After a really cold and dark night parked and drifting amongst the numerous house boats, we get up to a cold and hazy morning. One of the neighboring boats actually had a bunch of people jumping into the water and frolicking off the side of their boat in the freezing cold. These were not local Vietnamese but some psycho Europeans.
Breakfast was served so I don’t know if those pale Speedoed tourists succumbed to hypothermia. Fried rice and Crinkle cut fries seem to be served with every meal. I have no recollection of what that patty like thing was. And yes there is a sheen of oil over everything.
We chug our way back into the docks. There really wasn’t a whole space for our boat at the dock, so our boat basically forced their way in between two other boats.
Here we are about to ram one of the boats.
Look at the woman in the boat on the right. She is either yawning or gaping in terror.
After disembarking the boat now we head back to Hanoi on another long bus ride.
A really long bus ride…
We passed a lot of fields like this. Believe it or not these will eventually be turned into condos.
Mo Pho- They probably don’t serve crinkle cut fries and fried rice at these establishments.
Back in Hanoi we have time to kill before we get on an overnight train for Lao Cai in the North.
A number of us decide to pass some of the time at one of the ritziest hotels in town which has a CHOCOLATE BUFFET.
For $12 (an exorbitant amount in Vietnam, lots of dong!) you have access to a chocolate buffet. Just chocolate.
Fondue instead of salad and a hot chocolate station instead of a prime rib carving station. Everything is freaking chocolate. I am not a HUGE chocolate fan but I had to do it.
I OD’d on chocolate and just the thought of anything chocolate after my experience here made me nauseous. …but I had to do it.
I also wanted real food but unfortunately I ordered the high tea service (which came at a discount if you got the buffet). Tiny sandwiches and fruit tarts (no chocolate thank god). (Is this what goes on in the American Girl Cafe?) I politely ate my portion of the tea service while secretly planning a trip to a pho place.
This is not the Pho I am looking for. I think it means road.
It is finally time for our overnight train ride to the North… Right in front of the station there were numerous food stands. In the pic below you can see the little chair and table set ups for the food. We were in a rush so we only had time to buy faux Ritz crackers and water.
After getting through the “security” checkpoint we walk for what seemed like a mile over rough gravelly train platforms to get to our sleeper cars.
After boarding and settling in our car, we have a few drinks and desserts in the food car. We eventually settle in our narrow ass beds and prepare for the long train ride and nightmares about chocolate.
This was the first overnight train ride I had taken. The sleeper car was very nice as you can see from the pic below with complimentary water and toothbrushes. By the end of the trip I would have accumulated a bunch of the toothbrushes. These flimsy things only last for one or two uses but are very good for stuff like cleaning mud off of your shoes and I imagine easy to fashion into shanks if need be.
To be continued…. Sorry for the delay.
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