On Sunday, we planned to sort Japan route out once and for all. On the Friday before leaving for Ha Long Bay we had discovered that the WHOLE of Kyoto was booked up for the next week which is where we thought we'd stay for the first 3 nights. So we fell back to staying in Osaka for a few nights and were going to visit Kyoto by day. So knowing that Japan wasn't just a rock-up-on-the-train-and-find-a-place-to-stay kind of place, we got to booking.
After a whole successful day of booking a few places and getting the best route we could, we were incredibly satisfied. The last 3 weeks of travel are going to be quite busy but it's one final push until home to merry old England. As we were just about to step out of the door, I thought I'd check to see everything was ok with our flight the next day. Having whizzed around the Vietnam Airlines website and Hanoi Airport website I couldn't see our flight anywhere.
This was a little bit of a problem to say the least. And plus, it was Easter Sunday in England so STA wouldn't be open, it was 18:00 on Sunday in Hanoi so Vietnam Airline Head Office and telephone number were closed AND we were meant to be meeting the boys for dinner. The major worry was that we'd been switched on another flight, STA had not informed us of this and the flight had already gone. So we after a few failed attempts to call the airport and after the help of several travel agents in central Hanoi, we had no choice but to wait until the next day. We did very well putting it down and had a really good night out with the boys.
After a good nights sleep, we got to Vietnam Airline Head Office at 08:00 on Monday morning. They typed in our reference number and revealed that our flight on Monday 5th at 23:00 did not exist anymore and that we had been put on a flight on Wednesday 7th 00:10 (late Tuesday night instead). So this meant, one more day in Hanoi, one less day in Japan and a big ass complaint going STA travels way. But not the end of world. We contacted Osaka hostel and they were fine with 2 nights instead of 3. That was good. Then we slightly revised our route and had to delete some forest shrines from the programme. But least we now knew what was going on and could relax.
So, with that we went to the Waterpuppet theatre and bought all of us a ticket for 14:15 showing as a little treat for everyone. We met the boys in Le Pub at 11:00 and kicked about for a few hours and had lunch. This pub has been a base for us over the last 10 days in and around Hanoi.
To be honest with you, everyone has had a problem since getting back from Ha Long: Grant thought he may have lost all of his photos on his memory card due to a virus getting on his card, Christian had to go to the doctors because he started having convulsions, Steve lost his bank card, and Jack decided he couldn't afford to go on any longer to Laos with the boys so is going back to Siem Reap. Luckily everyone got what they needed to do done just in time for a little light entertainment.
We got to the Waterpuppets in time for our performance. The history of the waterpuppets dates back around 1000 years where farmers would entertain their kids with wooden puppets in the rice paddie fields. They would depict everyday tales in their performances about the villagers and also of the holy animals: the tortoise, the unicorn (more like a dragon / lion thing), the dragon and the phoenix. Me and Ame felt like mum and dad taking the kids out...
The performance has a live tradional band. They sat just left of the stage. The stage itself consisted of a small pool of water where the puppets would perform. The show would consist of 15 different stories. The first was a dragon story and the dragon puppets spat fire and smoke.
It was all very good. I cheered us all right up. As we have a good connection at our hostel, here's a sneaky video of a story about the Fairies...
After the show, we went walkabouts and ended up having some lovely ice cream. Christian, Grant and Steve were heading off to Sapa that night on the night train so we had a 20:30 teary goodbye scheduled. So with hours to go, we went and had a few last beers. One by the lake...
And one in La Pub...
And then dinner at Bar 69, a traditional old Vietnamese restaurant. We said good bye to the boys at Ocean Tours, and arranged they'd all come out in London on Saturday 19th June, my birthday. It was quite sad leaving them. I hope they are safe in their adventures to Laos. Me, Ame and Jack went to wipe our tears away in Lucky Bar. Due to budget and Japan being so expensive, me and Ame aren't going to drink hardly at all in the next few weeks. After a 10 days with these boys, I'm a bit beered out anyway...
So we headed home to bed with an arrangement to meet Jack for lunch. After a good night's sleep we'll now be off to meet him in a minute. We've spent the morning packing and blogging and then we'll be hanging around in the city until 21:00 tonight when we get our taxi to the airport.
We're actually quite glad to have another day in Vietnam to get these things done as it meant that yesterday we could relax with the boys and take in the city for one last time. Hanoi has been good to us and we've felt like we've lived here a bit and feel very comfortable here; which is always a funny feeling in somewhere so foreign. The only trouble with feeling so comfortable though is that you start taking it all for granted and don't notice everything going on around you as much.
However walking back last night it did hit us for a final time. We walked past a collection of about 15 people on little plastic stalls having late night food. They were all lit up, under makeshift plastic cover from the dripping rain, eating steaming bowls of soup. The women were cleaning washing up bowls full of huge crabs and piles of snails and cooking them on a coal fire balanced on the edge of the pavement. It was an amazing scene but so commonplace that we've stopped noticing it! I glad we realised just in time before we leave.
Our time in Vietnam has been such a mix of emotions. We haven't loved it at all times but we've certainly got to grips with it and are really glad we came. We've done some amazing things and the country does have so much to offer. It has been the perfect place to spend these three weeks and of course especially fun because we got to spend time with the others and do it together. But now we're ready for a change and ready to throw ourselves into Japan for our last adventure.
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