THE STORY ABOUT THE VISA, THE ANGRY MAN AND THE SECRET PLACE

Oh, the aliveness of Ha Noi. It strucks me with surprise every time, every day. There are scooters honking and cars driving and women in hats selling fruit and dogs sleeping on the dusty pavements. And yet, with all this aliveness, I find my inner calm here.
"It's weird." I told Claudia yesterday as she licked on her forth ice cream for the day, "that I've only been here once and yet, somehow I feel at home. Ha Noi is home in a strange way I can't explain."

We talked about nyckelböcker the other day, a Swedish word meaning books that is really written about a real person but the names has been changed, but the direct translation is "keybook". A famous podcaster had got it all wrong and thought it meant books that really captures the essence of ones soul, and now, he described in one episode, he felt like he missed the word that he once used as "keybook", as he had applied "key-" to many other things that he thought described him perfectly.

Ha Noi might be the keycity for me.
It's so vivid, so alive, it's talkative and cheerful but yet, there is this island-vibe slowing down our steps and makes us stop and smell the flowers (slash, the smell of loveliness from the endless amazing food stalls).

Yes, the pace is slow but the options eternal. The other night we were out partying and bumped in to... well, probably everyone who was out partying in the whole city, but mostly we hung out with these two guys from London, one of which had already stayed in Ha Noi for 10 days and had no plans on leaving. I totally related. Claudia keeps asking when I want to leave the city, of course, but I have no answer.

THE VISA "ADVENTURE"

This part of the adventure started in the afternoon of the 21th. I had been up all night worrying about the papers I had yet to print out for the 3 month Visa for Vietnam, documents I would have no chance of getting into paper form since we were leaving seven in the morning to go to the airport. It just had to make do, I had to force myself to not worry about it but I prayed to the travelgods to be with me the next day.

Before I had to fix this, I had another, even more horrible task ahead of me; I was going to say goodbye to my partner in crime for the last six weeks. We've always been close but this has pushed the limits even further, spending at least 16 hours together a day awake.

Throughout the weeks, we've been tired, sick, hangry, misunderstood and grumpy, but we've always found a way to move on and have an incredible time together and I will miss her and all crazyness that builds her like a lunatic. Fortunately, we've started to sketch on some futural travelplans so this is not the last this blog will see of the Swimmingpoolcool Sisters.
Although, this did not stop me from crying at the airport.

Five hours on the plane literally flew by (heh) and I was facing the horrible horrible Visa task again. When I went up to the counter the man behind it simply stared at me as I handed him the documents I had only on my phone.
"No" he said and pushed away my phone, than stared straight ahead to the next applicant. I began to feel angry. or maybe it was desperation, so I stayed in front of him, pushed my phone in his face again.
"See. I have this paper." I handed him the form I had managed to print from a Korean liberary the prior day, and some photos taken in a photobooth on Sinseoul-song station. "I have the application letter, signed and fixed, but IT'S IN MY PHONE. I STILL HAVE IT."
"NO." he answered again. I took a deep breathe.
"Can I print it out somewhere here?" He stared ahead.
"CAN I PRINT IT SOMEWHERE ON THE AIRPORT?" He still didn't reply.
"HERE. MY PAPERS, THE DOCUMENTS, PLEASE TELL ME WHERE TO PRINT IT." I still hadn't moved and though the letters may be in caps here, I kept calm, but firm. Claudia had already started texting me from outside the immigration. Her plane landed four hours ago and I had no intention on letting her wait any longer.
I stared at him. If I would be a conflict-avoiding Swede afraid to make some fuzz now, I would never make it. The line behind me grew and the visa officer saw it too, so he started talking to the men around him. They looked angry, so I backed a step, ready to search the airport for a printer, when he said "OK. Phone. Passport. Wait there."
One of us exited the Visa counter very happy. It was not him.

MEETING CLAUDIA 

A couple of minutes later, I was in Claudias arms, happy like there had been 24 stressfree hours before this cheerful moment. She had painted a sign with her nickname for me and after the quickest recaps in the story of recaps, we went out to find a bus to take us to her grandfather's house.

Of course it was not a straight way there. While traveling, it never is. But it only tooks us some fuzz so I'm actually gonna spare you from that here, and instead tell you about the amazing opportunity i have while visiting Vietnam this time.

