For the first time in 6 years we celebrated the new year in Asia, in a super peaceful and quiet environment, certainly a far cry from the parties till dawn we have had in the last few years! This year we spent the new year in the north east of Vietnam, in the Quan Lan village near bai thu long bay, having bay's less known sister. Mr Mo's mother visited over the new year and he took us both to Hanoi and The Bays for a week.
We first arrived in Hanoi on 30th December , a night flight and an hours bus journey into the city centre. Suffice to say initially the 'balmy' winter was a pleasant surprise and change from the humidity and heat I had been warbling over the last few months, but my packing left much to be desired as I severely underestimated the weather.
We revisited an old favorite dinner place and bia hoi of Mr Mo's in a side street which specialized in bit tet--- beef steak to the uninitiated. Sizzling plates of 'beef' drenched in gravy, or pummeled discs of unfathomable meat like texture, mi xao piled with onions, our fellow diners happily sucking on their pigeon feet, to be later spat out and crunched under the shoes of the next unknowing diner, indeed we are in Hanoi. One thing that puzzled me to no end is mr Mo's frequent indignance about tze char and chicken rice in singapore which always came bony but he relished in the pigeon feet strewn on the ground with discarded corn cobs, something I'd never understand.
On that note, we got relocated against our better judgment from the bluesky hotel as they were fully booked, to a dodgy looking guesthouse whose front of house reminded me of a gambling den in malaysia from the 80s. Not a great start. With no heating and single glazed windows, we huddled in the cold to fall asleep. Remind me the next time I set my perimeters for a hotels in cold climates -- hot water which we had, clean rooms (bed was at least clean) and a goddamn heater (as opposed to a wonky air con which served no purpose other than to keep us awake with its clacking drone throuhgout the night).
Tomorrow, we start our adventures to the bays.
