Hanoi

Hanoi was great. It’s full of colour, noise, people, traffic and is somewhat volatile. The general community is really happy and never afraid to hand out complements to each other and tourists.

I feel like with my coloured hair I may as well be walking around with a giant arrow pointing at me above my head in neon lights.

 Pat and I went to the movies and as we were waiting for the film to start, I had two girls next to me repeatedly taking photos in my direction. The photos stopped after I turned around and grinned for them in the background.
At the ceramic village we visited this morning I had a couple of girls standing a couple of meters away huddled together giggling, one of them proceeded to come up to me and say in Vietnamese that I was beautiful. There's never a shortage of children seeking attention from foreigners either, saw a really cute little boy at the end of the day who showed off with staking chairs and spinning them around until he was dragged away being told off.

The Ceramic Village

We’ve done a couple of touristy things around town; seen the temple of literature, walked around the lake numerous times, seen the ceramic village, tried plenty of the local cuisine and driven around to see some of the sights. 

The Temple of Literature

More could have been crammed in, but I’ve enjoyed being able to wander around town and see Hanoi for what it is, as opposed to paying for every touristy sight that half the locals haven’t seen let alone care much about. Having said that though, being a communist country, the community is not lacking national pride; flags are everywhere, everything has a history and a story. It’s reinforced to me how Australia; as such a young country, we generally tend to only adopt a sense of national honour for sporting occasions or Australia day.

On the 23^rd Georgie and Sanaya left us. We spent the night before strolling around the Lake and taking photos of the beautiful scenery. 

The next morning we got in a taxi at 4.30am... With over 10km left to go the taxi was swerving from one lane to the other (I’ve never felt more comfortable driving in both lanes along the line in the middle), so when our driver began hitting himself in the head with his fist, it was time for Pat to start rambling off every word of Vietnamese he could. Apparently I am his girlfriend who is 22 years old and a tour guide, Georgie and Sanaya are 18 and both his sisters who teach English....The stories went on and on. Talking at the taxi driver and turning up the radio were our only two tactics available to us. Pat is able to talk in Vietnamese but struggles to interpret the questions.

We survived, made it to the airport and got through a teary goodbye from both Georgie and Pat, and now it’s just Pat and I.

Christmas eve, Pat took me out to lunch to meet one of his friends who he used to work with; well that’s what I was told at least. We drove to Pat’s friend’s new workplace at the intercontinental hotel, as we arrived I took a call from home. We proceeded through the hotel where we were to meet Mai at her room, no one answered the door, and Pat then rudely pulled out the key to Mai’s room.

“Merry Christmas!”-then I clicked, we weren’t actually meeting anyone for lunch at all. Pat booked us a room for the night. Later that evening we had a drink and cheese platter at the bar by the lake, leaving me feeling pretty spoilt. Afterward we headed back to the hostel for some Christmas carols and to help spread the Christmas cheer.

The entrance to one of the shops at the hotel was covered entirely with gingerbread.

Christmas was good; odd but good. The Vietnamese aren’t short of Christmas decorations, but they don’t celebrate Christmas, so they’re definitely a bit short of Christmas cheer.

Wearing Santa hats around town and seeing other Westerners in and around the hostel do the same helped to create the spirit.

Christmas lunch was on the hostel terrace. We were cram packed in together with free flowing alcohol and all the usual Christmas lunch trimmings, all contributed to a jolly sing-along and a some Christmas fun. Free flowing alcohol lead to an afternoon nap, which then lead to not much else in the evening.

Most recently we’ve been spending time preparing for Canada; buying warmer clothes, eating, sending off summer clothes and bulky souvenirs, eating, drinking, visiting some local sights and recovering from Christmas eve/day.

New york post will happen soon...

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and even better new years. xo