I am sitting in the Real Kangaroo Cafe having just said good-bye to Sonia. I hope to see her again someday…a kindred spirit. I head to Sapa shortly on the overnight train, and the owner of the cafe says that it (the train) will be a wonderful experience. Seeing is believing.
It turned out to be an interesting day. Down at the lake this afternoon, watching the world go by, the world suddenly came to me. First, three university students working on a project to improve their English. They asked to do a three-minute interview on the subject of movies, and filmed the whole thing with their iPhones. They were amazed to hear that movie-goers in Canada are asked to turn off their mobile phones, to refrain from speaking and don’t fare well if they kick the seat in front of them. They ended the interview by admitting that Vietnam could take a few lessons in movie theatre etiquette…. I received a lovely parting gift…a bookmark and two postcards, all with old world Hanoi scenes.
They had no sooner left than two young women, also students, arrived and asked if they could just talk to me. So we chatted for a good 30 minutes about all manner of subjects. In the middle of that, another young woman arrived with a 45-question survey about my hotel experience in Hanoi. All in all, a busy time and I had to escape to this cafe to get a little down time…
Luckily, Sonia was available for dinner and we had a lovely Thai meal down the street. When we emerged onto the street afterwards, the rain had started and traffic was heavy. Another friendly Hanoi native helped us to cross the street afterwards. Otherwise, I’d likely still be there…