Later On...

This afternoon, we did the Lonely Planet walking tour of the Old Quarter this afternoon. We had bought a Lonely Planet book from a kid on the street last night. He had told us it was the real thing, not a photocopy, and we believed him, and he wanted $27US for it. We ended up only paying $10US for it, and after we opened it up, it was a photocopy. Good thing we chewed him down!!! Anyway, in the Old Quarter, each street name designates a different thing that they sell on that street. It's really weird. One street sells shoes (lots and lots of shoes!!!), another specializes in towels (never thought I'd see a towel street), there's a blacksmith's street, a tinbox street (where they make tin boxes!), a gravestone street, etc. Very bizarre.

I hit another bank machine and withdrew 2,000,000 dong this time! Twice a millionaire!

When we walked through a market today, we saw a woman killing live chickens, and draining the blook from their necks. The things you see here are so strange to foreigners, but just part of life for locals.

We hit a restaurant for supper, then went to Fanny Ice Cream, and hugely a hugely overpriced (for the size!) ice cream. It was tiny, and we paid a fortune for it!! We then headed back to the guest house, and I stopped off at the shoe street and bought myself a new pair of flip-flops (paid $11CDN for it, but they're a good pair), then back to the guest house, then walked to the Water Puppet Theatre for the water puppet show. Water Puppet Show was neat, all the music and singing and talking (in Vietnamese) is live, and all the puppets are controlled from underwater. The show consisted of a bunch of Vietnamese traditions and ways of life. Very entertaining, and a must see for anyone coming here.

After the Water Puppets, we went to the Hanoi Jazz Club. Very good music. I played a couple of games of pool with a Danish fellow, and we beat a couple of locals and then beat a two British lads.

Court and Dana and Dana went back to the GH when I started playing pool, so I got back just before midnight. The Old Quarter is pretty dead late at night.