Poor Claire isn’t well. Her body has decided to protest about something…I need say no more. You can all use your imagination.
But as this is our last full day in Hanoi I decided to head out myself in little hour sessions so as not to leave Claire all alone for too long.
My first jaunt was back to Bun Bo Nam Bo to work on my chopsticking. I had the only thing they serve again and it was again superb. And this time I managed not to lob anything down my shirt. Then I went for a stroll in the direction of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum but got fed up with being harassed by shoe shiners so came back.
“Hey man dirty shoes! Me clean!”
One of them followed me for a good five minutes so I did what any tall person would do. I lengthened my stride and put the hammer down. He soon gave up running after me. I have since learned I should just completely ignore the street opportunists but this doesn’t seem to come naturally to me.
I spent the afternoon with Claire and then headed out again for my evening meal. I went to a restaurant a few doors down from our hotel and got a table on a balcony overlooking the street. It was a superb view and annoyingly I didn’t take my camera. I enjoyed my chicken and smashed up orange with rice though as I watched the comical Vietnamese driving display below.
I was then overcome with my first Vietnamese addiction…..Fanny.
They sell Ice Cream. We had some in HCM and I spotted their parlour here yesterday. 80p for a Chocolate Chilli scoop with a cone.
I then returned to the hotel again so that Claire could send me out for medication. I was going to hunt down a Pharmacy I saw earlier and in my worst Vietnamese accent say…
“tốt ngày sir loại. xin vui lòng tôi có thể có một số thuốc tốt nhất của bạn để đưa bạn gái của tôi bị tiêu chảy chấm dứt. Tôi cảm ơn bạn.”
Fortunately our hotelier took pity on me and sent an 11 year old boy on a moped to buy what we needed. I asked him to get plenty as I think this could be a regular occurrence given our adventurous approach to food (though we didn’t eat pig penis).
Tomorrow we set off on our Ha Long Bay tour and we can’t wait. It looks like the most amazing place and we will get to swim for the first time. Here is a taster pic I stole off the internet…
Claire and Mark go Travelling 
Your cunning plan to not send me a link to the blog has backfired as I’ve tracked it down! 🙂 top blog guys – looks like you’re having an awesome time, hope claire on the mend asap…
It was a test and you passed! (Sorry matey. Seriously disorganised!)
Great blog. Sounds like you guys are having an incredible time. Apart from claires dodgy guts! I had something similar, though unlike Claire, my dodgy guts were not caused by eating dog! Anyway, peppermint tea is awesome for any type of stomach problems. Instant cure. That’s my tip of the day.
Ha Long Bay looks like it’s gonna be stunning. Take loads of pics
Dave