Around The World 2017 – Hanoi Wrapup
After an action packed 5 days, it was time to wind down! After a blissful sleep until 1:30 PM, I had a warm shower and dropped off a bag of unholy laundry at the front desk.
I wandered, well hobbled, the neighbourhood and had roasted eggplant and garlic at Aubergine Cafe’. I found the bar street near all of the backpacker hostels and had some local beer. I chatted with an Aussie couple, found out the husband has been golfing in my town in Thailand. A bit later a young local man sat next to me wearing a t-shirt saying “I think about you all the fucking time.” It wasn’t clear that he understood what the shirt said. Still tired, I wandered home and had another great sleep.
The next morning I decided to ride around the city on an electric scooter. The lady at the front desk said “Oh, very difficult.” Great, I’m taunted by all of the electric scooters driving around but can’t get one. Crap.
I decide to head northwest to walk around a big lake. When I get there, wow this thing is big – like Lake Superior big. In the scorching heat, I stop at a coffee shop and have a delicious ice chocolate drink and a shaved ice thing with chocolate sprinkles, an Oreo cookie and a scoop of ice cream. Man did I deserve that.
I walked to a huge high-end department store called Lotte. I exploited the amazing air conditioning until my core body temperature came back down to normal.
Against the odds, I looked for electric scooter rentals online. I found one, sent them a message. Got a response that they would respond to me quickly. Never heard a peep back. I found another one that showed an address and I decided to take the risk.
I jumped in a taxi and showed him the address on my phone. Of course, he headed in the opposite direction from what the map showed. The taxi dropped me off and I went hunting for the shop. Of course, it’s not there. A helpful young man called the phone number for me, and then told me it was closed. Ugh. He noticed the Tesla logo on my shirt and said “Elon Musk, he is amazing guy, CEO Tesla!”. Made my day!
I gave up and walked back to the hotel. On the way I came across a motorbike rental shop. It was hard to tell the difference between a rental shop and a place with just the normal 30 motorbikes parked in front, but yes, this was a rental shop. I pointed to an electric scooter and asked the guy “Can I rent for the day?” “Yes.” “How much.” He punches a number into a calculator, 13 million! I said “No, not buy, only rent today.” “No rent.” Duh. I walk again and find a shop with some really nice electric scooters, anywhere from VND 13 – 15 million but that’s only USD $590 to USD $681, which is a great deal. Would definitely buy one if I lived here.
After a rest, I walked back into the Old Quarter and had a foot massage at a place that provides job opportunities for the visually impaired. I walked to Aubergine Cafe’ again and had the same eggplant and garlic. I went right across the street and had a full body massage, turns out it’s affiliated with the foot massage place. My body is slowly recovering from the trauma.
I came out and got into a bicycle rickshaw and had a nice hour-long pedal around town, through the tight motorbike traffic and wandering pedestrians. It was a nice relaxing way to end my time in Hanoi, blunting the pain and memories of the mountain trek.
Next up: Honolulu!
