When I finally dragged my butt to the dining room, I was surprised to see Ken sitting at the table with Vickie and Bruce. Apparently, the French contingent had commandeered the boat to go to monkey island, leaving before the scheduled time and the crew didn't come up with a strategy to rectify things so Ken could go on the promised excursion as well. Oh well, at least he had coffee and the two croissants left after the French locusts devoured all the pastries before anyone else was out of bed. LOL, it seems they think that every meal might be their last.
After a hearty breakfast, Ken and I bid adieu to last night's dinner companions though we have tentative plans to meet both couples separately tomorrow and Thursday for a few laughs so we hope to see them all again. They headed off on the launch with a young English couple and their baby while we were on the "big" boat with the Latvians and the French contingent as we were all on the one-night plan.
"Check-out" was a 9:30 am to give the crew a chance to sort the cabins out before the next group of passengers so we left out luggage outside the cabin, paid our bar tab and headed to the "sun" deck to soak in the sights on our way back to the dock.
Too soon, we were back on shore and headed to the Paradise Hotel to wait two hours for our van back to Hanoi. They threw in a light lunch to dull the pain of the wait but it seemed long nonetheless. The hotel is very new (not quite finished probably) and eerily quiet with lots of staff servicing the twelve or so guests that we saw while we were there. It's a nice place but I don't think I would stay there as there is too much boat traffic and the garbage floating in the Bay would make swimming an impossibility for most folks. We did see a few hardy souls swimming this morning on a little beach close to where we had over-nighted so who knows?
Lunch was a small Chicken Caesar Salad and a Beef Noodle Bowl with fresh fruit for dessert. A weird combo but it was filling and killed a bit of time, lol. While we had lunch there was a lounge singer and piano man playing a player-piano. LOL, bit strange for 11:30 am but maybe they were practising for Vietnam Has Talent!! They were both pretty good singers but it seemed out of place with just us in the restaurant.
The van for our return trip was not as luxurious as the one we had for the trip up but the routine was the same with a "rest" stop at a big shopping place. Our drive back was interesting as the little plots of land along the side of the road were a beehive of activity most of the way. We had found out that each couple is given 20 square meters of land to crop on a 20-year lease from the government. They can crop it themselves or lease it to someone else as long as it is not left untended. If that happens, the government takes it back and gives it to someone else. Assuming things go well, the family applies to get their plot back after the 20 years is up. Anyway, rice planting seemed to be in full swing today. Not every plot is planted with rice though. There are banana trees, vegetables of all sorts, grazing cattle, ducks, you name it. The common denominator is the hard working folks (mainly woman) working their small plots to help feed their families. The plots butt right up to the edge of little towns and even the fringes of Hanoi so its a sea of green disturbed by intermittent towns and villages.
Back to our hotel and our haven for the next three days/four nights. We have been popping in and out of Hanoi so looking forward to staying put for a couple of days and doing some major sightseeing here before we head off to Thailand and the beaches of Phuket.
Tonight, we ventured into new territory in search of dinner and found a cute little BBQ place on one of the less crowded streets. The bars and restaurants of the Old Quarter spill into the streets as the clientele continues to arrive. All it takes is a stack of little blue stools, hot food and lots of cold beer. This area of Hanoi is so much more alive than District One in HCMC which is where we stayed there. I suspect all the hostels and budget hotels sprinkled
throughout the Old Quarter, attract the young and young at heart in a way the stodgier more expensive western hotels in the area of HCMC we stayed in didn't. I wonder what the chi chi areas of Hanoi are like at night. Might have to try the French Quarter for dinner one night.
More tomorrow. We're off to see Ho Chi Minh himself. Sadly no pictures for you as neither of us is willing to risk prison to share but I'll try to come up with a good description. Good night from Vietnam.
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