The boys are back in town

* Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

"Guess who just got back today?
Those wild eye boys that have been away,
Haven't changed, haven't much to say,
But man I still think those cats are crazy."
(Thin Lizzy)

Indeed.  The boys are back in town as were we.  We discovered this for sure when we got to Hanoi Guesthouse 2 where they let us shower and use the internet.  As it was early they needed time to clean the room before we could actually move in though so we dragged our tired arses out into the city until we were allowed to check in.

We didn't feel like achieving too much this day, as we had our date with the boys at 17:00.  So we went on a little walkabout this different end of the city, looking for a pair of trousers for me, as we stupidly gave an old pair away in Siem Reap without considering that the whole world is not 39 degrees C.

Alas, with a waist of 36" and legs the size of tree trunks, Asian jeans do not fit old Robby P and getting them tailored in Hanoi after leaving Hoi An seemed like a weird thing to do.  So knackered as we were, we decided to leave it.  We had a little second brek (well we had been up since 04:30) and found a little shop that sold a few comforting lunch things so we could have a picnic in our room.  It was nice getting some crackers, proper cheese, choc, juice and yogs for a change.

However, it's a pity that the lady in the shop had to hate us on sight, something that we have grown to accept in Vietnam from time to time.  I think they see tourism as a neccessary evil and a lot of the older generation, who have had to suffer so much in the past 40 years, are a little unfriendly to say the least.  The younger generation are a lot nicer.  It's not all the time, but leaves you feeling a little bit of an impostor at times.  Strange how this was almost polar opposite in Cambodia.  But hey ho.

So, we went back to our room, had our pinic and then slept.  A gorgeous little sleep in the heart of the noisy city.  We awoke to hot foot it to Le Pub for our date with the geezers.  Now, we had heard that Grant and Christian had a harem in tow.  Sure enough, soon we were having a few drinks with them and their 5 girls!  Needless to say these boys are pretty popular with the ladies so it was quite amusing watching them get fought over at the dinner table and pub table later on.  It was great to see them and to be honest, I think they were looking forward to the girls going off on their own Ha Long Bay trip and then them moving on this Friday as they need "new" (probably female) company in the next few days.  We had some good laughs, a few good drinks, we went off back to bed.  It was great to have some raucous company in the city of the rising dragon.

On Wednesday, we awoke with a little bit of a hangover, but no so bad that we couldn't go and see Ho Chi Minh's body lying in state!  We met Grant and Christian and got a taxi of to the Mausoleum.  It is only open from 08:00 - 11:00 and the queue was outrageously long.

You have to go through security, leave all cameras and big bags in lockers and proceed through the snaky queue whilst watched by intimidating guards with guns complete with bayonets.  All quite a bizarre experience.  But interesting never the less.

Eventually the queue started to move a little more quickly and we went inside the main building...

As you go in, you walk up a few stairs and then into a square room which is piping in sounds of the jungle.  In the middle of the room is a case with Ho Chi Minh's body lying in state.  I have to say, he looked like he was just sleeping.  The embalmers must be amazing.  He looked peaceful and as if he could just open his eyes for a second to see the people walking past, and then calmly shut them again.  It was far from creepy.  In fact I was really impressed with the atmosphere in the room itself.  I can't say I totally understand the idol worship but then again, I don't really think it's here for the likes of me to understand.

So, after that strange experience, we went on to walk to the one pillar pagoda, another sight in the centre of the city.  On route, Grant bought some bananas from a lady and before he knew it, he was holding her baskets and wearing her hat.  Of course this brought up the price of the bananas a little...  You got to love the hustle.

We reached the one pillar pagoda, and we slightly underwhelmed.  It was nice enough, but we decided we'd save the 20,000VND ($1) for lunch.

The guys wanted to go to the Temple of Literature, which we had already done, so we all walked down there, had lunch at Koto again (the food there is so good), they went off to that, and we went back to the hotel.  We watched a couple of Sex in the City, and had a little sleep.  Nice.

We met the boys for a little dinner at Ladybird Restaurant then went to Cheeky Quarters bar for fussball and a few more drinks.

Today (Thursday), we have decided to achieve nothing other than "admin" i.e. blogging, emailing etc and planning for the final adventure in Japan.  We have a computer in our room at the moment which is ace.  It's nice to have a little privacy.  Jack and Steve have arrived this morning on an overnight bus and them, Grant and Christian are sight seeing (well probably knocking back several lagers from midday, knowing these boys...)

In the evening, we all met up at Le Pub (seems to be the easiest central place to meet) at 18:00.  It was great to see old volunteering builders back together again.  The harem even returned from Ha Long Bay for one last night with their chosen idols...

We had a great 11 person dinner at Little Hanoi Restaurant and then we went to Red Lounge.  It was a good time.  Us boys (and Amy) all leave for Ha Long Bay tomorrow.  Hopefully it should be a good trip!