Week 25: Happy Times and Hanoi

What a week! I'm not sure how to summarize it beyond lots of boats, good food, and wonderful company.

On Monday, the Kinmen cohort continued the birthday bender with a private boat. Beforehand, I got beef noodle soup with my partner at a Michelin-starred noodle restaurant called Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles.

The boat was only four hours, but I think that it was one of my favorite days here in Taiwan. We got to catch up on our recent Taiwan adventures, hang out, and see Guanyin Mountain from afar. Some of the highlights included singing a little karaoke, presenting our birthday gifts to the birthday people, and chatting at the front of the boat together. The only downside to the boat was that the handle to the bathroom door was a little hard to open, so if someone used the bathroom, they'd have to knock on the door until someone else let them out.

After the boat, everyone headed to a ramen place for dinner, then went to a bakery for dessert. Later, we found an outside bar in Ximending that would fit all of us and spent hours chatting before we finally went back to our hostels and hotels.

I think that the boat and the rest of the evening were wonderful for me because I felt like I was getting to know everyone better. I felt comfortable, and I was having a good time, much like how I felt that day on Nanshantou Beach with the other Little K ETAs.

Since I fell asleep at 2:30am, I slept in the next day until 11am, then headed to a nearby climbing gym. A couple other ETAs, the visiting boyfriend of one of the ETAs, and I spent a couple hours there just having fun. I didn't realize how much I like bouldering! I also didn't realize that I'm not bad at climbing (although it might just be the fear of heights).

We all got disappointingly-watery boba afterwards, then walked around Lungshan Temple a bit before getting ready for dinner. Our big dinner for the birthday bender was at a Mediterranean restaurant, so lots of us ordered shakshuka with pita bread and hummus. It was pretty good!

The bar we went to next wasn't super great. We left not long after we arrived, but at least we got to play with some Jenga blocks. Another ETA and I decided to build Plato's Allegory of the Cave for funsies.

Some of us headed home afterwards, but the rest of us went to Babylon, which is a bar right near Taipei 101. As one might expect, the club wasn't particularly full on a Tuesday night. In fact, it was almost completely deserted. Minus us Kinmen ETAs. It was still a good time though; we stayed until 2am just partying and having fun by ourselves!

On Wednesday, I didn't do a ton. Everyone woke up a little late, then went to dimsum for lunch before heading to Maokong for tea. Unfortunately, I left something important back at the hostel, so I had to head back instead of going up Maokong again. I spent the extra time chilling, then went to a dentist appointment. It turned out the dentist was from the township in Kinmen where I live, and he said he was going back to run the Kinmen marathon in February. Neat.

I met up with everyone at a wonderful Peruvian restaurant for dinner, then myself and the two other ETAs going to Vietnam the next morning went to bed early. It felt a little anticlimactic for the birthday bender to end for us so early, but I had a great time.

I woke up early with my partner and the other ETA to fly from Taoyuan to Hanoi. Was waking up almost painful? Yes. But at least we made our morning flight. Hanoi was lovely (if a bit smoggy at first). Although the three of us were tired, we made it to our hotel, then walked around and had some banh mi. We also tried egg coffee at the cafe which supposedly created it. It was amazingly rich, light, and fluffy.

We also walked around Hoan Kiem Lake, then visited Ngoc Son Temple, which was in the middle of the lake. For dinner, we got some excellent beef pho, then we got some dua dam, which was a sweet coconut milk drink.

On Friday, the three of us woke up at 7am and ate breakfast, then headed out on our Ha Long Bay tour. We made friends with a Spanish tourist on the bus to the bay, then made friends with a Chilean and a Canadian tourist later. Once we got on the boat, we were treated to a family style lunch which included a whole fish and a platter of fried spring rolls.

It was definitely gray and misty out, but Ha Long Bay was still beautiful. I loved looking at all the craggy islands draped in greenery; they reminded me of the scenery I saw when my family and I took a riverboat in southern China.

