Lest you think that travel is nonstop glamour and excitement, here’s a nutshell summary of my day today:
My train arrived at the station in Hanoi just before 5am. I’d managed a bit more sleep on the return train, so I was feeling okay, but still pretty tired. When I got back to my hostel, my bed wasn’t ready yet for me to check back in, so I spent a little time online updating my blogs and such, and then went to doze in the movie room on the couches for a while.
Somewhere around noon, I dragged myself up and out, checked in, and sorted a bag of laundry. I set out in search of an express laundry service, but surprisingly didn’t manage to find one. For a city that has everything you could possibly need practically at your doorstep, I found this a bit surprising.
In any case, I grabbed some lunch and walked around for a couple of hours, up to the area around Truc Bach lake. I saw some temples and pagodas and a large church, and lots and lots of tailor shops and stores selling western brand names at a fraction of the price (some knockoffs, some because they’re made here).
Ultimately, though, my tiredness caught up with me, and I went back to the hostel and took a nap. I woke up again for dinner, had some soup, and went straight back to sleep, and ended up sleeping for about fourteen hours. I guess I needed that.
So, not the world’s most exciting travel day today. But that’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay to take a breather.