Last night Mark and I went out drinking with some of the Ericsson local staff at "Relax Bar". Steins of Tiger beer were the order of the day, and the attentive bar staff ensured we never went thirsty. Relax Bar itself was pretty small, and despite some tropical styling, would not have looked out of place in Fitzroy. The locals bought some snacks to have with the beer, and these were quite interesting and tasty. One snack was a semi-dried pork product, not too different from ham, which was dipped in chilli sauce. It was a bit chewy, which was a little strange at first. The other snack was a cheese similar to cheddar, which was smoked and salted. It was served in shredded into long strands. Both went quite well with beer.
Later in the night we moved on to another Ericsson party, this time with the local project managers. This party was at a restaurant known as "Highway 4". According to The Lonely Planet Highway 4 should be in a part of Hanoi called the Old Quarter, however it was no where near that part of town. I'm not sure if this place was run by the same people, or if the restaurant had moved premises, or if it was a complete rip off of the name. It was a nice place in the Japanese style of low tables and no wearing shoes. We drank some local alcohols which the locals couldn't quite describe. They said it was rice spirit, but made from apples?! It was quite nice, with a kind of port taste - sweet, but not too sweet. I liked it enough to jot down the name: Sơn Tinh. I'll try and buy a bottle to take home.
It turns out the Hanoians also know how to distil vodka, as well as brew beer. Here's a blurry camera-phone shot of the said vodka:
Around 11 the party started wrapping up so we decided to check out a massive dance club down town called "New Century". Apparently it's the place to be in Hanoi. First impressions were a little odd - the bouncers were wearing what looked to be bullet-proof vests! Once inside however it was a normal club. The beer was a little pricey by Hanoi standards, but as Mark pointed out... no cover charge : )Vietnamese seem to like cognac. Maybe it is the French influence? Inside the club, full of 20-somethings, there were a bunch of people advertising Hennessy. Quite strange in my opinion! I left early as the club didn't really cater for my taste in music (not that I expected it to), but Mark stayed there a bit longer. He said later in the night a fight broke out and there were glasses being thrown across the dance floor. He got out of there pretty quickly, and I guess that's why the bouncers wear armour!
Today I thought we would be working in the afternoon, so I got up early to do some touristy things. I had been wanting to visit the Temple of Literature and when I got the SMS that we wouldn't be working today I was also able to visit the Museum of Fine Arts and the Army Museum.
Getting a taxi driver to take me to the Temple of Literature was a funny example of language barriers. The driver did not know the word "literature". He got me to write it down, but that didn't help either. So I asked if he knew the restaurant KOTO which is behind the temple. This drew another blank. The temple used to be an old university (founded 1070AD), so I suggested "old university", this appeared to translate. He started driving... but then he stopped about 100 metres down the road and asked "which university?". By this stage I remembered that it was near the Army Museum - these are much easier words than "literature"! He knew exactly what I meant this time, and laughed at me - he said "Old university? No no no, not university any more. Tourist place!".
There is so much to write about after visiting the temple and museums, and of course photos too, but I need some sleep. I'll post all that tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment