No this isn't a travel blog but goddamn, Vietnam is such an interesting, dirty, smelly crazy place that I need to fill you in....Hanoi, we landed and since we were on such a short trip we had to squeeze as much as possible into each day. Even the day when we arrived. The Husband will agree with me when I say it normally takes me a day or two to get into the groove of any holiday, especially ones overseas that have required leaving my kids and doing lots of organising beforehand. But as we were driving in surrounded by poverty and mad traffic, all my senses were heightened and alarm bells were ringing - I haven't got time to ease myself into this I have to be running as soon as we arrive. And that's what we did - straight into a DIY walking tour of Hanoi, complete with Saturday afternoon craziness, markets, motorbikes, people and general OMG'ness! Each meal had to count, each hour had to count - and what we realised is that I'm the MasterChef (god I love that programme) when it comes to pre-trip planning, but The Husband , well on-the-ground trip management is his strength, he broke the day into chunks and sort of knew exactly what we'd do in each of them. And so our 1/2 first day was walking, immersing ourselves and finding ourselves perfect spots for Bier Hoi sundowners (the local beer brew - about AUD$1). Our first day was capped off with a crowded outdoor street "bar" packed full of Vietnamese men sitting on tiny stools drinking beer. We joined them, and then when the guys next to us ordered food, we got what they did and had one of our ultimate Vietnam food experiences - Spicy Papaya salad and cold beer, sitting on tiny plastic stools in the rain. Now that's a long way from Sydney.
No comments:
Post a Comment