Hanoi Life

Help! Au Secours! Giup Chung Toi!

Help, the Beatles song and film...Help is on the way....Mother's Little Helper...Help Yourself.  Help is sometimes right around the corner and sometimes rather elusive.  We all need it sometimes and to paraphrase the Beatles again We get by with a little help from our friends.

Here in Hanoi, it is sometimes a bit difficult to locate a certain product or service or to find out about events, prices etc.  It is important to have a network of sorts since you don't want to be too dependent on one source.

In return for the help you get, you must, of course, be prepared to give whatever information you may be able to provide. 

In giving or receiving one must of course "consider the source."  When asked about a restaurant, a bar or a hotel, our recommendation is likely to be different from that of the Aussie backpacker.  When seeking a tailor, it might be good to see how the person giving the reference dresses.

One source of information is Carol's UNIS colleagues.  Through the magic of bulk email, she hears of various discounts, promotions and special events, as well as who is trying to get rid of old furniture or other household goods.

Another source is Ira's network of friends, former colleagues, students, teachers and people-about-town.  A phone call or text message usually gets results, sometimes instantaneously.

Carol often needs to know "Where can I buy...?" and soon after that "Where can I have repaired...?"  Between hotel staff, Ira's contacts list, both current and past(I found your number on my mobile phone.  where can I buy sneakers, rent a motorbike, get good bun cha etc), and the proverbial "man on the street" we usually get our answer.

When Carol's new shoes fell apart after one wearing, Ira was able to track down a shoe repairman.  He is, curiously enough, located right outside a shoe store!   For alterations, such as shortening pants, taking in waists made smaller by the endless days at the Fitness Centre, or just attaching a snap or a clasp, one needs a good tailor.  When Ira was working at Austil, University of New South Wales, his friend Miss Chi, told him of a tailor withing walking distance of the school that she said was good and also not too  expensive.  She said that she brings all of her family's clothing there so, figuring her two young sons and husband must need such repairs more than occasionally, Ira started taking our things there as well.  The work is competent and quick and it is amazing how cheap it is!

How do I say this in Vietnamese?!  Ira sometimes needs a quick answer and will often use his former teacher, Ms An Son, or his current one, Ms Hai, as a quick source.  In an emergency, he has tried Ms Hien, the young proprietor of Vietnamese Teaching  Group who has developed a staff of university students to teach the language to foreigners.  If that fails, he has his network which includes his students and even former students in a pinch.  Fortunately none of these is a practical joker or the results could prove embarrassing.

The entire hotel staff, particularly the bellmen and the business centre/apartment crew, are happy to tell us anything we wish to know, even to the point of advising us whether or not the other has returned home yet.  They have also contributed to what proficiency in the Vietnamese language Ira may have attained, as they chat and, more importantly, correct him when he needs it, which is pretty often.

Much of the shopping takes place in the local street, Yen Phu.  Ms Giang, the fruit-seller always gives samples and lets Ira know what are the best and freshest items, although she does tend to try to have him buy rather more than we need.  "Chi hai nguoi" or only two people, he says, but he still comes back with two kilos of this and three of that!  There is a small shop where bottled water and yogurt are among the goods offered.  The young woman behind the counter automatically counts out 5 waters and  4 yogurts when Ira comes into her field of vision!

The laundry at Sofitel Plaza is at least as expensive as those in the US, but down in Yen Phu, a shirt is only 5000VND or about 30 cents.  Most of our clothing goes there and the young woman who runs the shop always has our things ready.  "No tickee, no shirtee!" does not apply here.  The shop is merely the front hall of the family's dwelling and it is always overflowing with freshly laundered garments, blankets and the like.  If the gate is closed(there are no posted or regular hours, it is catch-as-catch-can), a neighbor will often tell Ira that the proprietor is away or eating lunch or at the market.  Usually he spots her somewhere down the lane, usually with her adorable little daughter, Quynh, who lights up whenever she spots Ira, and chirps out "chau chao bac!" in her high little voice.

Finally, even sometime adversaries turn out to be helpers.  There is a constant fight for space in the laundry room and the private maids who work for the Japanese tenants can be rather assertive when it comes to getting their clients' clothes into the dryer, sometimes pushing ours out of the queue.   However, they often put our laundry in for us and Ms Loi, who travels 45 minutes by bus each way folds it ever so neatly.

