Day 79 - Hanoi

Waiting at the airport for my flight to Vientiane. Delay of an hour just announced. Christmas jingles are playing, a surreal juxtaposition considering the heat outside.

***

Finally got going early on the 16th, off to see Ho Chi Minh himself, with Tess, Louise, Lachrissa, Lee and Debbie, after a lovely brekkie at the Intercontinental. Some odd queuing and walking, checking your bag, take your camera, check in your camera... Enter the mausoleum, walk in formation around Uncle Ho. He looks well - even the beard is well preserved. He is the most human looking of the 3 (including Lenin and Mao). After collecting our bags, we realise that all the museums nearby have already closed for lunch - at 11.30am!

Spot the whitey!

Wander around, past a lake, full of dead fish. Stop for some lunch and visit a bookshop. Pick up Günther Frass' Tin Drum. Tess and Louise split off then, and myself, Chrissa, Debbie and Lee went to see the Presidential Palace - featuring pleasant grounds, and the house of HCM, frozen in time from 1969. Meandered back to the hostel then, past Lenin park, where Vietnamese children were playing football, using mountain bikes as goalposts.

Squatting

One Pillar Pagoda

Picked up Ger, had a quick swim at the hotel, dinner in the hostel, and then some cards. We were joined by Lee, and Majella, an extremely talkative girl from Mayo. This girl could talk for Ireland, and probably for most of Europe too! A female Dave Fanning.

Sunset at the hotel

Bought a bottle of vodka then, and adjourned to the terrace to play Debbie's 'Captain Dickhead'. Jack is a rule card, whoever holds the Ace is Captain Dickhead (God) until the next Ace, and Queen reverses. Red means give that number of fingers/sips, black means take that number of drinks.

Lee holds the Ace for the majority of the game, until I slip one to Debbie so she can spice things up a bit more. A second bottle of vodka is required. Lee is soon asleep on the couch, and Ger and Debbie chat while I play Fußball with Majella. She's awful at it, and soon heads to bed. I doze on the couch, and am woken by Tom (who knows J&T, and the Welsh girls), and have a little chat with him and a girl with him, who works for an NGO. Wonder why they woke me, a little annoyed.

***

Ger's not in the mood for breakfast, so after I grab a quick shower, shave, and change, I head over. Nick some feta, and have a hearty helping of fruit and a personalised omelette. Leave Ger to check back in at the hostel.

Can't find Lee, so Debbie and I head out to the Temple of Literature, full of women in Ao Dai outfits, and tens of stelai. Each of these rests upon an individual turtle statue, whom we name Steve. Behind the temple, we manage to get an hour in the Museum of Fine Arts before it closes. Start walking in the vague direction of the hostel (which is some distance away), and stop for coffee. Have a great chat exchanging stories of the awful things we've done to people. Poor Robert Bradley. She cries laughing when I tell her about Brian Harvey running over himself. We hop on a mototaxi, squeezing on together, and arrive back to the hostel once more.

Steve!

Find Lee there, and leave him with Debbie. Spend my last night same as my first night, playing Beer Bingo. Adrian arrives, and we talk upstairs for a while, but my eyelids are drooping. Head to my room, chat briefly to a girl called Chelsea who's heading to Vang Vieng. Beautiful sleep.