Last evening in Hanoi, or so I thought..
I happily took off for my last evening in this beautiful city, taking in the lake at sunset, St Joseph's Cathedral, a great revolutionary poster shop and figured to drop in La Place which has a great write up in the LP..but no atmosphere, not great service but fantastic floors!
This is a long story and I'll try to make it short. I ordered a snack and a drink and shortly a man sat nearby, an Australian, who wanted to know too much about the beer he was ordering, so we struck up a conversation. I thought he was weird, and also he complained a lot, and then he launched into a talk about hookers, pedophiles and all the sleazy aspects of life..he was actually a lawyer. I decided not to entertain him for long and quickly finished up and left.
Thinking to myself about how people create their own experiences, and considering the lady at breakfast who when arriving to find no breakfast berated the hotel, where when I arrived, I apologized for being late and they made me an omlette and fruit salad, it seems that you get what you give sometimes..however this is a long story..
In my hurry to get away I went off in the wrong direction through a lively area that headed to the railway and thought well I'll find my way back in a minute, which I did but not before a random man lurched at me from nowhere and physically handled me..I screamed, but no one thought anything of it..they saw, they shrugged..C'est la vie white woman..they seemed to say!
I got out my map quick smart and made my way back to my favourite street cafe..folded myself on a plastic stool and ordered beef and crispy noodles with a beer..Brilliant I thought, just the perfect end to a great holiday..took lots of pictures and went back to the hotel.
Dishwashing
Beer
Enjoying...
eating..
food..
Chef of barbeque
Chef of pidgeons
He is washing in the dishwashing bowls!
That;s a pidgeon!
I paid the bill for laundry and asked for my passport, which it turned out they didn't have, so the hotel staff offered me an American one, showing me the photo, saying "That's you isn't it?" Then a Spanish one..and without the details I spend the entire night freaked out about my stolen passport..called the embassy, wrote police statements. The Vietnamese Police are very strange, even in benign situations they grab you, pull you and poke you!
The receptionist freaked out because the hotel had failed to register me, which is against the law..all was confusion and fright..so I called Lilli who came over and helped me see that there was nothing to be gained by freaking out, she is so calm, and yet firm!
And I did what I could and arranged to return in the morning to the police and then to the embassy worst case scenario being I miss my flight, get on a flight the next day with emergency documents and meet Bella in KL. Bella is flying in at 7 and I was to meet her there.
After two hours sleep I was woken by the sound of the shower, except that it wasn't, there was a major flood happening over Hanoi and the Old Quarter was under over a foot of water..People's homes were being flooded, traffic was stuck and garbage was floating on the surface of everything ..Not a good time to be having an emergency situation. Lilli my Swiss saviour sent over her assistant Mr Cuong and he negotiated with the police to stamp a statement that DID NOT implicate the hotel. The Policeman smiled for the first time and I shook his hand, which he turned into a gangster grip!
I had spoken to the embassy played up my daughter's status as a minor all alone in KL and they said they would do what they could if I could come over straight away..I called a cab which if course was going to take ages..and just as it arrived..so unbelievably did my passport!
It had been at the hotel I had be sent to on my first night with the hotel, and despite two trips there the night before and complete denial from the desk staff of my passport's existence it had been found.
It was one of our logical steps of the previous night to check there as, on arrival , and as previously noted, I was moved for one night, tired and dull witted from the train I knew I had given my passport to a desk clerk, and thought at first it must be the hotel that I was sent to. When they said "NO' that's when the shit hit the fan and I was accused of leaving my passport in Sapa, on a bus, in a train, and the desk clerk wanted to search under my bed..all he found was the most horrendous amount of dirt! To which Lilli. present at the time said "This might be something you want to discuss with housekeeping"
So short version, as Geoff says, got a new ticket, desk clerk pays $150US towards it's cost, I did not play relieved white lady, and although I forgave him as he asked I kept him to his responsibility..there's possibly some wrong in that but I have children so too bad.
I bought the policeman some beer.. made friends with everyone who hugged me, and shook my hand so happy they were that order was restored. And what..I am inconvenienced, sure if I don't make my connecting flight tomorrow, and Bella, she has to wait in KL airport for 7 hours alone... but what did I gain?
I saw how people in Vietnam do 'business', handle stress, fire up fast and forgive quickly..I got to see Hanoi in flood eat lunch at Five Restaurant and best of all have dinner tonight with Lilli at her house..where she says she will cook and we will have some wine and forget about the stress of it all..
And now, while I write this I sit in the funkiest cafe PUKU , listening to a random selection of some of my favourite chill out tunes, Nick Drake included..feeling happy to be blessed by good fortune and good friends..ones who came to my rescue , others who sent offers of help from Bali to pick up Bella and my wonderful daughters who wrote to tell me it would be ok, it wasn't my fault and Bella who said she would be fine to wait for me in an airport for seven hours and Severen who said she would send me her emergency money in case I needed it..
Like I said: Blessed..
