Highway to Highway

Hanoi, Vietnam

Not much going on here really, finally found interent speed fast enough to download pics, so all my vietnam pics should be up by the time you read this. Did have a bit of a crazy day yesterday running around.

Started off with meeting up with Claire, Shane, Joe, Pete and the rest of the folks they were travelling with to watch the Australian Melbourne Cup - the Race that Stops the Nation. After it was a bit of roaming around, window shopping etc.

Later that evening I was supposed to meet up with Ezra and Bus for dinner at Highway 4, a vietnamese restaurant/bar owned by their friend Dan. Well around quarter to 3 i checked email and found an email from Ezra saying there had been a change of plans and it was going to be a late lunch instead and to meet at their hotel at 3pm.

Unfortunately all he left me was the name of the backpackers, Darling. no address, nothing... so i start searching the internet, find a place called 'Old Darling' and go off to find it.. finally get there and the guy says that there are no english people staying there.

so then i venture off ask a few people, get some different answers including to go back to the other one. So I figure i'll go straight to the restuarant. I get there and its empty... turns out there are 2 restaurants now, and they could be at the other one. So i hop on a moto and go out to the other one. I get there and no Ezra and Bugs..okay now i'm really confused. So i ask the bartender if Dan is around, but he's not. They offer to call him. I talk to Dan and he says he thought that they had tried to stop by yesterday at 3 and had told him they were coming in the evening at around 7 or 8 with a bunch of people. Okay, maybe i had read the email wrong (i checked later, i didn't). So i decide to walk the 2 km or so home and take in the city sights

Around 7 i decide to swing by the old darling hotel again just in case... this time a different guy tells me oh yes the english couple just stepped out. Great! They must be on their way to the restaurant, so i walk over. No Ezra or Bugs or Dan. So i sit and order a drink, figure if they show great, if not i was treating myself to a nice dinner

Highway 4 is a bar/restaurant started by a Swiss guy named Marcus - ended up meeting him last night - who's been here for years, studying, working, and married a vietnamese woman. He fell in love with the culture and decided to start the restaurant to celebrate the tastes and delicacies of the highlands including their vodkas, liquors and foods such as crocodile, locusts, pigs stomach, camel, snake or goat testicle infused liquor just to name a few.

Since i was there i figured i had to try atleast something out of the ordinary. So I ordered the bo sapa one of the herbal infused liquors (it was good, but WOW what a kick) smoked russian cheese plate (which looked like a plate of noodles) and the camel skewers. This was on Marcus's recommendation - the camels or atleast the camel meat comes from Australia (didn't know they breed camels in Oz). Not sure what i was expecting, maybe something like alligator or lamb or something. Not quite - The pieces looked and tasted a bit like grilled squid. It was pretty good, but not special enough for me to feel the need to ever order again!

Not quite sure what happened to Ezzie or Bugs.. if you guys read this drop me a line, you owe me a drink!!! :)