Bia Hoi Nights

Defending the nation in a nice sweater vest
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Sorry for the delay in the updates.  No real excuse...just vacationing.

After getting back from Ha Long Bay, we decided to hang out for a few more days in Hanoi.  Originally, we had planned to try to get to Hoi An fairly quickly after returning, but our research showed that it was a little flooded there due to the rain from the typhoon.  So we decided to just enjoy Hanoi and slow down the pace a little.

Hanoi is a pretty good place for shopping.  Yes, many shops are selling the same stuff, some of which is junk, but some of the stuff is pretty cool too.  And relatively inexpensive.  You are expected to haggle over price for almost everything here, the exception being printed food and beverage prices on menus.  But everything else is fair game...cab fare, clothes, art, hotel rates, and anything else.  A good rule of thumb is to start your haggling at around half of what they quote you.  They will laugh...say no way, then start to come down off their price.  It's just the way things are done here.

You gotta get up early if you want to see Uncle Ho
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We went to see the somewhat famous water puppet theater with a Dutch couple we met on the Ha Long Bay trip.  Casey really liked it...I thought it was OK, but better than I expected.  We had front row seats...fortunately it did not turn into a Gallagher show.  My favorite part was the guitar player who was wearing traditional garb but also had on a watch, which didn't really fit the presentation.  He was really good but looked extremely disinterested.  If you would have put a T-shirt and jeans on him instead of the traditional gear he would have looked like another bored guitarist in a cover band.

Steve & Casey checking out the One Pillar Pagoda
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We tried one day to see Ho Chi Mihn, but they did not have him on display.  Also, you gotta get to the Ho Chi Mihn complex early because they close down things from 11am to 2pm.  I would say that's not the most tourist friendly schedule, but hey, it's their guy.

By far the greatest discovery of the last few days in Hanoi was bia hoi, which stands for cool beer.  Bia hoi is just really weak keg beer that vendors sell out of storefronts with a high concentration on one particular corner that we found.  They give you little plastic chairs to sit on and you drink up.  The beer is somewhere between cold and cool and you get about 10 oz in a glass.  You're saying, why exactly is this good?  Because bia hoi cost 2,000 dong per glass.  That would be 8 beers for a dollar.

See, One Pillar Pagoda
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People stop by in the middle of the day to drink bia hoi, but the crowd really starts going around 5-6pm.  At peak times the chairs extend into the street with motorbikes still buzzing by you.  But it works out fine.  It's also great for meeting people.  On one night Casey and I talked to a Scot who was living off his stocks in Vietnam and a professor born in the US but who had been living is Southeast Asia for 15+ years.  The next night we met a couple from LA, a couple from Australia that just got engaged, and another Aussie.  That night we hung out from about 5pm until around 11pm and had a total of 30 bia hoi's.  Not a bad way to spend almost $4.

Basket of Dragonfruit (It's edible!)
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Next update...Nha Trang!