Food, Glorious Food...
In case you can't tell from that heading, I am not in Manila right now!! Am living it up in Hanoi, with my cousin Jacqui, her partner Greg and their 15 month old son Spencer. Got here Wednesday night and have been eating up a storm ever since (such. good. food!) and giving the credit card a good workout! Have done plenty of wandering in the Old Quarter and yesterday either bought or ordered a ton of stunning clothes (cannot wait to pick them up - and Jacqui can't wait to see either. Maybe this will encourage her to get into the tailoring!) I have also been buying quite a bit of the lacquered goods - they are just so divine. But I still have more shopping to do...
Today Jacqui and I went to the Temple of Literature and wandered around the grounds - peaceful and tranquil until a group of schoolchildren - all adorable in their matching uniforms of blue shorts, while shirt and red scarfe - trouped in! About 500 of them, all talking at the top of their lungs and calling out "Hello" to all the foreigners there. The Temple is great though - it has been there for 1000 years and the focus on education 1000 years ago, while our forbears were running around illiterate and uneducated really puts the cultural snobbery of 'Western' societies into perspective.
Going around Hanoi with a blonde-haired, blue eyed baby is something else! The Vietnamese rival the Filipinos for their love of babies - in fact I think they take it further (although I have never wandered around Manila with a white baby, so can't compare). Every single person we pass cooes into the pusher and comes up to play with him - they stop and kiss him etc. Going into a restaurant the staff take him off and play with him the whole time. And Spencer laps it up - he is a shameless flirt, especially for the pretty women - waving hello (we think he is a royal in training) and schilling for kisses! He is very handy to have around - makes you an instant hit with the locals! Sadly, he has a bit of a cold right now so is a little down...
Oh - it's his nap time and I am in his room. Will finish later...
posted by Kate | 5:36 pm
3 Comments:
Hey Kate - Just wanted to let you know that 1)I managed to find your blog! and 2) I will be here when you get back to Manila and 3) I'm jealous of all the awesome food you're eating!
Happy Hanoi-ing! See you next weekend.
~Kim
Woo hoo for finding the blog and triple woo hoo that I get to see you again!!
P.S. - I have some exciting news for you.... (shhhhh)
Oooooh - I hope you have a ripper time with the Whale Sharks. I was just showing my photos to my Dad today and lamenting the rain we had all weekend and how we only saw four. Hopefully it has stopped raining there by now and you will have a brilliant time. You must post so I can experience Donsol in its full glory vicariously! And maybe take an extra day to climb Mt Mayon - I wish I had been able to do that (it was erupting and belching when we were there, so off the cards...)
Not back to Manila immediately, sadly. There is other stuff in the pipeline, which I will post in a few days. But definitely will be back at some stage - just love it so much (the neat traffic here is freaking me out!!)
Too scared to look at my credit card statement!!
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