We had time to run up to our hot, tiny room to "freshen" up. Soon Phuong was at the front desk talking to a staff member about where we should go for lunch. She explained that she lived in a different part of Hanoi and didn't know our hotel area very well.
We began heading over to the recommended restaurant, with Phuong holding my arm as we crossed the impossibly busy streets.
We stopped in front of a small store front where a woman was grilling meat and boiling noodles right on the street. She was squatted down low, maybe on a small stool with all sorts of ingredients in front of her. The room behind her was full of locals bent over their bowls chowing down on whatever it was she was making. "there's no room for us," I thought. Phuong led us up a very narrow stairway about 3 floors, each floor we passed was just as crowded as the one below.
Finally we stopped on the 4th floor and were shown to seats at the end of a long picnic table. The server put a large bowl of noodles in front of us, with a blob of noodles falling off onto the table. What did the server do? Why, she picked it up with her bare hands and threw it back in the bowl of course!
Soon there was a large plate of herbs and bowls of pork in front of us. Phuong helped us pick out a decent pair of chopsitcks from the holder on the table and we ate. The food was very good, I could see why it was so crowded. It was about 99 degrees in that room, but we were so consumed by blending in with the city that we forgot out the temp soon after sitting down.
We enjoyed out meal and talking with Phuong about our plans. She gave us the number to a taxi company she recommends (tourists have to be careful about getting ripped off my cab drivers). She walked us back to her hotel and buzzed away on her motorbike. We were glad to have knows our friend back home who owns Lac Viet, it was neat to be put in touch with someone.
We decided to finish the Old Quarter walk that we'd started the day before. We ended up at "Fanny's" for ice cream, which hit the spot. They also had a decent bathroom in there which means it gets an "A" in my book.
That's all for now...to be continued
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Part 3: More Hanoi
After we parted ways with Phoebe, Ryan and I walked around a little, exploring the area around our hotel. Eventually we started thinking about dinner, and our hotel called us a taxi to go to Old Hanoi - a restaurant that Ryan had read great reviews about.
It was pretty fancy. Beautifully decorated, and we were the only ones there. Our server didn't speak much English, and we spoke zero Vietnamese, so ordering food was an ordeal. Ryan ordered some beef skewers with pineapple. The server turned the page and pointed at a list of sides. Ryan was like "Oh, do sides come with the meal?" "Yes yes" with nodding and smiling was the answer. Ryan picked out two.
By the time our tea came out exhaustion had hit us...hard. It was only 6:30pm, but I was about to fall asleep into my "Pork in clay pot." We were so tired that we barely said a word to each other the whole meal. As we sat there and ate like zombies, the server stood in the corner watching us. It was a little uncomfortable. Finally we were done and she cleared our plates. And didn't come back.
We found this to be a trend in Vietnam. Once your table is cleared, the server doesn't come back with the bill until you ask for it. So we sat there for what seemed like forever and eventually just stood up. They got the picture and brought the bill. Ryan was charged separately for each additional side - ha! Pretty sly, Old Hanoi.
We paid and took a taxi back to the hotel where we went straight to bed.
I woke up again with my rooster friend at the crack of dawn. After emailing back and forth with mom and eventually sleeping a little more, Ryan and I headed out. We had breakfast at "Paris Deli." Ryan ordered Pho and I had a western breakfast with eggs and OJ.
We decided to start a walking tour of the Old Quarter. The streets were packed. Packed. Be bounced between walking on the side walk and walking on the road because people were sitting on stools eating all over the place. Motorbikes were parked right in the middle of the sidewalk too.
We strolled further and bought a bookmark here, a doo-dad there. I saw a guy carving wooden stamps and just had to have my name carved. I paid and was told to come back at 2 for my stamp. He carved my name, but I expected it to be embellished in some way. You know, like a dragon around it or something. It was just a rectangle with my name in it. Oh well.
Every now and then we'd see a chicken run along the sidewalk, but I'd say one of the stranger things was a kid dragging a speaker on wheels behind him as he sang loudly to music. No one was paying particular attention to him.
