I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!

Wow…no hangover. Well, no banging headache and no nausea anyway. We could have both done with a bit more kip but as breakfast finished at 9:15am we needed to get up and down to the dining room to make sure we got some grub inside us. The continental breakfast had been replaced by cereal this time, and it was more of a massive fruit salad (of banana and watermelon) with a few cornflakes sprinkled on than a bowl of cereal. Still, it did a good job of soaking up the leftover Larue/Hanoi beer still swishing around in our bellies.

After the revelry the night before we weren’t really up for doing much in the daytime as we had practically written it off before we had even started. So it was lunchtime before we ventured outside, but we had done some more research into our next countries on the list – China, Nepal and India. We were heading north to find the famous Dong Xuan market to see what trinkets and souvenirs we might fancy. The road to get there from our hotel is madness. Not as wide as most of the main roads but it seems like there is just as much traffic trying to squeeze down the bottle-neck to get to and/or from the market.

The Dong Xuan market 

Once there we were greeted by carnage. Well, on the inside anyway. The outside of the market seemed pretty usual with many stalls selling the touristy things like hand-made crafts and sunglasses, but inside it was a different story. Inside there were more stands and stalls per square meter than I have ever seen before. There was barely enough room to walk between them, and most of the time there were locals barging past you anyway, almost knocking us into stacks of shoes, rolls of materials or chopsticks. There wasn’t a huge amount of stuff that we were interested in, although James was on the lookout for some more sunglasses as the $4 ones he got in Siem Reap had sadly broken at one of the arms. While he was picking his next “look” I sidled over to one of the traditional hand-crafted stalls nearby and did a bit of haggling with the woman owner. It seemed like a totally different experience to Thailand, and Cambodia to a degree, as there wasn’t much room for negotiation. In addition to that we only had one person gently ask if we would like to buy something as opposed to Thailand, Cambodia and the rest of Vietnam (other than Hanoi of course) where we were constantly bugged by people selling everything and everything.

Don't drop it!!!

As we left the market we wandered through the streets to the lake and purchased tickets for the infamous Water Puppet show for later that evening. As we were in the area we took a look at the small temple that sits in the Hoan Kiem lake. Before I even got to the bridge I was accosted by 4 oriental tourists who took an interest in me, for some reason! One chap asked about taking a photo, to which I responded “no problem” as we are always being asked to take photos of people at scenic places. But I quickly realised that he wanted a picture OF me, and before I knew it one of the girls was pressed against my side, presumably doing the peace/victory sign. I had no idea why they wanted a picture of little old me, but quick as a flash (no pun intended) they had switched and he jumped next to me for his turn. I duly posed with the guy, shaking his hand for effect, and they left one they had their snaps. Whether they thought I was a celebrity or what I will never know, but it was a good little story to put in this blog.

The Hoan Kiem temple

We had been looking for a place to play “licky-kicky” and had struggled as the area by the lake is pretty crowded, both with locals and tourists alike. We had walked round other parts of the city in an attempt to find a quiet and open spot and we eventually found one, near a few kids hanging around doing some after-school activities. We got the kicky-thing out and began hoofing it around, and as per usual it didn’t take long for some passer-by to join in. He did ask if that would be OK, which is more than most of them do. As we batted it about, he more successfully than we, another joined in and we had a four-way going. I was playing in bare-feet as my flip-flops were not good for licky-kicky. We were playing for a good half hour and by the end of it we all had a rather lovely sweat going so we called time and sat back to guzzle down some much-needed water.

Licky-kicky has seen better days...

The evenings eatery was Gecko, again. Mainly because it was round the corner, cheap and tasty. We hit the Water Puppet show afterwards and it was…an experience. Small wooden puppets dancing around in a pool of water in a theatre-style arena with three women on the side singing, playing instruments and story-telling. It was good to see and I’m glad we paid the extra to get the good seats!

You couldn't see the people during the show...this was the finale 

Later that night I stood out on the balcony and watched the world go by. Well, actually, I didn’t. As there didn’t seem to be any “world” to go “by” as it were. It was nice and quiet, and completely different to the streets usual hustle and bustle. There was even a police/army sergeant ordering someone to sweep up outside their shop. Aaaaaah. 

Hong Quat by night....empty apart from one motorbike...