A Vietnamese couchsurfer called Duong had written to me to ask if I’d like to hang out in Hanoi. She was from Ho Chi Minh city, but was in Hanoi for a few days on a work-related trip. Her couchsurfing profile was mostly empty and there were no pictures, so I was a bit hesitant at first, but then agreed to meet for coffee.

Duong turned out to be a shy, sweet and soft spoken girl. We had some communication issues thanks to our widely different accents, but we managed to understand each other a little :)

Duong took me to have “Phở bò”, a traditional Vietnamese dish in what was apparently the best place in Hanoi to have it. It was simply amazing, and I slurped up even the last drop from the bowl (probably to much embarrassment to my companion). We then walked around the Old Quarter a bit, where I bought the super-popular-among-travelers red Vietnamese flag T-shirt. Along the way, Duong tried to teach me the correct pronunciations of common Vietnamese words, but I forgot them maybe 5 seconds later.

With Duong

Next we went to Nola cafe to attend the weekly Hanoi couchsurfing meet. Nola cafe is a hard to find place, with the entrance from a narrow alley. It looks really shady when you enter, but then opens up into a beautiful, well-furnished area. We were the first ones to reach there, but were soon joined by many other couchsurfers.

Hanoi weekly CS meet

After leaving from there, I thanked Duong for a really nice evening and bid her farewell. She took a “Xe Om” (Vietnamese for the ubiquitous motorcycle taxi) to her hotel, and I took one back to Jelly & Pedro’s after a quick phone call to OJ to let him know that I was coming back to Delhi.

Jelly & Pedro were surprised to hear that I would be flying back to India the next day, but agreed that it was probably the smartest thing to do. I called Pavi as well, who was equally surprised. She said she would be working late, and hence wouldn’t be able to meet me before I left.