Soon it was time to head back to the hotel to meet Phuong, a friend of the owner of Lac Viet here in Columbus, for lunch...
It was pretty fancy. Beautifully decorated, and we were the only ones there. Our server didn't speak much English, and we spoke zero Vietnamese, so ordering food was an ordeal. Ryan ordered some beef skewers with pineapple. The server turned the page and pointed at a list of sides. Ryan was like "Oh, do sides come with the meal?" "Yes yes" with nodding and smiling was the answer. Ryan picked out two.
By the time our tea came out exhaustion had hit us...hard. It was only 6:30pm, but I was about to fall asleep into my "Pork in clay pot." We were so tired that we barely said a word to each other the whole meal. As we sat there and ate like zombies, the server stood in the corner watching us. It was a little uncomfortable. Finally we were done and she cleared our plates. And didn't come back.
We found this to be a trend in Vietnam. Once your table is cleared, the server doesn't come back with the bill until you ask for it. So we sat there for what seemed like forever and eventually just stood up. They got the picture and brought the bill. Ryan was charged separately for each additional side - ha! Pretty sly, Old Hanoi.
We paid and took a taxi back to the hotel where we went straight to bed.
I woke up again with my rooster friend at the crack of dawn. After emailing back and forth with mom and eventually sleeping a little more, Ryan and I headed out. We had breakfast at "Paris Deli." Ryan ordered Pho and I had a western breakfast with eggs and OJ.
We decided to start a walking tour of the Old Quarter. The streets were packed. Packed. Be bounced between walking on the side walk and walking on the road because people were sitting on stools eating all over the place. Motorbikes were parked right in the middle of the sidewalk too.
We strolled further and bought a bookmark here, a doo-dad there. I saw a guy carving wooden stamps and just had to have my name carved. I paid and was told to come back at 2 for my stamp. He carved my name, but I expected it to be embellished in some way. You know, like a dragon around it or something. It was just a rectangle with my name in it. Oh well.
Every now and then we'd see a chicken run along the sidewalk, but I'd say one of the stranger things was a kid dragging a speaker on wheels behind him as he sang loudly to music. No one was paying particular attention to him.
Soon it was time to head back to the hotel to meet Phuong, a friend of the owner of Lac Viet here in Columbus, for lunch...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Part 2: Hanoi
We stepped off the plane at 10:20pm and followed the people in front of us past baggage claim. There was a crowd of men holding up signs with various names on them. My fingers were crossed that our hotel would come through. I was worried no one would be there for us, even though I reconfirmed a few days before. Sure enough I see my name on a sign. I practically jump into the man's face out of excitement and relief. He tells us to wait on the side walk and he goes and gets the car.
"Were you waiting long?" I ask. He doesn't answer. Ryan and I spend the rest of the ride looking out of the windows into the darkness trying to catch a glimpse of Hanoi as we sped down the road. Every now and then a motorbike would whiz by. As we got more into the city, our driver pulls up to a corner and other man jumps in the passenger seat. "My friend." The driver says, without looking back at us. The "friend" turns around and looks at us. I smile as I pray we don't get robbed in out first 15 minutes in the country.
We start to drive down increasingly narrow roads and alleys. Eventually we come to a truck parked in an alley blocking our way. The friend gets out and directs the driver through. We had less than a centimeter to spare on each side of the car as we slid by the truck. And then, just like that, it was over. Out hotel appeared before us, the driver helped us with our bags, and away he went.
So there we were. The hotel staff were friendly and showed us to our room. Room 104. I have to say, when we walked it I was a bit disappointed. It was hot and humid inside, and the bathroom was teeny tiny. The shower was hand-held, and basically right on top of the toilet. As I got ready and showered for bed, I ended up soaking an entire roll of toilet paper and nearly filling the little trash can with water. We learned to remove those items before showering for the rest of our trip.
