Just Notes

Spent 8 days in Hanoi and it was lovely~

Photos, thoughts, etc. probably sometime this weekend, but I already want to go back and experience all the other things I haven't experienced, eat all the things I have not tried, eat all the things I've tried and enjoyed and spend more time at the cafes, sitting and drinking coffee, watching life go by (their chairs tend to face the traffic, so traffic/people watching is built into the coffee drinking experience).

My attempt at learning Vietnamese before I go didn't get very far but I did make full use of "thank you" (cảm ơn) because my friend's family kept giving me things. They let me stay with them, and then my friend's aunts and cousins took me around, invited me over for lunches and dinners, so I ended up having a very local Hanoi experience. Learnt a bit of Vietnamese history too, and realized that I really need to fix my lack of knowledge of all the Southeast Asian countries older history. Recent history, yeah, I know basics, but older history? Very lacking.

A minor complaint unrelated to Hanoi: I flew Batik Air, and I have lots of complaints about their in-flight food. On the flight to Hanoi, I had chicken pizza (I think), while on the way back, I had their fried mihun. The chicken pizza was... sad, but it was preferable to the salty (honestly kinda revolting) fried mihun. How do you even mess that up? Batik Air, I am impressed. -_-;