A Joyous Hike, a “Cooking Class“ and Some Drama

In the very early morning, we went to an island that had a lookout point on its top.
Our guide told us it would take only 10 minutes to get there.

I’m pretty sure I actually climbed just under 10 minutes because I thought, climbing stairs, ok, let’s do this, no, you don’t need a break.

Spoiler alert: I would have needed one. Or a few. It was steep, the steps were large. 😁
I arrived at the top, my body fiercely protesting everything.

I collapsed on a bench and kept lying there, my circulation having a little hissy fit, being a wee bit mad at me.

I was unable to get up for the better part of an hour. While I did down a coconut water, that might have been way too fast and didn’t exactly alleviate the current condition of exhaustion.

Additionally, I should mention it was searingly hot and stiflingly humid at around 40 degrees.

I was lying there, trying to pull myself together.

At this point, I had given up trying to play it off as just chillaxing and asked the others from the tour to please have someone stay with me because I wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t actually sure how to make it down, let alone sit up.

Lem, one of the Brits, did stay with me, and eventually, I did make it down, though I was rather shaky, to say the least.

I would have loved a rest.

But nah. A quick shower, and we had a cooking class on the boat.

I thought, ah, well, I could have saved some money and not done the one on the previous day.

Turns out, all we did was make fresh spring rolls. Nothing else. lol 😁

You can neither accurately call that cooking nor a class.

We then had lunch and already had to disembark.

That was quick. 😁

The 3h bus ride back to Hanoi followed.

In the late afternoon/evening, our original group of 5 reunited in Hanoi and eventually went to the railway street together, waiting for the train, which came, but nowhere near when we were told (and looked up).

So, 3 of us had to leave before the train arrived.

Jian and I were left, meandering through the streets, eventually sharing a Grab back to our respective hostels.

Oh, almost forgot to mention this fun interlude: While on the balcony of a cafe at the Railway, we watched a Karenesque situation unfold right in front of us.

From what we could make out, a lady, the Karen in question, had sat down at a cafe and when others wanted to sit down around her, she refused, saying she’s reserving seats for her party of 6. People who weren’t there yet.

The argument escalated speedily and Karen exploded into a tirade of screaming in a high-pitched tone at the top of her lungs.

A waiter tried to touch her on the shoulder as a calming gesture, upon which she screamed, outraged that he “touched” her. What a circus. She kept screeching the same things over and over again.

The staff at first tried to calm people, but then just told her to leave. Not that she would listen.

An older Vietnamese lady from the staff then pulled out something I’ll just call a baby vuvuzela, which she blew in a staccato, moving closer to the Karen-crowd, shooing them away with that.

It was effective and actually quite hilarious to watch. Nice method!

…

A few hours later, I went for a shower in the en-suite bathroom of my dorm.

The shower and toilet are in two separate cabins, so the sink can still be used as a shared area, but the bathroom can be locked entirely as well. Which I did, since I spread out my stuff for a truly quick shower. Also, the hostel has several other toilets/showers not en-suite, on every floor.

Why I’m emphasising that? Well, while I was in the shower, suddenly someone tried to enter the bathroom and discovered: it was locked. So, logical response would be to wait OR use one of the other bathrooms, as any other person would have done.

Not option C, which this ferocious lady went for: knocking on the door continuously like a maniac with no sense whatsoever. The knocking was intense to start with and got increasingly brutal.

Since I was in the shower (and inconveniently had forgotten my towel on my bed anyway), I also wasn’t able to just open the door, plus I didn’t quite see a reason to, to be frank.

When I was done - I did check the watch and can confirm I took 5 minutes only, the knocking still ongoing, I did open the door and was faced with a lady who looked suddenly dumbstruck, who didn’t at all resemble the ferocious animal I had anticipated.

And instead of rushing to the loo, which I assumed she had wanted to do, she just turned back and rummaged through her stuff calmly and informed me that I wouldn’t have to lock the door.

True, I didn’t have to. But I did. Like others too and like intended for when you want to use the small bathroom while having your stuff in there.

Geez. Whatever fuelled her was NOT proportionate to the facts and the solutions readily at hand!

I went to bed, looking forward to the little sleep I could get until 2:55 am.

Another spoiler alert: It was 3.5 hours. 😁Read more