We were both exhausted and got into bed. The whole room had a dampness about it, and for some reason I didn't feel comfortable putting my face directly on the pillow. I used the leg of a pair of capri's I brought to lay over it.
The next morning (around 3 or 4 am to be exact) I woke up, wide awake. Hell0 jet-lag. I layed in bed playing with my ipod and listening to a rooster perfect its crow somewhere outside. Eventually Ryan woke up too and we got ready for the day.
We booked a guide through "HanoiKids," a not-for-profit organizations in which students at a University in Hanoi volunteer to share their knowledge about the city and its culture. At 9am we met Phoebe in the lobby. She spoke great English and she quickly called a cab to take us to the Temple of Literature.
She told us all about the symbolism and landscaping of the temple, and quite a bit about the history of the Chinese universities in Vietnam. At one point we walked by an area where people were playing music on traditional instruments. We walked up just as they had finished. Some German woman, also a tourist, looked at me and said "Give them money!" while pointing at a box on the ground. I was stunned that this stranger picked me out of the crowd and told me to fork over some dong. I threw in a 20,000 (a dollar) and we kept walking.
We saw some paintings, sculptures, and impressive temples. We eventually made our way back to the entrance where we took a taxi to a silk handicraft village. Before leaving we did stop in a fair-trade souvenir shop and got an ornament for our tree.
After a somewhat lengthy cab ride we were at the silk village. At this point Ryan and I were starving since we'd had no breakfast. We split a Cliff Bar in the cab, but we were ready for lunch. We walked in and out of a few shops, and quickly realized they were all essentially the same. We weren't in the shopping mood, but we were interested to see a big wall of silk works at the entrance to the factory filled with looms.
After looking around a little more we headed back to the cab. I spotted a stand on the street and bought us all a coke, and Ryan and I spit a banana.
We sucked down our drinks and asked Phoebe to help us get a SIM card for our phone. We had brought a cell phone with us from home, so that we could by a SIM card there and get a Vietnamese number for our parents to call, and us to call home. She helped us buy one, along with a ancient bag of peanut m&m's (I was in survival mode, as I like to call it when I overeat on vacation.)
Next we stopped to buy tickets for the water puppet theater the following evening. Finally it was time to eat.
Pheoebe took us to the coolest restaurant of our trip. It was a very large corner of a city block, all open-air with large tapestries providing cover. There were many long tables, so you sat with other parties. It was packed.
Ryan and I got some bottled water, Phoebe got a drink, and we ordered some appetizers and entrees. Phoebe got snail soup. I got some watermelon for dessert and Ryan ordered a coffee. Phoebe got some strange looking drink with what seemed like different layers to it. We say other people ordering them too. As we looked around dozens of people were drinking them. We were really curious, but there was ice in it, and at this point of the trip we were being really cautious about the water. There was ice in Ryan's coffee, so he didn't end up drinking it. The entire meal for three only ended up being around 10 bucks!
We called it a tour after lunch. Phoebe took us back to our hotel and we snapped a picture before saying goodbye. It was a great way to get our bearings in Hanoi. She helped us with the phone, helped us get tickets, and even showed us which cab company to trust.
To be continued...
"Were you waiting long?" I ask. He doesn't answer. Ryan and I spend the rest of the ride looking out of the windows into the darkness trying to catch a glimpse of Hanoi as we sped down the road. Every now and then a motorbike would whiz by. As we got more into the city, our driver pulls up to a corner and other man jumps in the passenger seat. "My friend." The driver says, without looking back at us. The "friend" turns around and looks at us. I smile as I pray we don't get robbed in out first 15 minutes in the country.
We start to drive down increasingly narrow roads and alleys. Eventually we come to a truck parked in an alley blocking our way. The friend gets out and directs the driver through. We had less than a centimeter to spare on each side of the car as we slid by the truck. And then, just like that, it was over. Out hotel appeared before us, the driver helped us with our bags, and away he went.
