Last night I met up with Anna and Sabrina, two really nice girls I met from Germany. We had a great dinner eating Pho at a roadside food stall/restaurant. I've been nervous to eat at some of these places because they aren't the cleanest of places and who know how or where they wash the dishes... Strength in numbers, right? Haha.
Afterwards we went to Moca Cafe for Mango Lassies. This place litterally could be in Vancouver - it's funky with a warehouse vibe, exposed brick and black and white tile floor. We had a good laugh over the fact that I questioned Anna (in my head) yesterday when she told me that she was a police officer back in Germany. First, she doesn't look like she'd be a police officer for at all, she's a pretty, petite blonde and very sweet and second, before I left for this trip I was reading about traveling solo as a woman and one of the suggestions was to tell people that you were a police officer to make people think twice about messing with you! Haha. So I was wondering if she was telling the truth because she was traveling on her own at the time. So when we met up today I was asking her some more questions about her work and true enough she is, in fact, a police officer. It was funny. Don't judge a book by it's cover!
Today was a great day. Most things are still closed here in Hanoi (some things will be closed up to 10 days for Tet, Chinese New Year) so there is nothing much to do here. And while I'm still trying to get over this cold I've had for a week, I kept it low key. So this afternoon, I sat in a French Cafe for hours, drinking coffee, eating French pastry and reading my book. It was a relaxing afternoon. It felt like I was in Paris. It was lovely. And I finished my book. (Yay! One thing I can get rid of! My backpack is WAY too heay!)
Tonight I met up with Anna and Sabrina again for dinner. We tried the roadside food stall kiddy corner to the one we ate at last night. While we ate Pho last night, this food stall barbequed different meats and mushrooms. We ate crab, beef skewers, salmon and even tried these huge snails and frog (which takes a lot like chicken). Sabrina was the brave one to order the frog. It was all very delicious. The roadside stands/restaurants are everywhere but you stick with the ones that are ALWAYS busy. They have these tiny plastic tables and stools which are all numbered so they can keep track of what you order. The stools are so low that your knees feel like they are in your throat, literally. You order by going up to this big table where all of the raw meat and mushrooms are and you just point to what you'd like to eat. The hostess takes what you've picked and throws into a plastic container and takes it over to the two guys doing all of the barbequeing on this little metal spit/grill. When it's cooked they pick up the cooked piece with their hands or put it on this tray and bring it over to and throw it on your plate (it's so busy and they are moving very quickly.) These food stalls would be shut down in Canada in a heart-beat because of health regulations! But it was really good and a must when you are here!
Afterwards we went out for some celebratory Mango Lassies because Sabrina got her passport back today and all her credit cards, which she lost 2 days ago in Halong Bay! What a relief!
It was a really good at the time but now my stomach is not feeling so great ; ) Maybe the frogs legs? Where are my Tums? Ugh.
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