Ha Noi -- Saturday, April 2, 2005
Apr. 3rd, 2005 11:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lsandersonIt’s 5:33 am. We ate at an expensive restaurant last night. I think Tin and Tr are still shocked at the price. It was very good, but we spent enough to feed a family for a month. The restaurant had prices in US$, which is usually not a good sign. It was a huge building, and we ate not in the front, but in the back on the second floor with a wooden roof two or three stories above us. There was a huge number of staff to guests. And we had two of the tasting menus. The waiter was pushing it when we came in, and I never did see the full menu.
Appetizers were shrimp toast (which tasted very much like shrimp toast and thong complained that it was greasy… and spring rolls of meat cooked around sugar cane with an assortment of greens, julienne ginger and star fruit. They rolled the first one, and then we all had to do our own afterwards.
Two salads, grapefruit and shrimp, and a banana flower salad, both were really good, although I think the Dinhs’ preferred the banana flower salad. Thong said it was something his mother would like, and something they ate when he was young and they were poor.
Main course was lobster in a mild sweet/sour sauce and grouper in a soy broth. Everybody liked the lobster best, but they were both quite fine.
The main course came with rice in small porcelain jars with lids. It was very fine rice and both Tin and Tr were very happy to see it. There was an eggplant dish which was slightly sweet and not what I was expecting. The other side was fried noodles with veggies. Thong compared it to chop suey, which was an apt comparison. It was better though.
Dessert was a choice, and thong got two selections of fruit, a crème caramel, and litchi. We walked back.
There’s a big fight going on in the hotel room. We brought Thong’s brother with as a wedding gift, and Thong’s doing everything he can to make sure there is no wedding. He does not want his brother to become a rice farmer and marry a woman from the farm. They went at this the night we got to the farm, but with far more beer and his other brother was there as well for support.
Tin is playing solitaire on the Treo. I was up until a few minutes ago when I decided I might as well get out the laptop. I’m tempted to go down to the lobby and use the two computers there to access the Internet and read blogs, but, on the other hand, that seems sorta sick too.
His brother knew this might happen when he agreed to the trip. I just think it kind of takes the shine off the gift, but then it’s always so much easier to lead someone else’s life.
We booked a tour of Hanoi and I am beginning to think we should have booked the jungle tour today. The city tour was full for today, so we are going on Sunday. I’m not sure why Thong wanted to do it, but it seems like paradise compared to the two of them going at it. Adding the jungle to the list would be nice. We’re going to try and hit the beach after we get back to Saigon.
We walked around the lake a bit last night, and around the hotel. Tin stayed in the room.
Hmm, the brother has gone quiet and Thong’s doing all the talking. For quite some time now. It’s almost six.
It’s 6:24. The brother is brushing his teeth. Thong wants to go down and do the hotel breakfast. I want to find out what the weather is doing. Yesterday was cool and wet. I’m hoping it’s a bit warmer today. We didn’t pack clothes for this kind of weather.
Appetizers were shrimp toast (which tasted very much like shrimp toast and thong complained that it was greasy… and spring rolls of meat cooked around sugar cane with an assortment of greens, julienne ginger and star fruit. They rolled the first one, and then we all had to do our own afterwards.
Two salads, grapefruit and shrimp, and a banana flower salad, both were really good, although I think the Dinhs’ preferred the banana flower salad. Thong said it was something his mother would like, and something they ate when he was young and they were poor.
Main course was lobster in a mild sweet/sour sauce and grouper in a soy broth. Everybody liked the lobster best, but they were both quite fine.
The main course came with rice in small porcelain jars with lids. It was very fine rice and both Tin and Tr were very happy to see it. There was an eggplant dish which was slightly sweet and not what I was expecting. The other side was fried noodles with veggies. Thong compared it to chop suey, which was an apt comparison. It was better though.
Dessert was a choice, and thong got two selections of fruit, a crème caramel, and litchi. We walked back.
There’s a big fight going on in the hotel room. We brought Thong’s brother with as a wedding gift, and Thong’s doing everything he can to make sure there is no wedding. He does not want his brother to become a rice farmer and marry a woman from the farm. They went at this the night we got to the farm, but with far more beer and his other brother was there as well for support.
Tin is playing solitaire on the Treo. I was up until a few minutes ago when I decided I might as well get out the laptop. I’m tempted to go down to the lobby and use the two computers there to access the Internet and read blogs, but, on the other hand, that seems sorta sick too.
His brother knew this might happen when he agreed to the trip. I just think it kind of takes the shine off the gift, but then it’s always so much easier to lead someone else’s life.
We booked a tour of Hanoi and I am beginning to think we should have booked the jungle tour today. The city tour was full for today, so we are going on Sunday. I’m not sure why Thong wanted to do it, but it seems like paradise compared to the two of them going at it. Adding the jungle to the list would be nice. We’re going to try and hit the beach after we get back to Saigon.
We walked around the lake a bit last night, and around the hotel. Tin stayed in the room.
Hmm, the brother has gone quiet and Thong’s doing all the talking. For quite some time now. It’s almost six.
It’s 6:24. The brother is brushing his teeth. Thong wants to go down and do the hotel breakfast. I want to find out what the weather is doing. Yesterday was cool and wet. I’m hoping it’s a bit warmer today. We didn’t pack clothes for this kind of weather.
