Return to Metropole

All good things have to end. We find that for the most part, at the end of 2 weeks we are refreshed and ready to at least consider returning to our routine. After the trip to Halong Bay – and the 3 hour ride on the bus back (complete with yet another stop at Pedro’s – although this time they had no electricity, although they offered to take care of any cash transactions we might want to make – we were ready to pack it up and head back to the house.

The strangest thing happened when we got back in Hanoi. We were with the same people on the van as had ridden out with us – all speaking French as their primary language, but it was a quiet ride in any language.

At one point the driver (who, incidentally had slipped a beer into his cup holder when we left Halong Bay, although he never opened it in front of us) stopped at a seemingly random place and demanded that one couple get off. The driver, apparently, spoke nothing but Vietnamese. When nobody went to get off, he made a call and then handed the phone to a the guy in a young couple who then tried to understand what was going on.

Eventually they figured out that they were in the wrong place and moved on to the right stop, but it was odd – it was almost as if the driver were angry that nobody would do what he wanted.

Dropped back at the Metropole Hotel, we found that we were moved into a different room – it was unrealistic to expect that we’d be back in the same one – this time Room 130. The only complaint was that it was on the side of the hotel rather than the front and, facing the adjacent park, was a bit noisier than the first room.

It was only for one night, though, so what did it matter? Our goal was to get packed and ready to leave.

We made a quick dash up the street for just a couple more purchases – most everything was still closed for New Years – then opted to go back to the hotel for dinner local. There was still a LOT of traffic (foot and otherwise) in the downtown district and we were tired – it simply wasn’t worth fighting it to go out for food.