Goodbye Hanoi & fresh beer.

Tonight we leave Hanoi and head south to Saigon. We will spend a day in Hoi An (near Dannang) and a couple of days (including New Years) in Nha Trang. We will arrive in Ho chi Mihn city (Saigon) on the end of the week.

It has been a crazy and fun time in Hanoi. It will be nice to get out on the coast and hopefully somewhere quieter with cleaner air. Each of us has spent at least one day not feeling well, and everyone seems to now have at least a sore throat. Linda has also been coughing for the last couple of nights. Hopefully some fresh air will help.

We never did get out to Halong Bay to go rock climbing. The days we had planned to climb turned out to be raining, so we stayed in town. We did make good use of our time, finding a supermarket so we could get food fro the train, attending a night of songs at the Hanoi Opera house, and attending the Water Puppet Theater.

We also went and saw the school that Epiphany had been staying at while she was studying here. We walked out to the school. On the way Epiphany & I sat on the street and enjoyed 'fresh beer.' It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The beer is brewed fresh each morning and delivered to street vendors who serve it straight from the keg. The beer is apparently available in three varieties, but what we found was the most popular, a light, almost sweet Lager. The fun part is you sit on little plastic 'kindergarten' stools and drink it while the world goes by.

While we were out near Epiphany's school we also bought lunch. Pork sandwiches for Linda & Epiphany, and rice and vegetables for me. Once again we sat on the little 'kindergarten' stools that seem to be anywhere in Hanoi. This time we did have a small table to eat at however.

I will miss Hanoi. I will miss our nice little hotel, with such friendly and helpful staff. I will miss the morning coffee here, dark, strong, and very smooth, the best I had in Hanoi. I will miss Hoan Keim lake and its surrounding park. I will miss all the little restaurants, the Pho', vegtables, coffee, ice cream. I will miss breakfast on the top floor of our hotel, with the view of the lake.

But further adventures beckon. We have time for one more meal in Hanoi, and then we catch a train south tonight, arriving in Dannang in the morning. From Dannang we go to Hoi An where we will spend the night.

Goodbye Hanoi, it has been wonderful!