Interesting 2 days

Last night a group of us decided to go out to a bar for westerners across from the hotel. As we were walking out the same little kids I usually see outside the hotel were still there. I wonder where there parents are? They are only about 8 years old. They are very smart little kids. One of them speaks to me in french, english, and vietnemese. He usually wants me to buy a postcard from him. When I turned them down this time, they decided to pull a prank on me. I was just trying to ignore the little kids but they are so persistent. As they followed me down the street, they picked up a little lizard and decided it would be funny to place it on my back without me knowing. I started to feel it crawl up my back and I went crazy. I had just walked into the bar and I screamed so loudly, trying to frantically brush it off of me. My friend finally grabbed me and brushed it off and had to restrain me because I was surely going to march out and get those little kids back. The female bartenders came rushing over asking if I was okay. I didnt know what to do after that. One man in the bar told me it could be worse and that in India they put tarantulas on peoples backs.

Tonight was a free afternoon on our first day in Hanoi. Hanoi reminds me a lot of Saigon. We decided to explore the city a little. Me and my roommate Adrianna went walking around the hostel area in search for some lunch and some junk food. Finding somewhere to eat in Vietnam tends to be a struggle. But later on for dinner, we picked out one of nicer restaruants in town. We traveled in a large group to the restaurant. This always makes ths more difficults. Deciding whether we were going ride or walk was a task in itself. Finally we decided to walk. As we were walking a young vietnemese women in red who was obviously not right in some way started to follow us to the restaurant. She followed our every move. At first we thought she was trying to steal our purses but she was just ginuinely interested in us I think. She never said a word, she only stared. We thought this was a little creepy so we then got into a taxi.

On our way back home we decided to take a taxi from the start. But we accidently got into a "fake" cab. He had one of those meters that kept that moved faster than normal. He also drove like a lunatic. He acted as if he didnt understand me when I confronted him about the meter. Than I asked if he spoke french an he did. When I confronted him in french he still tried to ignore me. In the end we got jipped and almost ran over som bikers in the process because of his reckless driving.