203. Disco techno night and a hazy rainy day (Vietnam - Day 5)
This is a continuation of my Vietnam trip I took around mid-end March of last year.
Link to part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4
📅 24 March 2024
A "Joe from England" said to me, "Hey Kayla, do you want to go to an underground techno club with all of us?"
"Uh, who's all of us?" I blinked absentmindedly, turned around, and saw a giant group of people in their twenties and thirties smoking and flicking the ash off the balcony. They all looked really cool and talking amongst themselves. They looked... suspiciously French. I walked towards the group just to gather intel and make myself known to these new acquaintances. Hopefully no more French people! I politely introduced myself and was met with a collective "Bonsoooir".
--
"Yeah we have to coordinate rides over there. Here's the address -"
This Joe guy gave me a tiny, wrinkled up paper straw that has something scribbled on it, "savage", which I assume that's the name of the club we're heading to. Aside from me, Joe, and maybe 3 others, there were 8 other French people. In my car, we were stuffed like sardines in a XL Grab rideshare (as XL as we can when we have to make do in Vietnam!) to the underground techno club. I was in a car full of drunk French people, and I joined in on singing classic French songs, much to the driver's dismay.
A blurry photo of me being a little squished in the car. I couldn't stop laughing at the red dog
The techno club was a cool place. There were 3 floors in the building with a garden. There's an entrance fee (Should be 100.000-200.000 VND) into the building. It looks really sketchy when you walk in, but when you get to the techno area, it looks quite cozy and the music was really nice. Everyone was obscured by the darkness and really dancing to the beats. I had a good time dancing as well.
There are some unwritten rules, especially when you go to a techno party. Dance however you want, there's some standard techno moves, which look really funny in the daylight, but when you're in a techno party, you're shrouded in the dark and wearing black so these dances don't look that silly when you're at the club. Sunglasses are nice to have, even when you're not consuming anything, because the lights get to you. Also - minimal camera usage, don't shove a phone in someone's face, especially with flash. There was a young naive British girl who got booed by many people in the club because she filmed a TikTok of her self (with flash) of the people on the techno dance floor. It was so embarrassing to witness all of that, but I think she didn't care. Which honestly, is kind of based.
Here's the disco ball on the second floor of the club
The second floor had more house music and standard "clubby" sound compared to the underground techno portion of the building. A lot more people were socializing and drinking under the disco ball. I was too tired to make a new friend at the club because I was trying to remember the new hostel friends that I made on the way here so I don't get left behind or something. I honestly think it's a lot better to stick with familiar faces instead of being stuck in a situation where I don't know anyone. I explored the building more and saw a couple of hostel people and stuck with them. I even played a bit of Tekken with some people.
Tekken at the disco club!
I had a long day (since I just arrived in Hanoi on that day) and I was feeling tired that day. It would be frowned upon if I Irish goodbye right away (even though I was tired), so I said my adieu's to the French people and Joe at the techno level and made my way back to the hostel at around 2 AM. I took a motorcycle back to the hostel and fell asleep in my bunk, safe and sound.
Hanoi in March
Street view of Hanoi in the rain, look at this dog sitting on the plastic stool. He sat here for the longest time I was cracking up.
It was a very rainy morning when I woke up. I explored the area by walking around. I took the advice from Cat from Birmingham and Chris from Hull (the British people I shared a car with on the way to Da Nang) and went to the train street with the directions they told me. They said to go to an intersection, which was the most immediate way to get to the train street (at Đ.Lê Duẩn, the coordinates are 21.02, 105.64). I was really impressed with how immediate it is to get access to the railroad street and how far away from the motorcycle traffic it was.
The entrance to the train street @ 21.02, 105.64
After my visit at train street, I had some egg coffee and watched the afternoon train go by. I was feeling a bit peckish and didn't want to stay in the touristy area, so I opted for some Đâu Tâm Hành (fried tofu with scallions) and Mì Khô Xá Xíu (stir fried noodles with pork) in the local street over. I had a good time feasting by myself.
