DID: Dropped laundry off, had directions to cleaners from hotel but got intercepted by a cyclo (the official name for the bucket bikes) driver along the way who redirected us somewhere closer. Wasn’t sure if we’d see our clothes again because the place was locked up when we arrived – involved a series of conversations between the cyclo driver and some people standing around, plus some shouting to get the owner to come downstairs (she lives above the shop). We weren’t going to be able to return until around 9pm, concerned about how we would make our presence known if she wasn’t there when we returned!
Then spent the morning walking around the lake and the "Old French Quarter". Not sure what makes this area older or Frenchier than the rest, other than a prevalence of souvenir shops and tourists. Nice walk nonetheless. Merchants definitely organized in districts here, along our route were the roller blinds, carved wooden frames, paper decorations/dragons, wallpaper and musical instruments.
Afternoon Jason went to a cooking class on Vietnamese street food. Funnily enough, he learned to make exactly what we’d eaten for lunch (grilled pork over rice noodles and spring rolls). Looking forward to having that at home.
I took the boys by cyclo to the movies, we saw the Smurfs. Cyclo driver was same guy who led us to the laundry – this guy gets around! He just happened to be riding in front of our hotel as we stepped out… Kind of a rip off at $5, but Gavin loved it. Theater experience was interesting – the rows of seats were really close together, very little legroom. Jason would have been really uncomfortable had he been with us. Also no aircon so it was kind of humid and stuffy. And although it was a 3D movie, they didn’t have the glasses to pass out. Most of it was fine without the glasses but anytime there was fast motion on the screen it was blurry. But in the end I’m glad we saw this particular movie there because for the 3 of us it only cost $7.50 for the tickets – and even that was well over the entertainment value of the film!! Rhys thought there were too many people/not enough Smurfs – every time there were too many humans on the screen he would look at me and say ‘want Smurfs!’ Any of Neil Patrick Harris' previous characters would have been better (Barney? Doogie?) – this one was a complete wuss. Not to mention I can’t stand what’s-her-face, the OCD teacher from Glee.
Dinner and then called it an early night. Grumpiness was going around, also prepping for early check-out/pick-up for 4-hour drive to Halong Bay in the morning.
Oh and got our laundry just fine. In fact the woman did a really fantastic job, she even pulled out some items to show how she’d gotten out some very stubborn stains (some of which had been with us since China!) And she was watching her evening tv programs in the shop so we wouldn’t have trouble catching her. Bless!
ATE: Breakfast - for GnR and me, pastries from Paris Deli, across from the Opera House. Best we’ve had in SE Asia. Not as flaky as I would have expected.
Jason had pho from Pho 24, across from the south edge of the Lake HK. First one in Vietnam that had all the right components, but he wasn’t happy with it. But after tucking in he learned that they have 75+ locations all over the world (including one in Haymarket, Sydney) so he’s now thinking of it as the McDonald’s of pho.
Lunch – Dac Kim. Street-side cold rice noodles with bbq pork slices and pork meatballs, seafood spring rolls. Jason devoured everything, GnR and I were less enthusiastic. We all really liked the meatballs and the crispiness of the spring rolls, but I’m just personally not a big fan of cold noodles and didn’t care for the fishiness of the rolls.
Snack – Iced coffee at Huong Mai. Down the road from lunch, display window filled with roasted beans caught our eye. Thankfully I didn’t think to ask which roast of beans she’d given us until after we were nearly through with our drinks because it turned out we were drinking weasel poo. Credit to the weasels, they sure know how to pick the good beans because this coffee was right up there in quality. Read the shop’s brochure on the sanitation, roasting process – don’t care, still grossed out. Gavin was devilishly, gleefully fascinated as only a 5-year old boy can be about the consumption of poo. Of course we had to let him try some!
Dinner - Madame Hien (http://verticale-hanoi.com/en/madame-hien/menus). Grumpiness factor had a negative impact on ordering and the whole experience, but everything we had was good. Starter of fresh shrimp rolls, Gavin had pho with a side of rice (his standard order), Rhys Jason and I had a clay pot of pork with sticky rice. Menu kind of pretentious, expensive for Vietnam. Jason said it seemed like a French person came to Hanoi, opened a restaurant and put a few French and Vietnamese things on the menu, rather than it being representative of colonial French-Vietnamese cuisine. Food still good, restaurant packed/very popular, and in a nice area to walk around.
Dessert: Jason and Gavin went back to Paris Deli for dessert and coffee (no weasel poo this time!) while I took Rhys to bed and got the packing started. No one brought me any chocolate from the bakery, booooooo.
SLEPT: Not really to do with sleeping but the hotel staff here are totally smitten with Rhys. The doormen especially. Works in our favor I think – for example when it was taking a long time for a cab to arrive, one of them offered to just drive us to dinner in the hotel limo, free of charge. What a ride!
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