Guesthouse Adventures

(Sunday, 26 June 2005)

The past two-and-a-half weeks have been, bluntly, insane! I have experienced so much, but now the pace is a little more sustainable.

Last time I mentioned the Lavender Hotel, where I stayed for the first five days. I don't know if it's too late for the next AVI victim (I mean arrival), but buyer beware. That place sucks! Not only is it pricey, at US$22 a night, but a rip-off as well. They charged me extra for water, the air-conditioner didn't work, they tried to pressure me into signing a one-month lease for US$300, saying they wouldn't fix the shower until I did so. I had to beg for toilet paper - even buying something like that is difficult, when you first arrive. But I escaped their evil clutches!

I was getting desperate to leave, going insane from the lack of air-conditioning. You really need aircon at night, particularly when you first arrive (and me from a Mellbourne winter). It's the second hottest month of the year, and even the locals have been complaining that it's unseasonably hot for Ha Noi.

After visiting a few share places, I found a house in Dong Da, an area not too far from where I work (about 15 minutes by bicycle), and not at all touristy. It's best to get out of the tourist district as soon as possible. The house wasn't available for five days, so I stayed at the Hanoi Backpackers, a new hostel run by two Australian-Vietnamese couples. Another AVI, Eddy, recommended it to me.

I had a great time there, and made a few new friends, although most of them have already left. Quite a few people there are working in Hanoi, but living there until they can find a house. Most of them are English teachers, and they sure like to party!

I've also adopted a cat...already. Her name's Mia, she's about 6 weeeks old, and extremely excitable. An English backpacker rescued her from some boys who were throwing rocks at her in a restaurant. It's a very a Vietnamese thing to do, trust me. So she took Mia back to the hostel, and an Australian girl called Miriam was going to take her. But one of Miriam's new housemates is allergic, so now I've got her. In Vietnam, unlike in Australia, cats are rat-catchers and very rarely pets. I've only seen two well-fed ones, and they were both owned by very Westernised Vietnamese. One of them is a cat at my favourite hang-out so far, the Bia Hoy in the northern part of Pho Dinh Lien.

Bia Hoy literally means beer corner. But more later, my co-workers are back from their staff meeting.