The Entire Hot Sticky Family...

Hanoi, Vietnam

June 9, 2007
N 21°01.811
E 105°51.082

We headed out to dinner with Bob and Teddy after the sun went down in hopes the temperature dipped at least a few degrees. We had a little time to burn before meeting Elise who was flying into Hanoi around 6:00 PM; however, we weren’t sure she would find our place since the name, as well as the address, “mysteriously” changed since we booked on hostelworld.com.

I marked a few restaurants from Lonely Planet on a map to carry with us, but when we found a corner restaurant packed with locals, we didn’t go any further. The “restaurant” was outside on the sidewalk with rows of plastic tables and chairs typical in kindergarten classrooms. The “kitchen,” also outside, was in plain site ensuring there was nothing to hide.

We sat down with our knees in our chests, ordered some “Tiger” beers, and scanned through the menu. We settled with a vermicelli noodle dish, chicken wings, and a beef dish. The tender beef, mixed with green onions and greens, had a nice little kick to it thanks to the spicy red chili peppers.

The waitresses buzzed from table to table bringing out tons of food and beer while some of the men tried to cool the crowd down with a water mister that seemed to only add humidity to the already vapor filled air. All the while, a long line for the “restaurant” formed on the street as locals headed out for a Friday night meal, probably trying to cool off.

After dinner we stopped by our hostel to see if there was any sign of Elise. Since we didn’t see her, we sent another email with some additional information regarding our place, including the owner’s phone number, and headed to a local bar for one final beer before calling it a night. We could only hope Elise would check her email.

We returned a short time later to learn Elise called; I checked my email and found a recent email from her. We were happy to hear she arrived safely in Hanoi after leaving Sydney shortly after us. Unfortunately, we did not connect with Elise that evening, but had to wait until the following morning.

Everyone decided to head out early this morning to see the sights before the heat became unbearable. I don’t think it mattered what time we headed out—as we stepped out the door, the heat and humidity quickly engulfed us and we knew it would be another scorcher. The streets were empty compared to yesterday, but we weren’t sure if it was due to the fact that it was Saturday, the heat, or a little of both. All we knew was that beer was definitely in our future...