Hanoi by night

The previous post is here..

After our long drive back from Ha Long bay, we finally got to check in to the hotel at close to 7PM. We stayed at the La Nueva Boutique hotel. Will give this hotel two thumbs up for the rooms, service and amazing breakfast as well as the location.

We checked in and immediately went down to try and do two things. See the road with railway track in the middle with the restaurants on either side (which was a landmark we only drove past in the morning) and find dinner. We went in the wrong direction to find the railroad and after 20 minutes we were still more than 1/2 a mile away. One cab driver said most of the stuff is closed.

we were hungry by then and walked through the old quarter and found “Gurajat” ! Fantastic 100% vegetarian food in the heart of Hanoi! Long may the Gujjus live! After a nice dinner we walked back to our hotel. We barely wrapped up day 1 of the trip and we had walked miles all through the day.

A video highlight reel.. the shops kept coming as far as the eye could see.. it was amazing! vibrant night life, tons of restaurants, shops, smiling people!

Our driver had talked to his boss and convinced him to be the driver for the next day as well. It was going to be an interesting day..

Wrapping up the Egypt leg

The last post in this series is here..

We had finished the Karnak temple sunrise, visited the tombs at the valley of the kings, seen the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut and were on our way to three more stops before being dropped off at the airport.

Our bags had been in the back of the van since the morning.

The next stop was to see the giant statues of Memnon. However the group was tired and did not want to get down. Only I made a dash for it with Walid. He explained the place to me and I took a quick photo and video and we jumped back and and moved. 

We were in West Luxor and had to cross the Nile to East Luxor to get some Egyptian cotton and or linen. We crossed the Winter Palace hotel in Luxor where a lot of celebrities had apparently stayed over the years.

We were told Egypt had the worlds best cotton and linen and shops in East Luxor were authentic for quality (might be pricier than the street shops outside every attraction but autentic and great quality).

Walid stopped at one such shop and we did see the quality and price. We all shopped for what we thought was a good deal given the time. We were given 40 minutes and we came out exactly in 40 minutes. 

The last stop was at an Indian restaurant. We had told Walid that we wanted Indian food at least once. He told us the only Indian place that he knew was in East Luxor and it was the New Taste of India.

We were almost going to be disappointed after reaching that place. They had been reserved for lunch for a group coming from India in one of the ships. That group was late. We got lucky. There was only a buffet with fixed menu (as they were catering to a group). So we had that same fixed vegetarian menu.

The chappati ended up being Pita bread (same as in the cruise) , the gulab jamun was the local egyptian sweet that has a hard shell and no syrup! Still the vegetable dish, channa and daal were Indian. The owner was Egyptian but his father had opened the restaurant after learning desi cooking or so we heard. The lassi was good per family. 

We gobbled up things as fast as we could and were off to the Luxor airport which was on this side of the city. 

The desi group from our ship was waiting outside the airport and told us "bad news. flight is very delayed". Fortunately they were on a different flight and our flight to Cairo was not delayed. 

We were harrassed a bit by the security folks at Luxor aiport. We were security checked every 10 feet by a bunch of folks who had nothing better to do. We questioned why were being checked just after being checked and there were some irate guys who were trying to show they were boss of their station. We just shook our heads and went through with these checks and pat downs. 

The saving grace was the small lounge at the airport which had wifi and charging stations and hot water. We made some Wagh Bakri chai with the hot water and sat there for an hour. Then we were off to Cairo for the night.

There are no direct flights from Luxor to Amman in Jordan. So we had to go spend the night in Cairo and fly out the following morning. 

We said buy to Walid at the airport in Luxor and were met by Latif again in Cairo airport. There was no time for dinner. So we wanted to pick up some veggie falafal sandwitches and rice. Had to wait a good 40 minutes for the order to be made.

We were to go stay in a hotel a little away from the airport. It was more of an apartment type hotel.

The facilities were great with the rooms having a fridge, kitchen and microwave. We ate the dinner in the breakfast area of the hotel. Some rooms away from the freeway were great. We got a room facing the freeway and the noise was deafeneing. It was a bad room. We complained but they had no other rooms or rooms with similar noise! San decided to sleep in the kitchen area in a fold out bed. I was too exhausted to care. It was going to be a short stay anyways as we had to wake up yet again at 3:30 AM to head to Cairo airport at 4AM for a flight to Amman. The drive was a good 20 to 25 minutes and we had to load all the suitcases.