So there we were. The hotel staff were friendly and showed us to our room. Room 104. I have to say, when we walked it I was a bit disappointed. It was hot and humid inside, and the bathroom was teeny tiny. The shower was hand-held, and basically right on top of the toilet. As I got ready and showered for bed, I ended up soaking an entire roll of toilet paper and nearly filling the little trash can with water. We learned to remove those items before showering for the rest of our trip.
We were both exhausted and got into bed. The whole room had a dampness about it, and for some reason I didn't feel comfortable putting my face directly on the pillow. I used the leg of a pair of capri's I brought to lay over it.
The next morning (around 3 or 4 am to be exact) I woke up, wide awake. Hell0 jet-lag. I layed in bed playing with my ipod and listening to a rooster perfect its crow somewhere outside. Eventually Ryan woke up too and we got ready for the day.
We booked a guide through "HanoiKids," a not-for-profit organizations in which students at a University in Hanoi volunteer to share their knowledge about the city and its culture. At 9am we met Phoebe in the lobby. She spoke great English and she quickly called a cab to take us to the Temple of Literature.
She told us all about the symbolism and landscaping of the temple, and quite a bit about the history of the Chinese universities in Vietnam. At one point we walked by an area where people were playing music on traditional instruments. We walked up just as they had finished. Some German woman, also a tourist, looked at me and said "Give them money!" while pointing at a box on the ground. I was stunned that this stranger picked me out of the crowd and told me to fork over some dong. I threw in a 20,000 (a dollar) and we kept walking.
We saw some paintings, sculptures, and impressive temples. We eventually made our way back to the entrance where we took a taxi to a silk handicraft village. Before leaving we did stop in a fair-trade souvenir shop and got an ornament for our tree.
After a somewhat lengthy cab ride we were at the silk village. At this point Ryan and I were starving since we'd had no breakfast. We split a Cliff Bar in the cab, but we were ready for lunch. We walked in and out of a few shops, and quickly realized they were all essentially the same. We weren't in the shopping mood, but we were interested to see a big wall of silk works at the entrance to the factory filled with looms.
After looking around a little more we headed back to the cab. I spotted a stand on the street and bought us all a coke, and Ryan and I spit a banana.We sucked down our drinks and asked Phoebe to help us get a SIM card for our phone. We had brought a cell phone with us from home, so that we could by a SIM card there and get a Vietnamese number for our parents to call, and us to call home. She helped us buy one, along with a ancient bag of peanut m&m's (I was in survival mode, as I like to call it when I overeat on vacation.)
Next we stopped to buy tickets for the water puppet theater the following evening. Finally it was time to eat.
Pheoebe took us to the coolest restaurant of our trip. It was a very large corner of a city block, all open-air with large tapestries providing cover. There were many long tables, so you sat with other parties. It was packed.
Ryan and I got some bottled water, Phoebe got a drink, and we ordered some appetizers and entrees. Phoebe got snail soup. I got some watermelon for dessert and Ryan ordered a coffee. Phoebe got some strange looking drink with what seemed like different layers to it. We say other people ordering them too. As we looked around dozens of people were drinking them. We were really curious, but there was ice in it, and at this point of the trip we were being really cautious about the water. There was ice in Ryan's coffee, so he didn't end up drinking it. The entire meal for three only ended up being around 10 bucks!We called it a tour after lunch. Phoebe took us back to our hotel and we snapped a picture before saying goodbye. It was a great way to get our bearings in Hanoi. She helped us with the phone, helped us get tickets, and even showed us which cab company to trust.
To be continued...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Vietnam, Part 1: Getting There
Alright, so a couple of days turned into a week. I'm finally ready to start blogging out our Vietnamese adventure.
We left Columbus on 12/10. My mom and Greg came down the night before so that they could drive us to the airport. Around 8 am we boarded a small jet for our 1 hour flight to Newark. When we landed we had to wait on the ramp until an "agent" brought the little portable walkway over to the plane. This caused us to nearly miss our flight to Tokyo. We ran to our gate and they were boarding the last people as we got there! We were lugging our carry-ons (our only luggage for the trip) down the aisle to our seat and a flight attendant looks at me and says "We don't have room for that, you're going to have to check it." The color drained from my face and I turned to Ryan with a desperate look. The attendant was busy helping someone else and I pushed past her to our section. There was another attendant back there and he helped to find a spot for my bag. Ryan went to the other side of the plane and rearranged a few tings in an overhead compartment and made his fit. Phew!
