Last Day in Hanoi

Ah, so after the beauty and relaxing atmosphere of Halong bay, we are back in Hanoi for one day before flying down to DaNang and heading over to Hue.

We come in last night, call to verify our wine order, and then head out for dinner at one of the many street stalls. We pick a restaurant that has to be good because it is full of Vietnamese, and we order goat and rabbit. Dinner was excellent, it was a little off putting when you pick up a piece of meat and it it still covered in skin with hair, but we are getting better at just trying it and being amazed at how good it really is. What is odd is that we've adapted to the pricing in Vietnam so quickly that we complain that the place is too expensive when it totals out to just under 9.00 USD.

After that we wandered and stopped at an area that had a lot of small chairs facing the street, a la Paris, and we figured why not sit for a beer? I'll tell you why not, you'll never want to leave. Excellent beer poured straight from a spigot welded into the bottom of an old keg at a price of only 2,000 dong per mug. That's just under $0.16. We sat and talked and watched the crowds until they finally kicked everyone away around 23:30. Apparently they are supposed to close at 22:00, and there were a few police scares where the women selling fruit from those baskets would tear down the street in a full out sprint. The are afraid of the police because if they are selling after hours they will lose their basket and goods, so they run. It's quite fun to watch, but at the same time shocking the first time you see it because the beer garden owners get everyone up and scoot all the chairs into the store and get ready to close their doors.

Today we awoke to rain, but wandered the city anyway, it is still full of beauty and it's really fun to watch all the mopeds fly around with everyone covered in ponchos. The rain eventually let up, we went back to the restaurant that we were at the other night to pick up our wine and we ate another absolutely perfect meal there, again for far less then it should cost. Honestly, it is that good, we've already recommended it to people we have met. Remember this when you get here, La Restaurant at 25 Ly Quoc Street, it is beyond worth it...