We woke up the next day to find that our toilet wasn’t exactly working correctly. Considering all the crazy food that we had eaten the night before, I wasn’t too pleased that our toilet wouldn’t flush. I called down to the desk and they said that they would fix it while we were out today, so Kuniko and I were both a little relieved.
Hain wasn’t due to meet up with us until just before lunch, so we went on our own to a giant enclosed market a few blocks away. The place was full of vendors, like a two story garage sale. The huge building was divided into sections, and we wandered through taking in all the strange goods, candies, electronic junk, fake brand merchandise, and dried shrimp. I had no idea there were that many varieties of dried shrimp.
In the back of the building, just outside, we stumbled on a meat market. I wasn’t too up for walking through that, so we kind of walked around it, but did happen to see cages full of mice, dogs and cats that weren’t destined for life as a pet. Sorry guys. Luckily we didn’t see anything else that would have disturbed the delicate state of my stomach.
Finally we headed back to the hotel and met up with Hain, and then all together we went to her favorite “upscale” pho restaurant, Pho 24. It was a fast food style quick noodle place, but the pho was great. Full of spice and vegetables, this pho might have been the best of the trip. The restaurant itself was a chain – we saw another branch later on in Hue.
After lunch we took a walk around part of the lake, and then caught a taxi to go see the cultural museum just out of town. Riding the taxi was another wild experience – more horn honking and narrow escapes. We traveled through some pretty poor parts of town, and it was interesting to see how differently people lived outside of the main section of Hanoi. After about a 30 minute ride we arrived at the museum. The taxi driver tried hard to covince Hain to pay him to wait around for our return trip, but she told him we weren’t interested. We paid the guy about $7 for the taxi ride, and he left. Then we paid around $2 each to get in the museum.
The museum was a really well designed building full of pretty interesting stuff. I’m not a big museum guy, but the guidebook and Hain both recommended it, and it turned out to be pretty good. No pictures allowed inside, but outside we could walk around the grounds.
The grounds were well maintained, and we observed lots of Vietnamese people taking pictures of themselves and each other. There were even some brides and grooms having wedding pictures done. Some of the poses were pretty funny, and one of the brides even flipped up her dress to show lots of leg and thigh for one picture. My camera wasn’t ready, though.
On the topic of cellphones – Japan has got cell phone use down to a science, and it was interesting for me to note that people in Vietnam were more prone to shouting and waving around their phones were as Japanese people only actually talk into their cellphones maybe 10% of the time. Through the whole trip we saw people taking pictures of themselves and sending them off to somebody – it seemed like a popular hobby there.
One of the exhibits outside the museum was a traditional home of one of the tribes in Northern Vietnam. They even let you climb up the logs and go inside, and I was a little worried about the floor supporting my weight. Luckily it held, but as a group of giant westerners started to come in I made my exit.
Next stop was a taxi ride back to Hanoi. We had no problem getting a taxi, and when we arrived back at where we started, the taxi fare was about $4 cheaper than the other guy. I felt during the first taxi ride that the guy might have been nervous or acting suspiciously – I think maybe the meter was rigged. It’s hard to get pissed off when the difference was only a couple of bucks.
Hain’s mother had made reservations at a restaurant that she had recommended, but we had time to kill so we went to a street cafe to sit and relax. I ordered beer and Kuniko had some coffee. It was our first experience with Vietnamese coffee. It is packed into a little tin filter and set on top of a glass, either with condensed milk already in it or to be added separately. Then the hot water is put in the top, and the whole contraption is delivered to you. Then you sit and wait for the hot water to slowly drip through the filter on top, and after about 10 minutes it’s ready to drink – just add as much condensed milk as you like. Anyway, it was powerful stuff – thick and black and intense. By the end of the trip I was drinking one or two cups a day. Yum.
For dinner we visited a restaurant that was know for variety. The menu was huge, and specialities from various regions of Vietnam were available. Hain’s mom was sick and couldn’t meet us there, but she wanted us to get to try foods from other parts of the country besides Hanoi. Our biggest problem was that we were still full from lunch and our cafe drinks, but we did our best. Hain helped us order and then showed us how to combine all the spices, vegetables and sauces to make our own spring rolls, as well as properly eat the other dishes. It was delicious, and I only wished I had more stomach capacity. We ate as much as we possibly could, and then hit the streets to walk it off.
Hain took us to another of her favorite places where she introduced us to a Vietnamese dessert called che. There’s many flavors but the most popular is a combination of fresh fruits cut up into chunks and then submerged in a combination of condensed milk and coconut milk. The result is thick and sweet, and so you use the provided crushed ice to dilute it down and make it more of an ice cream flavor. Instant hit. Kuniko and I were raving about it the rest of the trip – so good. The owner gave us her card and told Hain that if we want it again just call and she’d deliver it to our hotel. We never took her up on the offer, but we did come back once more before we left Vietnam. Hain said that there is a che store back in Japan, in Sannomiya, so we can get our fix even after we go back home.
We sent Hain home in a taxi again, and then made our own way back to the hotel. The toilet wasn’t fixed, but it was empty. The guy said to use water from the sink to flush the toilet, but I was having trouble comprehending what the hell he meant. He offered us another room, but there was no shower or curtain in the bathroom (just a hose coming out of the wall and a drain on the floor next to the toilet) so we just urged him to fix our toilet. He promised that the next day it would be completely fixed. And with that, we went to bed rubbing our stomachs because they were so full.
