I've arrived in Hanoi, and have checked into a small hotel called the Old Darling Guesthouse (Room 302) in the old quarter of the city. Early indications suggest that Hanoi is a beautiful and charismatic place, which will require considerable exploration over the next few days. The old quarter especially is crammed full of old ochre coloured buildings with inset green shuttered windows. The paint is peeling and the roof tiles are loose. It all looks beautifully dilapidated.
The journey up did turn out to be tough, because the driver continually switched off the air-conditioning, and also because the bastard in front of me refused to keep his seat in a fairly upright position resulting in the crushing of my legs. I was angry that he ignored my polite requests for him to not have it reclined back so far, so I childishly got him back at about 4am (when I could take no more) by gripping his seat with my arms, and pretending to sleep pressed forward against it, making it almost impossible for him to rest his head on his head rest. He kept nudging his head against my arms to make me let go, but I had no intentions of behaving like a mature adult by this stage. I held on for about fifteen minutes before letting go, and gave up in the end because it was just as uncomfortable for me as it was for him.
I was also grouchy last night because the reserve coach driver told me off in Vietnamese for leaving my bag in the aisle of the coach, because - I assumed - it was causing an obstruction. It was hard for me to explain to him that I had been told to put it there by his colleague, and he caused a bit of a scene about it. After the bag had been moved elsewhere he then went and got a fold out mattress from the back of the coach, laid it where my bag had been, and went straight to sleep.
Anyway, I've just had my haircut, and I'm here now. This is the second trim of the trip (my first haircut was in Pattaya), and I've checked all my clothes in to be 'washed.' I've also found this excellent internet cafe from which I type, and a burger and french fries in the cafe across the road have my name on them. After I've swallowed the burger whole, what I need is a bit of sleep, and perhaps a little something from the bakery over the road from my hotel for desert.
ps I've updated and altered my previous two blog entries (see below). They were a bit lacking in information. All is back up to date now.
3 comments:
I hate it when people abuse something that's genuinely good.
Are you having to re-route your journey because of the coup in Thailand? Or are you going in for a closer look?
Raj.
May have to re-route if things don't settle down. Will keep an eye on the news and make decisions nearer the time. Have a month in Laos to enjoy first. Can easily fly over Thailand if necessary, but would prefer not to - I want as much of the journey as possible to be made on land.
Post a Comment