Things continue to be lovely in Hanoi – cloudy and damp, functional-if-authoritarian government, and plenty of delicious food. And hey, they even have bountiful cheap eggs!
The highlight of the last week was Kat’s arrival on Monday! I met her at the airport around 9:30pm, so we didn’t really start our adventures together until Tuesday morning. We’ve been visiting all the cat-centric coffee shops and eating lots of good food. As a splurge, we did a belated Valentines Day meal at Gia, a Michelin-starred restaurant not far from the apartment. The food was lovely, served over 8 courses with non-alcoholic drinks pairings. Delicious as it was, I’m not sure either of us has the palate to really appreciate the subtle nuances of a very fancy meal as compared to a $1 bowl of pho.
Wednesday night, we met up with our friend Lara and her mom. They’re wrapping up a group tour through Cambodia and Vietnam. They hadn’t yet done much exploration in Hanoi, so we took them for a walk across the city, up to Trúc Bạch lake. We all got hot pot together for dinner – it’s the trendy meal in Hanoi in the winter, but it’s not really something you can do on your own, so it was fun to have a group.
We had a nice day of working and wandering today, and now we’re waiting for our friends Patch and Reuven to arrive at the apartment. We’ll all be climbing in Vietnam this weekend, then Kat will head home and the rest of us will head to Laos.
So, my solo time here is pretty much done – I’ll have a bit more towards the end of the trip. It’s been a great experience, if slightly tempered by my inability to totally unplug from the dystopia back home. The change of pace has been fantastic from a work perspective – taking a break from the grind of meetings to dive into projects has been super productive, and I’d love to do it again in the future. And it’s been wonderful to have more of a “local” experience in Hanoi – interacting with the same folks routinely, walking the same streets on different days, or at different times of day, and seeing how they change. I still love this place, and I hope I’m fortunate enough to continue to watch it change and get better for many years to come.
I’m so happy it’s worked out so well and I loved all the photos. Give our love to Kat! Hope you’ll post about the climbing in Vietnam and Laos. How are you doing with the language?
I’m definitely far from comfortable in the language, but I feel like I’m doing OK with a few phrases, and I can mostly understand how much money someone is asking for at a shop and whatnot. I could get there!
Hi Colin,
Another adventure! Isn’t it amazing how the time flies. You are doing a great job of enjoying every minute. I love the picture of you & Kat getting to know the cats and dog. I’m having lunch with Val the first week in March. She’ll be glad to see the picture! Thanks for sending!