Hanoi hangovers

Vietnamese coffee, a stolen wallet, and the quest for free pulutan

I'm not a foodie but this is the best ice-cream I've had in my life. (I'm not exaggerating because I'm not fond of ice cream.) The other pics show the best banh mi in Hanoi, according to my guide who took me on a short food tour. Next up are pics of bun cha and a meal at a popular restaurant.

(Some details have been changed to protect the guilty.)

Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam. It's a country two friends have gushed about recently but strictly on separate occasions.

This is because the only thing these two friends have in common are their fondness for Hanoi and their affinity with fellow Filipino visitors, present company included.

Early this year, A. visited the Vietnamese capital with his family. He said that sipping local coffee by the roadside in the morning was a pleasant memory forever burned into his brain.

B. had a better story to sell.

By the time I arrived, police were already driving tourists out of the train tracks for safety reasons. Check out the motorcycle driver — that's how tight it gets sometimes. I know, I've rode on one.

While her husband was attending meetings in Hanoi in November, she took a solo side trip to Sa Pa, a place so breathtaking that she let her guard down. Soon enough, an enterprising resident sensed a business opportunity and ran off with her wallet.

Cashless, cardless, and hapless, our heroine spent practically all her mobile eSIM credits to report her lost cards to banks in Manila. Famished, B. relied on the kindness of certain Vietnamese proprietors. One provided her with a full meal on the promise that payment would be made as soon as she put her affairs in order. Fortunately, it took just one day. Once the bill was settled, proprietor and customer took the next step in their business relationship. They posed for selfies.

But that story didn't just end in warm and fuzzy Southeast Asian camaraderie.

Some street and lake scenes. The turtle is one of two preserved and on display that previously lived on Hoan Kiem lake. Stairs and coffee at the Bookworm bookstore.

Much to everyone's surprise, B.'s wallet was returned to her in Hanoi. How it found its way back to her is probably — just probably — one of the few mysteries of ASEAN economic integration.

With her government IDs and important documents intact, she's now spared the ordeal of applying and waiting for, say, an SSS ID replacement. (Speaking of which: another friend lost his two months before the COVID lockdowns and promptly applied for a replacement. Five years and one presidential election later, the only replacement he's ever heard about is the substance of choice of our top leaders. Father Mucker always favored Fentanyl while...sniff, sniff...these things are enough to make you weep.)

Much to no one's surprise, B.'s cash and credit and ATM cards were gone. But as with life so it is with the retrieval of personal effects — you take the good with the bad.

Will the experience discourage her from visiting Vietnam again? Certainly not.

I, for one, will go back to that bar in Hanoi whose waiter took away my free pulutan (bar chow) because — what the hell — I only ordered one beer. Now that's a Hanoi hangover I will never forget.

The bar chow was later confiscated because I only had one beer. I’ll get them next time.