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Unlike the previous two days the morning was quite dank and overcast. Before breakfast there were sporadic showers which meant breakfast would served inside today. Breakfast included sausage and scrambled egg which was amazing..... and toast as well. Annoyingly, the humidity had shot up horrendously today and I was sweating my face off already. After the food we were given a master class in food carving by the boat's head chef. It was impressive stuff, making two swans from turnips and carrots. After this it was time to pack up as the boat slowly made its way back to harbour.
It was still overcast as we made our way off the boat and we all thought how lucky we had been with the weather. I took this opportunity to obtain some of the Australian's contact details and soon enough we were loaded onto the minibus back to Hanoi. One the way home we had a detour to watch a water puppet show which is unique to Vietnam traditions. Basically the show uses puppets to depict various aspects of Vietnamese life such as fishing, farming and family. The puppets are manoeuvred in the water from the puppeteers behind a large screen. It was a bizarre experience to say the least as most of the narration was in Viet so you couldn't really get a grasp what was going on. Some of the puppets were impressive such as colourful dragons and mythical birds. We did both comment we wouldn't go out of our way to watch one again, not really our thing.
During the show, a spectacular lightening storm was happening in the backdrop which took most people's attention. Suddenly the heavens opened similar to monsoon. Luckily umbrellas were on hand but there was a queue of more than twenty people for one toilet which meant a long wait crossing our legs. Once the queue finished, as always I was last, I boarded the waiting bus and it was two hours before we reached Hanoi with us entertaining the little girl from the cruise most of the way... Such a cutie. The two couples who were with us on the bus were staying at the Hilton and Intercontinental, both five star establishments... Oh how the then half live hey. Was pretty funny when we were dropped off in the crazy old town surrounded by one or two star establishments!
I was feeling quite grotty at the stage and knew I may have a stomach complaint growing. An over night train would be out of the question so are only decision was to find a hotel for the night. We were hounded initially by blokes on the street trying to get us in to their joints. They were offering some good prices but we had our heart set on one in particular other travellers recommended. After a much needed break at a cafe we headed north with the backpacks always feeling a little heavier with each step. We reached the Little Hanoi Diamond hotel as two tired, sweaty , smelly states! To compound our misery the hotel price had jumped up dramatically it seemed and there was no room for negotiation. We had basically had enough of this backpacking lark by now, but we had to soldier on. The owner guided us another five minute walk north to a hotel in our budget range. When we arrived we rejoiced as we got a nice, big room at a budget price, thank god! The lady owner was very friendly and guided me to a shop for food. I managed to get Laura's old favourite from Burma, pizza favourite crisps! On my return I found Laura curled up in the bath tub savouring the rare opportunity for a soak. Once done I jumped in and was relieved to wash off the days sweat. I knew at this stage I had a stomach bug brewing and it could be a long evening.
We had both been suffering intermittently with tummy aches for the past couple of weeks and put it down to new bacteria and stress but tonight we both had cramps and were pretty tired so thought we just needed a rest.
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