An Expedition to the wilds of the Rugby World – Day 9 - Hanoi
Created | Updated Feb 25, 2003
Friday 27/9
Today was a fairly leisurely affair, with no planned activities until the early afternoon when we were to fly to Hanoi. After breakfast I went for a wander to the Morning Markets, which actually run all day, with Little John and Bob L. Little John was quite upset that all the t-shirt vendors wanted to charge him extra due to the additional material required to fit someone who stands at around the 2 metre mark, but eventually found a t-shirt to his satisfaction. At this point we split up and I wandered through the maze of stalls by myself looking for suitable gifts. I could probably have bought a container load but ended up buying nothing.
By this time I had been on tour long enough to succumb to backpacker disease and having seen t-shirts cheaper at the Victory Monument yesterday I walked about 4 kilometres there and back just to save myself around a dollar fifty for two t-shirts, which I then had to spend on water to make sure I got back to the hotel alive.
By the time I got back most people had managed to surface and were lazing around the pool, writing postcards or trying to get onto the internet. The hotel also had full time masseuses who were kept busy all morning massaging away the aches and pains of two games of rugby in quick succession. I regret not giving this a go as everyone raved about it, especially the price.
After one last swim in the pool and a poolside lunch it was time to go and pack up our ever expanding bags. I was greeted by an ever expanding puddle of water from the air conditioning unit, which was now dripping like a tap. Thankfully all my stuff was already on the bed or the whole lot would have been soaked.
Checking out took a lot longer than normal as our tabs for the poolside bar had to be fought over between roommates, but we eventually managed to sort everything out and board our bus for the airport.
One of the key lessons to be learnt from the tour was not to get stuck with too much local currency. The main time filler at the airport was to scour the shops and duty free looking for ways to spend enough Kip to lighten ones pockets. Given that the exchange rate was something like 20,000 kip to the dollar, and there are not any large denominations available we had all been wandering around with huge inch wide stashes of the stuff for the last few days. I had managed things so well that I just had enough left for a beer and a packet of Pringles.
After a short uneventful flight we arrived in Hanoi, and once again passed through customs without incident. We were met by our guide Tuan, who shepherded us towards our bus, which it must be said was the most impressive of the trip thus far, for the trip to the hotel.
Hanoi is well known for its wonderful French influenced architecture and examples of this could be seen everywhere once we reached the outskirts of the city. Hanoi was certainly a lot busier than Vientiane, but then that would be true of most places. Tuan told us that the reason the houses were narrow and tall was that there was a tax based on road frontage.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hoa Binh, which looked quite upmarket and split up into our room pairings, which involved the usual amount of chaos. There was a message for me from Sue, the wife of David (temporarily absent)who had replaced Eric (leaving Hanoi) in organising the tour game (if you are confused how do you think I felt!). After dropping my bags off I rang Sue, who told me she had also dropped off an envelope at the hotel with instructions in it as to where they would be that night. It seems we were in luck as the Australian embassy was having its monthly drinks party that night and we were welcome to attend.
I retrieved the second message from behind the front counter as Sue told me it had detailed instructions as to how to find the embassy. With a vague idea of where we intended arriving at it was all hands on deck as we grabbed every available moto and taxi. After about ten minutes I realise the people who had gotten into cyclos would probably regretting it. Case lived to regret it more than most after he stuffed up on the exchange rate and gave his cyclo about a months wages, and then still had to get a taxi to the embassy.
The drinks were apparently around the corner from the main exit, or so my instructions said, so half a dozen of us spent close to an hour searching the streets behind the embassy before we realised the entrance was actually in the side gate.
The embassy was full of westerners and beer. By the time I arrived every vaguely single women in the place seemed to be in deep conversation with at least one of our tour group.
We stayed at the embassy pretty much until closing time, certainly the decent beer had run out as I was forced to drink fosters at one point.
Our next point of call was the Spotted Cow bar. We left en-masse, but I was called back by Sue, to do some organising for tomorrows game. I found out the game was to be at eleven in the morning rather than the afternoon, which meant I would have to try and organise our tour of Hanoi, and hope that we could get the bus to take us to the game.
My mood was not improved, when I left the embassy and found that no one had waited for me. After searching the local area I realised I had been deserted. I decided to take a chance and directed a moto to take me to the Spotted Cow. After driving two minutes, we pulled over and the driver asked me what street it was on. Of course, I had no idea. I also had no idea what our hotel was called and things were looking a bit grim until I remembered the map Sue had left for me earlier. I managed to work out the road and was deposited safely at the correct location.
I ordered a beer and then abused the first person I saw, which happened to be Fatcat, for leaving me behind. Things calmed down after that and we all concentrated on the task at hand, being meeting the locals and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. This task was successfully completed. Despite Pottsy (the bar manager and Hanoi player)’s best efforts to drag us off to the Apocalypse Now bar at closing time I called it a night and walked to our hotel, which was just around the corner for a well earned rest.
