Day 262: Right up our alley

This morning we slept in and had a late breakfast in the hostel, before heading back to the room to do some planning for the next few weeks while the girls did some schoolwork. When it was time for lunch, we hit the streets to see what we could find. Just a few doors up, we came across a woman cooking pork patties over a little charcoal brazier with a little fan blowing on the charcoal to make it extra hot. They smelled great, so we took the plunge and went into her 'restaurant', which consisted of a few little plastic tables and chairs in an alley between two buildings – which apparently led to some apartments out the back. The furniture was really just a kids' play set, which has been a common theme as we've travelled through Asia – a lot of the street-side restaurants and bars use kids' tables and chairs for their customers.

As far as we could tell, this woman only served on dish – a sweetish lukewarm 'soup' with carrot and some sort of radish and the meat patties in. On the side, we got a plate of fine rice noodles and some greenery – mint, basil and a bunch of other unidentified leaves. The leaves are added to the soup and then portions of the noodles are added as well. It was absolutely delicious. Kate and I were more than a little nervous about the broth (had it been boiled, was it made using tap or bottled water?) and the greens, but we tucked in regardless and thankfully, none of us showed any ill effects later. We only ordered two of the dishes, which were quite small, and after we had finished we went to a restaurant a few more doors down – New Day – where we had a posh version of what we had just eaten (which wasn't as nice) and some stir-fried beef. 

Back in the room, we did a bit more planning – enough for Kate to head out to the train station (a different one to the one we arrived at, and within walking distance) – while I stayed with the girls and worked on my Mongolia story and they did some more schoolwork. After a while, Kate returned, a bit flushed and sheened with sweat. She hadn't taken any cash with her and hadn't been able to pay for the tickets with a credit card, so came back empty handed. She had, however, found out that we couldn't get the train on the day that we had hoped, so we're going to be in Hanoi for a bit longer than anticipated. (She also had an interesting altercation with the woman at the ticket counter, who told her repeatedly that there was no discount for children. She was pretty sure there was, and as she was leaving, she asked someone else – sure enough, children's tickets were half price. The woman she had spoken to was almost certainly planning to pocket the difference.)

In the evening, we went to the Lantern Bar for some beer and cards (Kate cut her lip on one of the beer mugs). After we were done, we had a bit of go at teaching the girls to play pool on the bar's free table and then went back to New Day for dinner.