Day 28 Xmas
Christmas Day really does feel like any other day here.... We've seen a few Christmas films on the telly and that's how we start today......
Scrooge is on and we are happy just to sit and watch it.
We enjoy some simple cornflakes and wonder into the old quarter again..... Its a labyrinth of streets and feels new every time we venture in....
Shiree's had a massage and pedicure since being in Asia and hasn't really enjoyed either, but is looking for some Christmas Day pampering.... We wonder past a few hair dressers and these catch her eye, but Shiree is not sure....
I decide its time to purchase a local SIM card for my phone.... This way, if we get lost whilst on the bike we should be able to find out where we are using the built in maps... It takes around 30 mins to get the new SIM card up and running correctly as all the text message instructions are in Vietnamese as its a Vietnamese SIM card, but with the help of some locals it gets sorted. We continue to walk around and stumble across a hairdressers that looked professional....
We manage to communicate with the staff using google translate and pictures and Shiree is feeling confident that this will all work out ok, so she takes a seat and the work begins..... She's having highlights put in and it's going to take a while so I head off in search of a company we've been in contact with to pay for our up and coming Junk Boat Cruise which is the other side of town..
I'm stood at a crossroads one hundred meters up the road from the hair dressers finding my location on our map when my phone goes... The bikes ready, so I meet the guy at our hotel and jump onto his bike and off we go... We again head out of town, this time crossing the " Red River " and stop at a bike repair garage.... It's this guys other brothers garage and they have made a fantastic removable rack for the bike along with carrying out the necessary work we wanted them too.. They have also cleaned the bike and it looks great....
After paying 2 million Dong for the custom rack, rear tyre, front and rear brake shoes and an oil change I follow the guy back to our hotel , drop the bike off and walk back to the hair dressers.... Shiree's looking like she's had a fight with a foil dispenser and is still sat in the same seat as when I left when I arrive... After a chat about how it's going, to which she replays " its fine" i wonder off down a alley next to the hair dresser..... I noticed it when I arrived and it looked really busy so I go off to explore....
I'm keeping an eye open for a scarf for Shiree... It is Christmas Day after all and I've noticed she's been looking for one to go with a hat she's bought. The alleyway is really thin with fresh food stalls either side leaving only enough room for people to walk single file, but with people all wanting to go in different directions and look at different produce its mayhem. You have to squeeze your way along... Amazingly there are motorbikes down here which act as delivery trucks along with other people on bikes that don't seem to realise how little space there is... At the end of the alley is a shop with a cream woollen scarf... It's just what I was looking for and buy it.... It's a little less than £1 Brilliant.....! Christmas sorted !!
I fight my way back down the alley and give Shiree her Christmas present.... She's happy... It's the right colour....
I sit outside on the doorstep of the salon where it's not so hot without the hair dryers going all the time, I'm joined by a guy who has been in the hair salon since we got there, he's a Vietnamese guy and speaks no English at all, but not speaking the same language does nothing to dampen his enthusiasm to speak so with the help again of an electrical translator we talk for about 45 minuets.... He owns the salon and has a brother who works in the UK for a company that maintain the power supply for the train lines...
He doesn't really like living in Hanoi and is quite anti communist. It's nice talking with him, our worlds really are "worlds apparat"
Shiree's hair looks fantastic and she's got a proper little smile on her face as we head off to pay our bill for the junk boat cruise. We grab some street food along the way... I've no idea at all what it is, I can only describe it as being like a mini Cornish paste that's fried, inside it has a similar look to a spring roll only this has a hard boiled quail egg in it too.... Its nice, and very hot and gone in no time at all....
We arrive at the offices of "Indochina Junk" and enter to pay our bill.... Asia has an ability to make things look very good in there adverts then fail to deliver as the advert implies on nearly all front, so when we walk in and find a company that appears as expected its a relief as we have paid a reasonably large amount for our Ha Long bay boat cruise. We settle up and notice that it's getting close to an agreed time that we'd make a call home... We find a cafe with wifi and take a seat. Shiree spends the next 30 mins talking to her family and I watch the world go by. It's getting dark by the time we leave the cafe and head to a large building next to the large central lake where we had previously seen "Water Puppet" shows advertised. We pay are money and take our seat... Water puppet shows started in the rice fields of Northern Vietnam and basically are puppet shows on water... The shows they perform today are about the life of traditional Vietnamese country people and it's these people who would of originally performed these shows in the rice fields themselves... The early stages of rice growth is done under water so flooded fields are everywhere. These flooded fields became the stage floor. A curtain wall was erected in a flooded field, behind the curtain wall locals would control puppets via under water sticks that performed in front of the curtain either on the water or in it, depending in the puppet. This shows puppets included water buffalo, people, dragons, fish and foxes to name only a few and although basic was good to watch. The dragons had fireworks in there mouths that worked under water and were quite effective.
Once the show was over we headed to a bar called "The Sky Bar" that is centrally located in Hanoi. It's next to the large lake, the old quarter and a particularly busy road so the view from this 7 story high roof bar is great.... We grab a corner table with the best view, much to the obvious annoyance of a typically obnoxious American women who clearly wanted to sit there, but she was to late....
We ordered a cocktail from the menu when our waiter finally arrived to take our order.... He clearly didn't want to be there and was the first Asian person we've met that wasn't happy to see us, using as little verbal communication as possible he took our order and walked off when he deemed we'd finished ordering....
On the plus side the drink was nice, but we only stayed for one, we'd seen the view which was our intention so we were off....
Shiree had decided that for Christmas dinner this year we were going "ala carte". This means French..... So with pickled onions, French stick, cheese and wine we had a Christmas Day pick nick on the bed back in out hotel.....
It was lovely.... Cheese is uncommon in Asia and there bread is really light... It was nice to just chill in front of the telly and have some familiar food....
Shiree dug out a present she has got for me as a Christmas gift... It was a Vietnam flag T shirt... It's completely red with a big yellow star on the front... We both have one which is going to be our bike ridding top....
She also gave me a lovely locally produced card which had a pop up Christmas tree inside...
Feeling bad for not getting her a card, when she went to the loo I wrote on the unused inside page to her and re sealed it back up....
She laughed when opening it to find her own card.....phew !
I just think it better for weight saving to only have one......