Hanoi, Vietnam - 26 Nov 2009, Thursday

The train reached Hanoi at about 5:30am. Our Hanoi tour co-ordinator had told us when we left for Sapa, to not worry, that we will have a transfer from the train station back to the hotel. Well, after wondering around for about 10 mins, I called the dude at 5:45am. He asked us to take our own taxi back to the hotel and not pay more than US$2 for the trip.

Ok... we did not have the hotel name card, nor did we have the address of the hotel written anyway, how to get any of the cab drivers to send us to the correct hotel? We went up to a cabby and said - Melia? He said Mah-lia... next...

2nd cabby, we said - Melia? He said - Mah-lia?

Okay... pen on palm I wrote - Melia... cabby sees it and says - Mah-lia... hahaha... toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe... we made it back to the hotel for US$3. :)

I took a shower and went to bed 'til about 8am. Three of us went out and had beef pho for breakfast just a block from the hotel.

Then started the search for propaganda posters for my colleague. Followed by a 70min foot massage at a place opposite the grouchy-lady sandwich shop.

A super light lunch was at a local fry-up at a street stall just to the side of the old church. It was a dish of fried shapes, in different sizes, with a plate of greens and 3 bowls of clear dipping sauce. It basically the same filling, but with different 'packaging'. Some in rolls, some wrapped in bread, some squares...

We planned to have dinner at Koto. Took the cab from the hotel and we ended up paying the cab driver 10x the cab fare :( stupid mistake = one very happy cab driver...

Anyhow, Koto was good. I had Bun Cha (pronounced: Boon Cha), a local street food, with small BBQ patties & BBQ pork slices, with cut noodles and a clear dipping sauce. All for a good cause. Run by an Australian NGO to take street kids off the street, & teach them a skill.

The water puppet show was next. The tickets were 60,000 dong each for the 1-hour show. Yes, absolute front seats are good... It is a must-see from a cultural point of view. :P good thing it was only about an hour long...

The evening was whiled away in the Illy Cafe, on the 5th floor of the KFC/seafood building. It's very pretty being high up above the traffic, though you're still exposed to the beeping horns, with a cup of coffee. :) There goes another day on Hanoi...