Claudia's parents are vietnamese living in Sweden, but her grandmother and grandfather still lives her with her uncles and cousins. They had a spare room in their narrow, many-leveled (typically Hanoian) house, so accommodation was taken care of. Not having to pay for living, the most boring cost while traveling, was worth it's weight in gold. More to that, Claudia knew vietnamese and therefor got the "real prices" in streets, something a tourist struggle with in Hanoi since the vendors often double the prices for foreigners.

The first night we stayed in and talked after an amazing vietnamese meal eaten on the floor.
"Food is so cheap here, they just go to a food place and buy instead of making their own", Claudia told me between the mouthfuls of noodles and grilled meat. It was absolutly amazing. I am too eager to tell you the rest to google up a synonym for amazing, beacause I think I've used up my amazing-quota for this post long ago, but it truly was... amazing.

The next day, Claudia woke me up like a bunny on crack, hyper eager to hit the streets and eat all of the candy and food and ice creams she had longed for so long. Her grandfather took us on scooter to a place with good banh mi where we ate breakfast/lunch.

After that, we strolled until our feet hurt and our systems screamed for caffeine.

THE TWO GUYS AND THE ROOFTOP 

Last time, I had visited The Hanoi Social Club more times than I want to admit since the atmosphere is calmed hipster-y and their egg coffee is rated one of the best in the city. Their semi-rooftop terrace is like walking in to a jungle, so needless to say, it was my first suggestion when it was time for fika.

Only problem was... well, all streets in Ha Noi look the same. Not even for Claudia, who had been there multiple times before, they made sense and we had no other go than to ask other people of the way there.
...We approched young, backpacking guys, just to be on the safe side. They ought to know where a place famous from tripadvisor is, right?

The first three gangs where not helpful for more than pointing out a direction at most, but then we met Tomer and Ibby, who after helping us find the exact way with their phones also jumped on the idea to drink some coffee and talk, which we did not mind. Like... at all.

Claudia guides us through the jungle of street Çhe 

We spent a sunny afternoon together by first walking around the street like lost sheep, eventually stopping for snacks along the way, and then soaking in sun and new cultures on the rooftop after finally finding the place. I got my long lost egg coffee. The drinks were cheap. The universe was in order and the stars were aligned.

The guys were originally on their way to lunch when they met us, so three hours on the roof intaking only drinks finally took its turn and we left Social Club for going to get some food. Claudia's relatives waited on us at home so we went home while Ibby and Tomer hit the streets. We decided on meeting after dinner for drinks.
"It better be a rooftop!" Ibby exclaimed as we parted.
"It's because it makes him feel tall", Tomer joked and they both went away, laughing.

We had another splendid dinner on the floor and changed to clothes more suited for night life (= long pants. That's about how fancy we are) and then took a cab to the French quarter. Walking up the five stairs to Chien Hostel rooftop bar, we were met by a chilled vibed with lots of people laying in the sofas, drinking multiple coloured cocktails and inhaling balloons. Ibby met us with a smile and a hug.
"You just missed Tomer. Like, by five minutes."
Well then. There was a lot of people there and the drinks were cheap, so there was no shortage of conversation partners.

THE SECRET RESTAURANT

Then the night went on as it use to do. The more alcohol, the blurrier the sight gets, but we kept it under control. It was actually one of my more successful intakes of alcohol, luckily enough for Claudia since she have experienced how it feels to carry a giggling / passed out Felicia home to her sofa several times.

After midnight, the tummies started rumbling and we took to the streets. In Ha Noi, the curfew states that no store should be open after midnight, so the task turned out to be harder than we thought. We were wandering the streets alongside other backpackers looking for a place to drink some more when a man approched us.
"Hungry?" he said and led us to closed gate outside a store. He raised the gate so we could go in and there, inside the closed jalousie, a restaurant appeared.

Coming from the regulation-ruled country, the insict on just how big of a contrast it is from home hit full-forcingly when we sat down to eat. Here I was, on the other end of the continent, with two great guys I just met, inside a closed food-place having the time of my life, while people at my old work is currently putting right arms and screws on the shafts or serving coffee to ungrateful costumers for an ungrateful company. I chose this. I chose to not start a regular life, at least not yet, and widen my eyes, taste the whole world instead of staying on safe grounds.
It might have helped with alcohol, but I had a moment of incredibly proudness there and then.

...Which was abrupted by the police and we had to evacuate the premises.

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This was the first night of many wonderful 
ones in Ha Noi, but of those, 
I'll have to tell you another time.

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KISSES

FELICIA & CLAUDIA