. It did do a good job getting me to the restaurant but it was only 3 or four blocks. The only thing I found troublesome with it was that the hood really blocked my peripheral vision and crossing the street here, as I hope I have made clear is death defying under the best of circumstances .

The restaurant is in this giant open on two sides barn like building. Rows and rows of communal tables, with, real chairs. Well not chairs, but stools at chair height which is good enough for me at this point. Any meal the doesn’t have me looking an my dinner through my knees is luxurious seating as far as I’m concerned . The patrons we a mixture of, say … 40% tourists and 60% locals. If the locals eat there you know the food is authentic and good. If the tourist have found it, you know that you don’t need to worry about your tum-tum the next morning.

The menu was home computer printed and slipped into plastic sleeves like you might use for a grade school scrap book. I looked at the offerings and none of it looked familiar to me. Pho and Bahn Minh I’d recognize. Anything else is just letters even with an English description below. The hostess walked by and I said “What do you recommend?” - She “Oh, so many things! But first time try this.” And pointed to a tasting menu of six or so things for six bucks. Sounds good to me.

The plates came and kept coming. Three of the same item on each plate. A huge bowl on Not Pho and a whole garden of rabbit food. There were deep fried cylinders of meat wrapped with rice and a dipping sauce. Spring rolls and their dipping sauce. Little dishes the size of a Silver Dollar the had a rice batter poured into it and then steamed and topped with crunchy stuff. Kufta on a lemongrass stalk that you put in a rice paper wrapper added some of the rabbit food and I never understood if it should have been dipper or added to the thick soup. There were a thing or two I forgot, but let me tell you they were all good and tasty. I’d be happy to have them again anytime. But with better instructions on the Kufta.

Back to the hotel and no major accidents and only one near miss by a crotch rocket. Some Showtime on the iPad and you know the rest.

Morning comes or at least I think it’s morning it is so dark out I’m not totally believing the clock. The rain is coming down so hard that I can not see the buildings two blocks away. This is what I picture a monsoon to be, and had never expected to encounter this late in the year. I put the pillow over my head and hid.  “F” me ! The thought of dealing with a bus to Hoi An in this soup for 3 or more hours was not going to work for me today. I’ll spend the money on a private car and driver, slip in under this hotel’s portico and slip out under the next hotel’s portico a couple hours later.

So no hurry, I own the clock today, instead of the other way around. A nice shower, some of Starbuck’s best powdered caffeine. An elevator stroll down to breakfast, some novel reading over eggs and toast. Then down to the front desk. I know I could track down a private car on the iPhone but today is my slovenly day and I’ll put it off on someone else. Unless the price is too dear, of course.

The lobby is filled with the usual mob of Boomers and their luggage piled by the door waiting for their

Big Grey Dog to whisk them off to their next pre packaged excursion. There seem to be a few more than one most mornings at most hotels, but this is a very large hotel after all. The nice woman at reception tells me there are no busses today. I don’t care about no busses anyway, what about getting me a private car to Hoi An. Then she explains very slowly like to a child, no there are no vehicles of any type going to Hoi An today. Uhh.. isn’t this Vietnam where they are used to rain? I mean they even have a season named “the rainy season”. Surely they don’t shut down the whole summer. Maybe the rain will let up later and these wet weather wimps will get me to Hoi An. Check out time is noon, I got lot’s of time.

Back at the room, I do make a WhatsApp query to yesterday’s driver and he informs me that me and the road to Hoi An are the same “F”’ed. I thank him and start digging deeper. Between 12 and 24 inches of rain has fallen in the area. Some of the reservoirs had to open their gates to reduce pressure causing others down stream to do the same, flooding and washing out the road in some places. It’s the worst since ‘19 or something.

Maybe a late check out.

Three pm, I guess I’m canceling Hoi An and getting another day of Hue hospitality.

There is a break in the rain so at least I can do is stick my head out of my bunker and see what the world is like outside . The streets on each side of my hotel are flooded with near knee deep water in places. The restaurant I ate at last night is so water logged that not enough staff came to work to open. The bellman (Mr. Van Duc) got home last night at one am after working until 11. He was due back at work at 7am so had to leave home at 5am through thigh high water. The river is at the top of it’s backs plus three inches. It is a mess.

More Netflix, novel and staring out the window. Mr. Van Duc says he can get me a driver to Da Nang tomorrow. I hope he’s right. Different hotel rain watching would be nice.