After a quick instant coffee in my room I wander off to find Matt and Amy's Hotel, which was easy enough and from there we started wandering till we eventually found some plastic stools and planted ourselves at a coffee shop for a Vietnamese coffee, complete with comdensed milk, which I actaully sort of enjoyed. Camera not working so I have resorted to my iPhone but the hotel wifi is so bad that I can not download them, so no pics as yet.
Bianca, Michael and Simon join us and we start wandering, just wandering and taking in the sights. We pay to cross a wee bridge to a little island in the middle of Hoam Kiem Lake and then wander off again. I am frustrated with trying to take photos with an iPhone which quickly runs out of charge so I take off im search of a camera shop which i find without too much trouble. 10 minutes later and $103 dollars poorer I have a cheap camera, SD card, camera case (for another brand of camea so doesn't work with the one I bought), battery and charger. Not the greatest camera but it's small, lightweight and will more than do till I save some money at home.
I meet up with Matt and Amy again and then eventually with the others and we continue our wander through the Old Quarter stopping a while later to watch a wee kid dancing for us. He was hilarious but as is usually the case stopped dancing as soon as I took the video camera out.
Lunch in the form of scrumptious chicken noodle soup was in a tiny little room that seems to be someones bedroom. The bed was packed against the wall and the wardrobe full of someones personal effects. Yum bum and $1.50 each.
A beer was in order next and we sat on a street corner people watching for a spell. Some great sights.
I wander off to go and find Lin's friend to collect the gift she has sent to me. I knew her friends Elaine and Richard had gone out for the afternoon so didnt expect to see them but collected my gift from reception anyway. Three gorgeous magazines and a wee box which I can open tomorrow morning. Wandering on I check out some super silk stores, gorgeous quality clothing. Shame I cant justify another decent chunk of expense. But on I walk end eventually find my way into a coffee shop on the rim of the lake. As soon as I find a seat I text Elaine to say thank you for bringing me the gift and I was enjoying a magazine with my coffee at a place on the edge of the lake. She replies telling me that they are near the lake as well. I get the waitress to text the name of the coffee shop to Elaine and a few minutes later I glance at the table next to me where I see the Waitress explaining to the lady at the table that "it is here". The lady was Elaine with her husband Richard. What are the chances of ending up at adjoining tables in a restaurant in Hanoi. No way!
We enjoyed an extremely potent coffee together and set off on our way.
I wander off and go and collect my glasses and then join the kids for a beer and some spring rolls. Watered and fed I return to the hotel and try for some time to send my blogs and emails on a wifi connection that is a waste of space.
For dinner we meet up and go to a French Restaurant. The menu had a few French sounding items but reading the dexcription they sounded like western french. I am not a fan of French Food at the best of times, but when it is tallied with I definitely dont want it. They also had Italian food and that too wasnt real italian but thought i couldnt go wrong with a pizza. Well I was totally wrong.
Firstly it was rectangular.... Hello pizza with corners?
Secondly, it was not made with pizza dough but something sort of bready with folded over corners
Thirdly it was served on a rectNgular bowl type plate - hello flat plate or pizza stone please
Fit was supposed to be a margarita, the tomato base was so solid that it looked like a kayer of ham, the cheese was grated cheddar and the basil wasn't there. Reminded me of the pizza that the five year olds make.
As long as i closed my eyes and thiught I was eating something other than pizza it was edible, but only just. Matts one that I tried wasn't. It was called an Oriental but all the ingredients were mediterranean and tasted horrible. I couldn't eat it.
Dinner over I return to my room and finish my blogs. Goodnight from Hanoi.
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