Day 24: Hammer Time

We got used to waking up to roosters and the morning news being bellowed through loudspeakers. Today was new. Jackhammers pounding away at the gash in the brick exterior of the building, 50 feet away from our room. Ugh. Not a good morning, Vietnam.

The downpour continued. An unrelenting stream of water from the clouds we enjoyed riding through only a couple of days ago.

With nothing better to do, and still feeling sick, we took the opportunity to catch up on emails, watch a movie (we found an English movie channel) and relax. By 1:00 pm we were hungry. The hotel breakfast left much to be desired, especially for a high end hotel. We put on our rain gear, borrowed some hotel umbrellas and headed out into the onslaught of water.

Within 5 minutes our Goretex shoes were soaked through. In another 5 minutes we were too.

Walking along a deserted street something familiar caught my eye. A Christmas tree! It was the first sign of Christmas we have seen. I was about to smile when movement and howling distracted me. Next to the tree was a howling Shepard like dog in a cage. It reminded me of the two monkeys in a tiny cage we saw in Muong Khua. They seemed to be going crazy, fighting each other restlessly in their boredom. I hoped this dogs fate was better.

It wasn’t long before we came upon Thành Nam French Bakery. It looked inviting enough and dry. We were the only ones in the bakery, but after a few minutes a young man popped out of the back with menus and an inviting smile. The menu lacked English and no pictures. After several frustrating minutes of Google translate letting us down, we ordered what we thought would be sweet potato dumplings and beef curry. Sure enough that’s what we got. It wasn’t quite as we expected, but our translation had been accurate. The beef curry was a grisly steak, smothered in a pepper sauce, served with fries, a dressing laden green salad and egg. A welcome change from pho.

After lunch the rain let up and we went for a walk to check out the modern city of Lai Chau. As we walked along the lake the women tending to the gardens along the sidewalk stopped and watched us. We did what any Canadian would do. We waved and yelled “Xin Chao” (hello). We got our typical response. Roaring laughter followed by excited chatter and waves in return. We still aren’t sure if the laughter is from our horrid accents or shy embarrassment on their part. Either way, it makes us chuckle every time.

Our next adventure was a supermarket. We had been searching for a supermarket for weeks so that we could resupply our emergency food stash. We had brought numerous protein bars and energy bars with us from Canada, but these were long eaten. We had also been missing Western food – yoghurt, cheese and chocolate. We finally found what we had been craving for weeks. Chocolate bars, chocolate sandwich cookies, mango candy, “The Laughing Cow” cheese and some sort of dessert cheese, as well as cans of tuna in oil and “tasty tasty”, yoghurt and vitamin enriched milk. Score!

A further score was dinner. Dreamy Bakery for veggie pizza. Really good pizza! The crust was doughy, the cheese was gooey and the oregano sprinkled on top gave it a nice authentic flavour.

Off to Sapa tomorrow. We’ve had our fill of sitting around. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we get some decent views.