We gave Latif a list of things that were great and the few things he could change for future guests and he was appreciative of the feedback. 

A video highlight of the last few things we did in Egypt..

and that was that..  it was bye bye to Egypt!

If my family allows me to stay glued to the laptop later tomorrow, might finish blogging about the Jordan leg as well.. that is another 1200+ photos and videos to review.

"You have no right, appa!"

On a China trip a few years ago, I got upgraded to an "executive room" because all the other rooms were booked. Had shown up like clockwork every three weeks for a year and suddenly missed showing up at that hotel for two months (we tried another hotel but given my rash saga, we switched back to the one that works).

It is very much possible that the upgrade was to bring me back as a regular. In any case, the upgraded room had two rooms. Given I practically sleep on a flat surface, the largeness of the room doesn't make a difference to me. As long as there is no remnant of cigarette smoke in the room (yes, China hotels have folks frequently violating smoking rules as the fine is 500 RMB.. the hotels spray the room with some type of Febreeze and assign it as non-smoking room to the next guy who shows up.. like me!). The one thing that did make a difference was the bath tub instead of the stand in shower with some nice bath salt packets and the shampoo.

I got a sample back with me to show wife and kids. They also loved it.

 

Having been to France a few times by that point for business I knew the existance of L'ocittane. This shampoo was divine. On my next trip to France, we actually were in Provonce and there was a L'Occitane store and I got back large bottles of the stuff. 

Then on an India trip, got introduced to Pathanjali's Kesh Kranthi and the entire family switched to that shampoo. Not only did it make my hair feel and smell great, it also brought back memories of a different place and time from my childhood every time I took a shower!

On my last trip ended up in a different hotel and this time there was a shampoo called Le Grand Bain in the shower. The white plain plastic bottles did not say "brand name" but what caught my eye was the Vetiver. It is native to Tamil Nadu and we are used to it as children when grandma adds it to the shikakai powdered for home use as herbal shampoo! 

Now citron is also a smell we love as the most favorite pickle we eat, narthangai, is citron. This thing literally transported me. Okay, by now you are all sensing a theme here. I judge shampoos as though they are transporters on the Starship Enterprise. "This one took me to 1985.. but that one.. gives me memories from a time when I could not form words!" kind of thing..

So, I got some samples back. I have been in a lot of hotels on business and get to abuse my hair with all kinds of concoctions during those travels, but very rarely do I get some gems like this. 

When I told my kids about the shampoo the little one says "You have no right, Appa! you should not be talking about shampoos or any hair products" and Jr. chimes in and says "yeah. there are certain things you should simply stop commenting about!"

I still have some hair. It is not like I have gone totally bald and I do get to use a diverse array of crappy shampoos during my travels. 

There had to be a comeback for something like that.. a beard! Again this Jan and Feb, the beard is making a comeback of sorts. There is no pressure to look like my passport photo at airports for a few weeks and that means I can try.. again.. to grow a beard.

Again, my kids said "you have no right, appa!". What ?! It is my face. The wife and kids turned their faces away, made a few negative comments, put an embargo on kissing or even hugging for that matter and this went on for a week. 

Now that the beard has gone past the patchy phase, they are getting used to it.. or so I think! 

Have told them that the shampoo and conditioner are for the beard, not the hair and that brought a few chuckles and the little one was literally rolling on the floor laughing! 

The facial experiment will last a few more weeks. Till then "right or not", the beard stays! 

Amazon doesn't sell Le Grand Bain and turns out it is a Sheraton brand and it is available only through Sheraton. Shearton should stop doing the hotel business and go into the shampoo business if you ask me. This one is reaaaalllllllly good!

On a side note, my beard is somehow making me focus better in yoga class. Get improved tunnel vision when focussing on my own eyes in the mirror. If they will let me, I would like to wear a ski mask like a bank robber one day and go to yoga class. Maybe the beard hides the face and helps... just thinking about that experiment is making me smile. One has to do experiments to prove theories, no?! That is a post for another day..