I happily took off for my last evening in this beautiful city, taking in the lake at sunset, St Joseph's Cathedral, a great revolutionary poster shop and figured to drop in La Place which has a great write up in the LP..but no atmosphere, not great service but fantastic floors!
This is a long story and I'll try to make it short. I ordered a snack and a drink and shortly a man sat nearby, an Australian, who wanted to know too much about the beer he was ordering, so we struck up a conversation. I thought he was weird, and also he complained a lot, and then he launched into a talk about hookers, pedophiles and all the sleazy aspects of life..he was actually a lawyer. I decided not to entertain him for long and quickly finished up and left.
Thinking to myself about how people create their own experiences, and considering the lady at breakfast who when arriving to find no breakfast berated the hotel, where when I arrived, I apologized for being late and they made me an omlette and fruit salad, it seems that you get what you give sometimes..however this is a long story..
In my hurry to get away I went off in the wrong direction through a lively area that headed to the railway and thought well I'll find my way back in a minute, which I did but not before a random man lurched at me from nowhere and physically handled me..I screamed, but no one thought anything of it..they saw, they shrugged..C'est la vie white woman..they seemed to say!
I got out my map quick smart and made my way back to my favourite street cafe..folded myself on a plastic stool and ordered beef and crispy noodles with a beer..Brilliant I thought, just the perfect end to a great holiday..took lots of pictures and went back to the hotel.
Dishwashing
Beer
Enjoying...
eating..
food..
Chef of barbeque
Chef of pidgeons
He is washing in the dishwashing bowls!
That;s a pidgeon!
I paid the bill for laundry and asked for my passport, which it turned out they didn't have, so the hotel staff offered me an American one, showing me the photo, saying "That's you isn't it?" Then a Spanish one..and without the details I spend the entire night freaked out about my stolen passport..called the embassy, wrote police statements. The Vietnamese Police are very strange, even in benign situations they grab you, pull you and poke you!
The receptionist freaked out because the hotel had failed to register me, which is against the law..all was confusion and fright..so I called Lilli who came over and helped me see that there was nothing to be gained by freaking out, she is so calm, and yet firm!
And I did what I could and arranged to return in the morning to the police and then to the embassy worst case scenario being I miss my flight, get on a flight the next day with emergency documents and meet Bella in KL. Bella is flying in at 7 and I was to meet her there.
After two hours sleep I was woken by the sound of the shower, except that it wasn't, there was a major flood happening over Hanoi and the Old Quarter was under over a foot of water..People's homes were being flooded, traffic was stuck and garbage was floating on the surface of everything ..Not a good time to be having an emergency situation. Lilli my Swiss saviour sent over her assistant Mr Cuong and he negotiated with the police to stamp a statement that DID NOT implicate the hotel. The Policeman smiled for the first time and I shook his hand, which he turned into a gangster grip!
I had spoken to the embassy played up my daughter's status as a minor all alone in KL and they said they would do what they could if I could come over straight away..I called a cab which if course was going to take ages..and just as it arrived..so unbelievably did my passport!
It had been at the hotel I had be sent to on my first night with the hotel, and despite two trips there the night before and complete denial from the desk staff of my passport's existence it had been found.
It was one of our logical steps of the previous night to check there as, on arrival , and as previously noted, I was moved for one night, tired and dull witted from the train I knew I had given my passport to a desk clerk, and thought at first it must be the hotel that I was sent to. When they said "NO' that's when the shit hit the fan and I was accused of leaving my passport in Sapa, on a bus, in a train, and the desk clerk wanted to search under my bed..all he found was the most horrendous amount of dirt! To which Lilli. present at the time said "This might be something you want to discuss with housekeeping"
So short version, as Geoff says, got a new ticket, desk clerk pays $150US towards it's cost, I did not play relieved white lady, and although I forgave him as he asked I kept him to his responsibility..there's possibly some wrong in that but I have children so too bad.
I bought the policeman some beer.. made friends with everyone who hugged me, and shook my hand so happy they were that order was restored. And what..I am inconvenienced, sure if I don't make my connecting flight tomorrow, and Bella, she has to wait in KL airport for 7 hours alone... but what did I gain?
I saw how people in Vietnam do 'business', handle stress, fire up fast and forgive quickly..I got to see Hanoi in flood eat lunch at Five Restaurant and best of all have dinner tonight with Lilli at her house..where she says she will cook and we will have some wine and forget about the stress of it all..
And now, while I write this I sit in the funkiest cafe PUKU , listening to a random selection of some of my favourite chill out tunes, Nick Drake included..feeling happy to be blessed by good fortune and good friends..ones who came to my rescue , others who sent offers of help from Bali to pick up Bella and my wonderful daughters who wrote to tell me it would be ok, it wasn't my fault and Bella who said she would be fine to wait for me in an airport for seven hours and Severen who said she would send me her emergency money in case I needed it..
Like I said: Blessed..
Comments
Post a Comment