Today we clearly slept in until well after lunch! Hungover and tired is an understatement! Today I went to get my mop chopped at Toni's salon! He owns a small salon near West Lake, where his clients are mostly expats and speak English! It was odd I thought I would feel right out of place but I felt right at home! Annie didn't feel well at all so she stayed in bed until 5pm and I went to get breakfast with Toni at a French Cafe near his salon.
As soon as we ordered, Toni's client then turned up in the salon so he had to run! So we got his food to go and I ended up sitting in their all over lunch time on my own! I actually loved it! I hate seeing people eat out on their own but I didn't care! I just sat upstairs minding my own business, watching everyday life go by! With my croissant (seriously the best croissant in Hanoi) bread roll, fresh orange and pot of tea all to myself! I could live this life forever! It cost like £3! Even more reason to stay in Vietnam :)
Spoke to my mum on Facebook abit, she's panicking that it's my 21st birthday in 6 days and she's not going to spend it with me! She thought I would get homesick before now and be back home, as everyone else did, why people think I'm such a baby il never know! We survived ten days in one if the most dangerous capital cities in the world... So maybe now people will start realising I'm more than just a pretty face ;) totes jokes!
After my breakfast/lunch/brunch? I went to Toni's salon and he cut my hair! He cut it once and was too scared to cut it short so then went over the whole thing at the end and shaved it! Number 2 back and sides! Feels much cooler!
Then I cut Toni's hair! First haircut I've done in 3 and a half months now! And with someone else's scissors, in someone else's salon... I was actually a little nervous :/ especially when one of the stylists who barbers for him started recording me on his phone and taking photos of me! Toni was just happy that a UK hairdresser was cutting his hair and wanted to learn techniques from me! Totes awks when he's been a hairdresser for over 8 years!
I chilled for the rest of the afternoon in the salon, watching all the clients and could actually imagine myself working here quite easily! I spoke to Lee to arrange what we were doing for the evening and she said we were going to Snake Village with Matt and John from last night! I forgot I agreed to that when I was drunk!! :o
Me? Eating snake? No way! I'd already said yes to it though, so off I went to get ready! I had 30 minutes to eat a bagel, (incase the snake diesnt fill me :s) get home, get showered + changed, and then walk to Lee's work! when I left the salon there was an absolute tropical thunderstorm I was drenched, trying to hail down a cab from the side of the road!
Anyway we arrived 36 minutes late! Met John and matt again and took a 30minute cab to snake village! No one was in the restaraunt apart from us and it was located down a dark alley way! I'm already bricking it! They had three cages with groups of snakes and then smaller pens for the more venomous snakes that need to be kept singly!
He showed us an average one that was a feisty critter! Then he pulled out a Cobra! Not a chance in hell am I eating an actual cobra! It hissed at me and that was it, no way, we decided on the cheaper poor average snake! The guy showed zero remorse, just grabbed a knife and just ripped the snakes beating heart out! Just like that! Threw it into a glass and started draining the blood infront of us!
We went upstairs to get seated and they brough shot glasses of blood for us all, mixed with vodka! Safe to say it tasted vile! Matt also ate the still beating heart of it too, he said it just washed down his throat like a pill! The heart will still be pumping inside of him! Yuk! Once in a lifetime experience though I guess!
We then had another shot taken from another organ, it was difficult translating what it actually was but we think it was Gaull? As in Gaull bladder, the chemicals used to break down food to help digest? We don't really know what it was but we drank it and it didn't taste much better!!
Then the snake meat was cooked into 10 different dishes:
spring rolls,
pancakes
dumplings
Bone scrapings
Fried Banana leaves
Rice and rice paper
Soy sauce stir fry with pineapple
Soup
Lemongrass sauce stir fry
Wrapped in egg
They were so random! Some tasted surprisingly very nice! And I went back for more, some like the bone scrapings nobody liked - too salty! It had the same texture as lamb, sometimes quite chewy and hard but then rubbery in places too!
After our thrill seeking snake feast, We went to Maos bar for a relaxing social drink! Mao wasn't even there, so we left to meet him at GC!
It was packed out yet again and too hot! So after one beer they took us to Tenple bar! Somewhere we've never been! Every bar in town was crazy packed with it being Saturday night, and we couldnt move! Everywhere is really smokey and everyone is wrecked!
We had a few drinks here before going home, we didn't even dance tonight as the dance floor was far too hot!! We were sweating sat down! Around 1:30am we left (very unusual for me I know!) and had to wrap up our phones and money in plastic carrier bags, the rain was chucking it down again! Some roads had flooded that bad it went over the pavement so you couldn't see where the road ended! Please god let this rain continue so we can't leave Hanoi tomorrow and force us to stay another night! I never want to leave!