Fish caught by the fishing uncles at the park
I went to the Công viên Thống Nhất Park and joined some fishing uncles near the bridge. I even helped reeled a fish in. I texted my mother immediately about the fishing experience I had with these Vietnamese uncles.
While at the park, I passed by an old man who had a barber station parked in front of the entrance. I haven't had a trim for a while, so I figured that it would be interesting to get a 40.000 VDN haircut for funsies. I know the risk of having a random haircut from a random guy at the park, but I think the experience would be funny. I would have a debriefing session at the end of my day with my friends and message them, "just got a trim" and send this this photo of me:
You can see the faded blue stamp on my hand holding my phone from the techno club from the night before lol
Random people started coming up to the guy and watching him cut my hair. I think it's just a bit unusual for them because a typical Vietnamese girl wouldn't get a random haircut at the park. I explained to him that I'm American and he just kept smiling. It was just a trim, and figured that he couldn't screw up a small cut. He even dermaplaned my entire face. I was impressed by the quick and dirty haircut, and even more impressed by the price of my trim...
I went back to the climbing gym again. I had more time on my hands, so I crushed a couple of routes. I'm really happy about sampling the local climbing scene. It's one of my favorite things to do in a new city. I didn't make any new friends at the gym. I got a little bit tired exploring around, so I took a really quick nap on the cushioned floors of the climbing gym...
Two people from the hostel approached me while I was sitting on the terrace/common room area. I think that they saw my message in the HostelWorld group chat about meeting up and walking around the neighborhood, specifically back to the famous train street. I figured that it would be a nice change of pace if I were to be with others, while seeing the giant train go by.
My evening walk with my two new friends we saw a random rooster on the street just standing there. Hmmm..
The first person I talked to was a nice guy from Canada. This guy came from the Niagara Falls area of Canada, but moved to Montreal. He was a little older than me, soft-spoken and very well-traveled. He told me about his future plans of visiting Korea and Japan, which I immediately cheered him on for. We walked down the steps of the hostel, on the street level and was stopped by a young girl. She was very pretty and was visiting from Bavaria, which I determined from her German accent. To me, she was a little reserved, but gathered the courage to walk right up to us and warmed right up as the two North Americans talked to her casually. She joined us on our little walk around the city.
The sun was setting as we took our promenade around Hanoi. I led them over to the train street entrance, where I went to earlier in the day, and they were impressed by the seamlessness of the surrounding area. There were no pedestrians, motorcycles, or chaotic traffic when you enter through this way. We stopped by a restaurant and settled outside. Our German friend was vegetarian, which was actually quite good because most Vietnamese cuisine is easily adjustable for vegans/vegetarians. I settled with a pint and a big bowl of phở bò. I watched the train go by as we feasted on our little dinner.
I learned a lot about these new friends and they learned a lot about me. We sat together and talked a lot about ourselves. Our Canadian friend wanted a change of pace and told me that he quit his job and went full time into film-making and movie production. We talked about classic films and shared our favorite scenes. We encouraged our friend from Bavaria on pursuing art school. She's young and not yet a university student, so it's a perfect time to do it. I think she needed this little bit of encouragement.
As we looked at the giant train go passed us, merely a meter or two away, we were talking about our lives and how it kind of passes. The German girl mentioned that her birthday was pretty soon and that she was going to turn 19. I told her that my birthday was pretty soon as well. I asked her what day, and she told me that it was the same exact day as mine. I was pretty happy about that, so I proposed that we make a celebration in the hostel. It's kind of a cool coincidence because the relative that had the same birthday as me recently died last year. I thought it was interesting that a new travel friend has the same exact birthday day as me.
There are a lot of travelers that celebrate their birthday abroad just for funsies, but they never really get a chance to have a party because a lot of the time it is very difficult to organize a bunch of people or even have a time of celebration while traveling. She accepted and cracked a smile.
I've got a plan a birthday celebration before I leave Vietnam!
~ dizco tekken,
<3 K