Our boat's first stop was Ti Top Island. The stairs were a slick with rain, but still climbable, so most of the other tourists, including the other ETAs and I, made the trek to the top of the mountain. Even in the fog, I couldn't believe how bright turquoise-y blue the waters of the bay were.

Our next stop was a crater-like pool where we went kayaking. My partner and I shared a kayak and we did a pretty good job! No crashes. It was fun seeing the rock formations up close, and we even got to pass through a tunnel and see some monkeys.

The last island we visited was home to a cave dubbed Surprise Cave, which wasn't terribly full of surprises. It had a turtle-shaped rock though, which was cool.

Back in Hanoi, the other ETAs and I got some pho and spring rolls for dinner, then went to a fancy bar for a bit. One of the Kaohsiung ETAs met us at the bar, and we spent the evening chatting about how our winter breaks were so far and how Vietnam was.

The next day, the three of us Kinmen ETAs and one Kaohsiung ETA wandered Hanoi. We got banh mis for breakfast, then went back to Cafe Giang for more egg coffee before heading to a restaurant named Cha Ca Thang Long that specialized in fried fish.

The restaurant was beautiful, but the food was even better. Since the restaurant specialized in fried fish, it was the star of the meal, but the vermicelli, fried spring rolls, and other seasonings were great too. I loved how fragrant the herbs with the fish were!

The four of us went to Train Street after lunch, but it seemed kinda tourist trap-y. It was all other tourists and little shops/cafes selling things to tourists, and unless we paid a vendor to let us in, we weren't allowed to enter the street at all. At least we got to drink some excellent mango juice. Afterwards, we checked out Hoa Lo Prison, which is a historic prison that used to hold Vietnamese political prisoners at one point and American POWs at another.

Later that evening, we had our Vespa tour of Hanoi! As soon as we met our drivers, they asked me if I was Vietnamese, and upon hearing me say, "chuc mung nam moi", asked what languages I spoke. It was definitely an interesting experience, especially since my birth city in China isn't too far from the Vietnamese border.

I had a good time on the tour! We each got to know our drivers pretty well. Mine was a college student studying tourism and hospitality, and I taught him some Mandarin while he taught me some Viet. During the tour, we also made friends with the other four tourists, who were a family from California.

Our first stop was a restaurant for snacks and drinks, then we went to a restaurant called Bun Cha Huong Lien that Obama had eaten at in 2016. I'd never had bun cha before, but it was excellent! We drove around the French Quarter next, then stopped at a different part of Train Street to try some different rice wines (which were called ruoc). We also saw two trains pass by while we were there.

After visiting Train Street, we drove around West Lake, then stopped at another restaurant for spring rolls and drinks. The last place we visited was Binh Minh Jazz Club, where some of us got drinks. I loved the jazz club; the musicians were crazy talented, and I missed seeing live musical performances.

It was a shame we had to go to bed early again for early flights the next morning, but I liked ending the night with the jazz club.

On Sunday, I woke up at 5am and spent the whole day traveling. I flew Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur, then Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar (Bali). Miserable. I was exhausted and dehydrated the whole time. I was also by myself since the other two Kinmen ETAs flew to Thailand, and the Kaohsiung ETA stayed in Hanoi a bit longer.

When I finally landed in Bali, it was pouring rain, but I made it to my homestay in one piece. At the very least, I could order food on Grab (Southeast Asia's version of FoodPanda/UberEats) and finally lay down.

Admittedly, the week was a bit tiring with the 7am wakeups and 2am bed times, but I had a wonderful time hanging out with everyone! I think some of the highlights for me were the boat in Taipei, bouldering, and the Vespa tour of Hanoi.

Personally, I thought that going to Northern Vietnam was also an interesting experience in that it reminded me a lot of Southern China. I'm not from Vietnam, but being there reminded me a lot of visiting my birth city and the surrounding area.

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023.