Let’s Go Hanoi

A few things happened during this trip that spooked me out a little. It started a mere hour before the trip officially started which was at home before our journey to the airport.

Even though I did said that I am a believer, however I am a skeptic towards this happenings with my aunt. Or to put it bluntly, I don’t believe her.

I set my alarm. I was to wake up at 3am to get ready to go to the airport.

I was woken up by the sound old people make when they brush their teeth i.e.: a lot a gagging and coughing. It went on for about 15minutes, up to a point where I felt disgusted. Huh~.  After it stopped, it was my turn in the bathroom.  I didn’t think anything of it.

Only when we were in the taxi and on our way to the airport that Cousin U told me that her mum was channeling and was blessing her and her husband but didn’t thought of calling me over for a blessing. 

Old Quarters Hanoi City Tour

First thing we did after checking in had lunch at Avalon. We had ice-cream at a fast food joint Lotteria to escape from the outside heat, just a couple of shop next to the puppet show place. Lotteria have a hamburger with rice as the bun but we did not try it.

The water puppet show was quite interesting at the beginning of it all, especially with the traditional instrument performance. DSLR/ hp cameras were clicking away and people were leaning forward in their seat. But it started going down-hill when the narrator was narrating everything in Vietnamese language. They did provide a piece of paper summarizing the performance but I dozed off more than 5 times.

Tips: Be prepared to pay for DSLR Camera fees when entering the theater. 

Tips: Buy the ticket earlier if possible because the place is always fully booked. We had a member of our tour rode a motorcycle with our hotel manager to go and buy the ticket right after we reached the hotel and told her of our intention to watch the show.

When it was all over, my aunt was feeling sick. She kept asking her daughters to hit her back real hard a few times. Her eyes are getting watery as well. She said that there was ‘something’ in there. It started right when one of the performers started beating away the drums. She said that was the part where they are calling on their deities. And she was instantly affected by it. We almost took a taxi back to our hotel. Instead, we continued walking and the further we were away from the theater, the better my aunt felt. We (my colleague-HF, her sister & dad) walked all the way to our hotel street ‘Cua Dong’. We got separated from my aunt because I was trying to stick with HF. I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to find their way back since the dad was making stops along the way to buy hats and this is actually her first time being on a holiday without having any tour guide.

Tips: Be prepared to run or show a don’t-eff-with-me facial expression to fend off traders on the street. They are ruthless and can chase you down blocks of building to sell you stuff.