Today was a fairly leisurely affair, with no planned activities until the early afternoon when we were to fly to Hanoi. After breakfast I went for a wander to the Morning Markets, which actually run all day, with Little John and Bob L. Little John was quite upset that all the t-shirt vendors wanted to charge him extra due to the additional material required to fit someone who stands at around the 2 metre mark, but eventually found a t-shirt to his satisfaction. At this point we split up and I wandered through the maze of stalls by myself looking for suitable gifts. I could probably have bought a container load but ended up buying nothing.
By this time I had been on tour long enough to succumb to backpacker disease and having seen t-shirts cheaper at the Victory Monument yesterday I walked about 4 kilometres there and back just to save myself around a dollar fifty for two t-shirts, which I then had to spend on water to make sure I got back to the hotel alive.
By the time I got back most people had managed to surface and were lazing around the pool, writing postcards or trying to get onto the internet. The hotel also had full time masseuses who were kept busy all morning massaging away the aches and pains of two games of rugby in quick succession. I regret not giving this a go as everyone raved about it, especially the price.
After one last swim in the pool and a poolside lunch it was time to go and pack up our ever expanding bags. I was greeted by an ever expanding puddle of water from the air conditioning unit, which was now dripping like a tap. Thankfully all my stuff was already on the bed or the whole lot would have been soaked.
Checking out took a lot longer than normal as our tabs for the poolside bar had to be fought over between roommates, but we eventually managed to sort everything out and board our bus for the airport.
One of the key lessons to be learnt from the tour was not to get stuck with too much local currency. The main time filler at the airport was to scour the shops and duty free looking for ways to spend enough Kip to lighten ones pockets. Given that the exchange rate was something like 20,000 kip to the dollar, and there are not any large denominations available we had all been wandering around with huge inch wide stashes of the stuff for the last few days. I had managed things so well that I just had enough left for a beer and a packet of Pringles.
After a short uneventful flight we arrived in Hanoi, and once again passed through customs without incident. We were met by our guide Tuan, who shepherded us towards our bus, which it must be said was the most impressive of the trip thus far, for the trip to the hotel.
Hanoi is well known for its wonderful French influenced architecture and examples of this could be seen everywhere once we reached the outskirts of the city. Hanoi was certainly a lot busier than Vientiane, but then that would be true of most places. Tuan told us that the reason the houses were narrow and tall was that there was a tax based on road frontage.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hoa Binh, which looked quite upmarket and split up into our room pairings, which involved the usual amount of chaos. There was a message for me from Sue, the wife of David (temporarily absent)who had replaced Eric (leaving Hanoi) in organising the tour game (if you are confused how do you think I felt!). After dropping my bags off I rang Sue, who told me she had also dropped off an envelope at the hotel with instructions in it as to where they would be that night. It seems we were in luck as the Australian embassy was having its monthly drinks party that night and we were welcome to attend.
I retrieved the second message from behind the front counter as Sue told me it had detailed instructions as to how to find the embassy. With a vague idea of where we intended arriving at it was all hands on deck as we grabbed every available moto and taxi. After about ten minutes I realise the people who had gotten into cyclos would probably regretting it. Case lived to regret it more than most after he stuffed up on the exchange rate and gave his cyclo about a months wages, and then still had to get a taxi to the embassy.
The drinks were apparently around the corner from the main exit, or so my instructions said, so half a dozen of us spent close to an hour searching the streets behind the embassy before we realised the entrance was actually in the side gate.
The embassy was full of westerners and beer. By the time I arrived every vaguely single women in the place seemed to be in deep conversation with at least one of our tour group.
We stayed at the embassy pretty much until closing time, certainly the decent beer had run out as I was forced to drink fosters at one point.
Our next point of call was the Spotted Cow bar. We left en-masse, but I was called back by Sue, to do some organising for tomorrows game. I found out the game was to be at eleven in the morning rather than the afternoon, which meant I would have to try and organise our tour of Hanoi, and hope that we could get the bus to take us to the game.
My mood was not improved, when I left the embassy and found that no one had waited for me. After searching the local area I realised I had been deserted. I decided to take a chance and directed a moto to take me to the Spotted Cow. After driving two minutes, we pulled over and the driver asked me what street it was on. Of course, I had no idea. I also had no idea what our hotel was called and things were looking a bit grim until I remembered the map Sue had left for me earlier. I managed to work out the road and was deposited safely at the correct location.
I ordered a beer and then abused the first person I saw, which happened to be Fatcat, for leaving me behind. Things calmed down after that and we all concentrated on the task at hand, being meeting the locals and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. This task was successfully completed. Despite Pottsy (the bar manager and Hanoi player)’s best efforts to drag us off to the Apocalypse Now bar at closing time I called it a night and walked to our hotel, which was just around the corner for a well earned rest.
