After the arduous journey, I ended up in Hanoi late at night, with an aching arm and no idea how to get to my hostel. Finally wrangling a taxi, I arrived at my hostel exhausted and ready to sleep. More immediate than my urge to sleep, however, was one to eat. I hadn't had food since the morning bus stop some hours prior. With a recommendation from the hostel, I wandered over a few blocks to the street with the late night eats and grabbed a bowl of pho bo, or beef noodle soup. This was to be my first of many and it was fantastic! The rich broth and hearty pieces of beef with perfectly cooked noodles; I was in heaven, if only for a moment. I headed back to my hostel and crashed. Hard.
The next morning, greeted with cool, overcast weather, I set out to find the post office and mail some items home, as my heavy pack was a bit of a burden with my injury. After getting my heavy clothes and first round of souvenirs in a box ready to be shipped stateside, I took a tour of old Hanoi, wandering the alleys, seeing the large cathedral and admiring the lake in the center of the city.
More touring of Hanoi followed, including a visit to the closed Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and some of the other famous sites in Hanoi, like the Temple of Literature and the Opera House, led into an evening of wandering the streets looking for dinner. I happened upon a corner cafe and ordered some beef fried rice and a Bia Hanoi, the local brew. Just my luck, an English DJ named Luke, a spanish fellow named Javi and a Belgian gal named Sophie sat next to me and we ended up checking out Hanoi for the night.
My last day in Hanoi I went to the train station to procure a ticket to the beach town of Nha Trang, some 24 hours by train south. I figured the fewer the stops, the better. And I think it was the right call. After getting my ticket, I wandered more of Hanoi, down to Lenin Park, named, of course, after the father of modern communism, Vladimir Lenin. Here I enjoyed a Bia Hanoi and rested as the afternoon sun faded and I awaited my train. On my way back to the hostel, I stopped by the large night market in the center of the Old Quarter, grabbed my last Hanoi pho bo and headed to catch the train.
The train journey was uneventful, until the last few hours when I was lucky enough to get some new companions in my compartment. Lisa, a native of central Vietnam, was headed back to Ho Chi Minh City with her father and niece. We struck up a conversation, started by a concerned query into the happenings that led to mangled limb, and talked until I had to depart at Nha Trang. We exchanged email addresses and kept in touch for when I made it to Ho Chi Minh City.
I spent the next five days bouncing between my air conditioned dorm room, the street vendors selling food and the wonderful beach. The views were magnificent of the green-blue water and the rich, white sand. The nightlife is the primary attraction to the city, but in my condition, I decided to forgo the festivities and rest. Even still, I had the luck of meeting a few good people in my hostel, including a Russian gal, Kiwi cousins, a Dutchman, a feisty American from Utah and her Dutch traveling partner and a Canadian. Good people, and we spent a few good dinners together exploring Nha Trang. After five days though, it was time I was on the move.
Headed to Ho Chi Minh City, my arm was still a nuisance, so I decided to continue to take it easy a few days before heading to Cambodia. The first night I checked out the night market and ended up meeting a few people from my hostel for dinner at one of the stalls. Amazing streetfood! And on the way back to the hostel, we stopped for a talent show featuring, among other performers, a cute five year old vocalist, pair of jugglers, and a gentleman taming some rather large snakes. The rest of my days in Ho Chi Minh City were spent reading in cafes enjoying the delicious Vietnamese coffee, which hit the spot on those hot Saigon afternoons. I also visisted the Vietnam War museum. A fascinating, and terribly tragic, part of American and Vietnamese history.
Because we exchanged email addresses on the train, I was able to meet up again with Lisa, from the train ride from Hanoi to Nha Trang, her father and her cousin and go to dinner. One night, we went to a fabulous Vietnamese BBQ restaurant and had some amazing venison, octopus, shrimp and goat which we grilled in the middle of our table, and followed with a nighttime tour of Ho Chi Minh City by scooter. Then, Lisa invited me to dinner the next night at her house with her father, who prepared the meal himself. It was incredible! Salad with egg and beef, pig ears with rice paper and a cooked beef dish, of course with rice. My mouth is watering just remembering the flavors!
After that, it was time for Cambodia. Off to Phnom Penh!
No comments:
Post a Comment