Thank goodness for the in-flight entertainment. The TV shows, games and movies helped to distract us from a crying baby up front. I watched Bride Wars and cried like a baby at the end, much to Ryan's embarrassment, and probably to the discomfort of the guy on the other side of me. Ryan watched Inception among others. We got up every so often to move around to prevent blood clots. I even did a few salsa steps in the bathroom to get the blood flowing.
16 LONG hours later we land in Tokyo. We exchange some dollars for Yen and get a bowl of soba noodles to split and a bottle of water. We are feeling pretty rough at this point and we still have a 6 hour flight to Hanoi ahead of us.
We board out Japan Air flight and Ryan immediately falls asleep. I sleep a little, but wake up when they bring the food around. Ryan had mentioned something about wanting to eat even if he was sleeping. I poked him on the arm. Nothing. I pushed his arm off the armrest. Nothing. After lifting his head and nudging his whole body a couple times with no success, I took his pulse to make sure he was still with us. He was. After borderline-violent shaking he woke up enough to order the beef stroganoff. The meal was basically a bowl of brown gravy with nothing in it, but what did we expect ordering stroganoff on a Japan Air flight? After such a long time sitting, my rear was in some serious pain, and so was Ryan's knee. Hours later we landed in the Hanoi International Airport.
To be continued...
We left Columbus on 12/10. My mom and Greg came down the night before so that they could drive us to the airport. Around 8 am we boarded a small jet for our 1 hour flight to Newark. When we landed we had to wait on the ramp until an "agent" brought the little portable walkway over to the plane. This caused us to nearly miss our flight to Tokyo. We ran to our gate and they were boarding the last people as we got there! We were lugging our carry-ons (our only luggage for the trip) down the aisle to our seat and a flight attendant looks at me and says "We don't have room for that, you're going to have to check it." The color drained from my face and I turned to Ryan with a desperate look. The attendant was busy helping someone else and I pushed past her to our section. There was another attendant back there and he helped to find a spot for my bag. Ryan went to the other side of the plane and rearranged a few tings in an overhead compartment and made his fit. Phew!
Thank goodness for the in-flight entertainment. The TV shows, games and movies helped to distract us from a crying baby up front. I watched Bride Wars and cried like a baby at the end, much to Ryan's embarrassment, and probably to the discomfort of the guy on the other side of me. Ryan watched Inception among others. We got up every so often to move around to prevent blood clots. I even did a few salsa steps in the bathroom to get the blood flowing.
16 LONG hours later we land in Tokyo. We exchange some dollars for Yen and get a bowl of soba noodles to split and a bottle of water. We are feeling pretty rough at this point and we still have a 6 hour flight to Hanoi ahead of us.
We board out Japan Air flight and Ryan immediately falls asleep. I sleep a little, but wake up when they bring the food around. Ryan had mentioned something about wanting to eat even if he was sleeping. I poked him on the arm. Nothing. I pushed his arm off the armrest. Nothing. After lifting his head and nudging his whole body a couple times with no success, I took his pulse to make sure he was still with us. He was. After borderline-violent shaking he woke up enough to order the beef stroganoff. The meal was basically a bowl of brown gravy with nothing in it, but what did we expect ordering stroganoff on a Japan Air flight? After such a long time sitting, my rear was in some serious pain, and so was Ryan's knee. Hours later we landed in the Hanoi International Airport.
To be continued...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Xin Chao!
Happy New Year!
I have so much to write about our homeymoon in Vietnam! I'll be doing several posts over the next few days highlighting our trip. We had a great time.
I have so much to write about our homeymoon in Vietnam! I'll be doing several posts over the next few days highlighting our trip. We had a great time.
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