Bananas and Rocks

Ever get a gift and when you first see it you think "what the f*&@" but later it turns out to be the coolest most useful thing and you never would have thought to get it for yourself?

I was going to Ninh Binh on a local bus full of guys smoking and drinking and sleeping in the aisle and thought that since my ticket said Ninh Binh "someone" would poke me and tell me where to get off, fyi Vietnam doesn't work like that, when I finally asked someone where I was, I was already in Hanoi; it was six am and already feeling a little grumpy before they pulled my dripping pack from the baggage compartment, when the smell hit me I got way more grumpy. Having never smelled fish pee, I can only imagine that it smells like a mixture of fish and pee and therefore that must have been what was dripping from my bag. I had planned to get right back on a bus for Ninh Binh but there was no way I was going to carry that stinking mess anywhere; instead I got a hotel and ended up hanging out for five days in Hanoi.

Five days that included: discovering Lamingtons (one of the tastiest confections my mouth has ever had the pleasure of), cake enrobed in chocolate and covered in coconut which must be served warm for the full effect; meeting a couchsurfer who took me out to a lovely temple on the lake and was able to explain the finer points of Vietnamese Buddhism, thereby answering questions I have been puzzling over for months (it's a mix of pure land, ancestor worship, and animism, duh); finding new sandals, that are stylish cheap and only slightly uncomfortable in black AND silver; discovering the cultural charm of water puppet theater, which is nowhere near as cheesy as it sounds and should not be missed; meeting a US pilot and having my view of the types of people who choose to serve in the military challenged, again; taking a walk into the slums with new friends and meeting a Vietnamese tea seller and her family, being invited to a lunch which included chicken on the bone, intestines and blood pudding all of which I ate with gusto, then we sat around and drank rice liquor and watched videos; and, best of all, met the people I traveled to Ninh Binh with.

An Irish community development worker, a Canadian student and part time mahout, two computer programers ((one american, one from the UK), another candian who is nineteen and traveling alone through southeast asia, and a jack of all trades who is off to teach English in Spain in between his diving, rock climbing, and band.

It was rockin! I don't even really want to talk about it because it's one of those wonders found by accident, tourist free, and so beautiful all I could say was "wow". So thank you universe for getting those fish to pee on my bag, I never would have gotten that for myself.