Vietnam: Last Night in Hanoi

Despite the heavy exhaustion from our six-day motorcycle trek, Erin and I decided to have one final night on the town to celebrate our victory in surviving, as well as a farewell party of sorts. We took nice cold showers, could not be bothered to dress up, and had dinner at our fave vegetarian joint before heading to one of the legendary Hanoi street corners to imbibe in fresh microbrewed beer. We sat down on small plastic stools with a couple hippy, American fellows and sipped our weak beer while people-watching.

Eventually, the beer ran out, and we climbed onto motorbikes to travel across town to a nightclub. By this time it was about 12:30 am, and we were disappointed to find that the club was to close its doors at 1:00 am. Therefore, we headed back to the Old Quarter to crawl around several small pubs before once again taking a motorbike to the Barracuda, a classy establishment located on the edge of town.

We spent the better half of the evening chatting it up to some Danish guys and attempting to dance to cheezy 90s rock music. Finally, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, tired and sweaty, we cabbed it back to the Old Quarter and crashed into bed.

This morning, after sleeping in, we ate breakfast before wandering one last time through the Old Quarter. We visited a book shop, where I traded in The Da Vinci Code (the most over-rated book I have ever read in my life, in my humble opinion) for Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera".

Tonight we leave Vietnam and fly to Bangkok. This is a very strange and bittersweet time for me as A) After two months of traveling together, Erin and I will say goodbye, as she heads on to Nepal tomorrow and B) I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. I decided to fly to Bangkok to get my bearings, but all I know for certain is that I am meeting my mate Chris in India June 1st. My options at the moment are either heading down to Malaysia and Indonesia, wasting time in Thailand, or finding a job bartending on the beach in Cambodia. Big Decisions!!!