Bird’s Nest Bevarage – 25% bird’s nest

It’s hard to sleep with people treading on your head. Granted i should not have slept down the aisle, but it’s far comfier than the squashed seats. Ever since Laos I had been kipping down on the floor, but the bus to Hanoi was the only time when i was constantly woken by an ill placed shoe or sandal. I spent most of the night awake. So at around three in the morning, when we stopped at a roadside cafe busy with Vietnamese slurping down large bowls of Pho, i decided to stretch my legs and ordered some congee – rice soup. The Vietnamese are clearly very passionate about their food. So passionate that a women approached me to show me how to eat my meal. In spite of any particular taste preference i may have had, the only way to eat this dish was to add lashings of sugar, soy, spices and chives. No arguing. This was the second time this has happened to me, it’s almost as if they take pity on foreigners who are deemed too stupid to eat it the correct way.

I don’t remember arriving in Hanoi, most probably because i was only half awake. Thankfully we found a fantastic hotel for just 8 dollars a night. Ocean Star – I highly recommend it.

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Were we really still in Vietnam? No karaoke bars, no motorbike hordes, no tall and ugly hotels. It felt like Laos – no wonder we took an instant liking to Hoi An, even though it was only six o’clock in the morning.

Note to self: Stop getting buses or trains that arrive at some ungodly morning hour. Night transport is great to save money on accomodation, but even if you are lucky enough to sleep the whole way (and Diazepam helps believe me), you arrive at your destination with a cloudy head, black rings around your eyes, feeling like you haven’t slept a wink, and then having to contend with badgering touts trying to rip you off.

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