Catching up with old friends

Back in Hanoi, having declined the frankly rubbish dinner options at the service station on the way back from Sa Pa, we went for a burger for dinner.

Here we were joined by T and Joe who we’d met on our slow boat trip in Laos. It was so nice to catch up, hear all about their travels over the last month and generally spend time with people we already knew.

Travelling is funny like that. Having been away from friends and family for so long, you really relish meeting up with people who you’ve met before. Our two days travelling down the Mekong and then three days in Luang Prabang makes these guys the people we’ve spent the most time with on our travels and it was lovely to feel relaxed around people as though we’d known them for ages.

The next morning we had breakfast together, before they took us to an egg coffee spot, down a small alleyway and into what James described as feeling like entering an opium den (don’t know how he knows what that feels like!) I declined the coffee, although I have it on good authority that it was excellent, and opted for the hot chocolate instead, which was also very nice.

We went our separate ways for a bit, with James and I heading back to the railway, where we’d seen some interesting murals on some of the arches on one of our numerous hour long trips around Hanoi picking people up for our various tours. There were some really good paintings, as well as some 3D artwork.

We had lunch in a small cafe surrounded by locals, before heading back to the hostel to pack up, say goodbye to T and Joe and head to the airport to fly to Myanmar.