22 June 2008 (Sunday): I'd missed Ha Noi. I haven't returned for several years since my last stint.
I really didn't know how I felt on my way home from Ha Noi to the airport. I met Phuong through the hotel staff of Intercontinental West Lake Hanoi (1A Nghi Tàm, Hồ Tây). Phuong said that he's Thoi's colleague. Thoi is the driver that I have hired in these recent years for trips to the airport. He's a stout and cheerful guy of 30 years old. I couldn't reach him this time because the telephone line in my room was out of order. I'd the repair men of the hotel examine it, but by then, it was too late to contact Thoi. (The front desk happened not to take the initiative to offer to call Thoi on my behalf).
I saw familiar faces this time: Hung, a young man at the Foreign Language University, is now a receptionist at G's one-year-old inn where I stayed for a few days; Hien, a teacher at Hoa Sua (a school which trains orphans and poor kids vocation skills) is now a waitress at the Lac Cafe in the Intercontinental...I also met a talkative and cheerful waitress formerly from Daewoo's Palm Cafe; and Bien, from Hoa Sua, is now the captain at Paris Deli (Pho Nha Tho). I was both happy and tired after several days of chatting, at different hours, with all these people including folks in the street.
I met Chi Michelle and her love at Au Lac House, a Vietnamese restaurant at 13 Tran Hung Dao (Tel:9.333533) one of the evenings. We ordered a wide variety of dishes while chatting and only realised that it was 10:30 pm when a sleepy-looking lad came up and asked for the bill: "Chi oi, please settle the bill and then you may stay here as long as you want." I didn't think anyone cleared the table after that. There was hardly a trace of any human being after that except for the guard locked up the front gate of this old beautiful and romantic French villa. Outside the gate, we embraced one another farewell and climbed onto our waiting cabs.
The next morning was spent at my former university. Thay XX was there to welcome me. He then called for another colleague of his, my former Vietnamese teacher, to come into his office. We chatted until 11:30 am and left for lunch in a university car - a black Toyota. What greeted me at MYWAY restaurant - a haunt for university guests -was the richest spread of food that I've ever had in Vietnam.
Incroyable! Big shrimps,roast duck, fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, sour sea eel (cá chình) soup, grilled sea eel with rice paper and herbs,
rau muong xao (stir-fried
kang kong), fried pork cubes, beer and mango juice...followed by a fresh fruit dessert with tea. It was very much more colorful than any of the wedding banquets that I attended in the years from 1998-2000. I felt sinful from overeating...
Đường Nguyễn Trái (Nguyen Trai Street) on which my ex-university stands has changed. There's a rather ugly Parkson shopping mall, an endless line of small shops, a high-way (not expressway)- but I am glad I could still spot the entrance to the wet market. I remember the road was perpetually flooded whenever there was a downpour about eleven years ago. I recall having to wade in knee-high waters and brave occasional sand storms while walking to school.
The area where MYWAY restaurant (17 T3 Hoang Dao Thuy St, Cau Giay) is located is a new residential estate that reminds me of a small Singapore-style HDB area. I heard there are Korean and Japanese restaurants nearby within the estate. When I enquired about the rent and price of an apartment, I only got repeated replies from one of the teachers that he has several apartments for rent outside the area.
I hopped onto a mini-cab back to the lake after that endless 'grazing' while the teachers scuttled back to school for their afternoon meetings. Along the way, I saw changes along the streets of Dong Da, Pham Ngoc Lanh, leading to Bach Khoa. The young taxi-driver hailed from Thai Binh. When I expressed my surprise at the rather 'roundabout' route he took, he reduced my fare from 69,000 dong (shown on the meter) to 50,000 dong. How's that?!
I needed a coffee - hoping to still stay awake to savor the city in the afternoon heat. I was happy to have found Paris Deli near Nha Tho Lon (the big church). This is a rather new branch, standing in the place of old traditional shops across Moca; now the Moca crowd has flocked to Paris Deli.
The waiters at Paris Deli Ha Noi seemed to enjoy chatting with me whenever they could catch their breath. I never felt lonely in Ha Noi everywhere I went. That was how I spent my five full years in what was then known as a 'no thrill' city.
I relaxed at the Intercontinental with swims and filled myself with the wonderful fruit juices and a Mouton Cadet on (not 'by') the lake after sunset. These activities were followed by another swim at 6 am (sunrise is at 5:20 am now) and a huge buffet breakfast at Cafe Du Lac. The hotel guests were made up half of Japanese, a few Koreans and the other half were westerners. The cafe is also patronised by a few
nouvelle riche of the country.
At Noi Bai, after tolerating a long messy line, a customs officer offered me his handphone number and scribbled a line which read 'Younger brother ...' on a piece of paper, then informing me that foreigners like me can now buy land and build houses. I'd met those familiar faces at the SQ check-in counter... My luggage was overweight, but the lady kindly wrote it off after threatening with a "Chị phải trả tiền" (You have to pay).
I saw "Okabei", the movie by Yamada Yoji, on the plane. My eyes, bloodshot from swimming without goggles, felt alright but tears were rolling down - and I wasn't sure if it was the heart wrenching story of the character, Kabei (played by Sayuri Yoshinaga)?
Walking on the arrival passage out of the plane at Changi, I heard an interesting conversation among a group of Vietnamese officers. One said:
"Không cần mang quần áo mấy đâu...Ở đây không bụi mặc cả tuần cũng được."
[Don't have to bring so much clothes... It's not dusty here; it's alright to wear the same clothes for the whole week!]
I chuckled, walked past them and headed for the duty-free stores.
I am sure I will be back in Ha Noi again very soon...
Tôi sẽ quay trở về sớm!