What do we do to help others?  Ira is considered a quick source of editing English text.  Since he works quickly and in an American idiom, people like him to give their documents and blogs the once-over.  Many of Carol's colleagues will ask her about the schedule at the Opera House, since we are usually on top of that scene.  While we mention the Opera House, we must give thanks to Mr. Phuong, the ticket manager who has been of great help both in procuring the best tickets and in changing our orders on the fly when we find that our plans change.

Where would we be without all of these people, none of whom ever expects payment?  It is difficult to know how much we could ever have picked up on our own and gratifying that we never had to find out.

Lest We Forget

This week includes two sad dates for us.  May 23 is the fourth anniversary of the death of Carol's mother Charlotte and May 25 marks 36 years since the passing of Ira's father Charles.

Carol never met Ira's dad, but she has heard the anecdotes about "Marvello" as Dick and Ira nicknamed him for his always being right.  Charles, never Charlie or Chuck, was an engineer and he excelled in math and physics and logistics.  No one could pack the truck of the car more skillfully than he, and he was a master at taking things apart and putting them back together.  Although he has been gone for such a long time, he has never been forgotten and is missed by all who knew him

Charlotte, was nicknamed "Oompie" by Ira after the husband of one of Carol's sisters had their two sons call Earl and Charlotte "Oma and Opa" to distinguish them from his parents who were called Grandma and Grandpa.  Ira was unfamiliar with the diminutive terms so he started calling them "Oompie and Boompie."  Of course the names stuck, once everyone figured out which was which.

Charlotte was a sweet kind person who never had anything bad to say about anyone.  She always found the good in people and was quick to praise and slow to criticize.  She was not without her opinions but she always delivered them gently and without bad feeling.

Time goes by so quickly and it is difficult to believe that four years have passed.

Now we are (gulp) in our sixties and the past is longer than the future.  Both of our families have had their share of illness but right now everyone seems to be doing well and we look forward to seeing them and some of our other readers in the near future.

Join the Circus

One of Carol's duties as the school year winds down is to prepare the ECC(Early Childhood Center) children for presentation of the annual show.  This year, she had the idea to make it a circus theme.  There was a lot of work involved in getting the children ready to sing and perform and even more logistical work to set the scene.

Ira pitched in a bit by finding circus music on I-Tunes and putting it onto a CD.  It's not that Ira is remotely a techie, but he is the more technical of this household and there is no second place.  Of course, it is frightening to entrust anything of such a nature to one whose talents lie more in the creative and verbal realms.  Somehow, the CD did get made and that was one small hurdle got over.

On the day of the dress rehearsal, Ira got up earlier than usual.  He is a bit like a cat who comes when he hears the can opener, since that is the sound of his food.  When Carol, who rises at the unearthly hour of 5 am, takes a shower, that is the signal that it will soon be time for breakfast.  The hair dryer is even more of a warning and never fails to get him stirring.

Carol informed Ira that she was going early to set up for the circus as the sets and benches were heavy and she had no help.  Nature abhors a vacuum so less than an hour later we were in a taxi to UNIS and in a short time, we had moved everything into place.

Ira was like a yo-yo that day as he returned to the campus at 11 am to break down the set and again at 4 pm to reset for the performance.  With those three visits, Ira was at UNIS more in one day than the rest of the year combined.

The performance turned out to be exceptional.  There had been a threat of rain or thunderstorms that had Carol on pins and needles for weeks.  A tent had been ordered to cover the area, but it was rather small and would not have afforded much protection had the deluge come.  It came from the company run by the boyfriend of one of the teachers but since this blog is not focused on nepotism, we will leave it at that.

The young children looked so cute in their costumes!  There were clowns, dogs, elephants, a  band and a troupe of pink panthers among the various acts.  The children sang and danced and had the capacity crowd on their feet applauding time after time.

Three performers from the Hanoi Circus entertained in between the children's acts.  There was a juggler, a contortionist and a magician all of whom were quite entertaining.

When the show ended, Carol received a nice bouquet of flowers for her hard work in organizing the show.  Even the Head of School, a notoriously tough critic, came over and congratulated her warmly.  Several of the other teachers said that the circus would be the show by which future shows would be measured.  High praise indeed from one and all!

At Your Service

We used to think that restaurants were analogous to real estate where the three most important things are location, location and location.  A restaurant is a place where you go to eat so it should be about food, food and food, right?

Afte Ira's working for many years in the industry and our dining at all levels all around the world, we now think that food is more of a threshold item.  That is, in a restaurant the food must be at a reasonable level commensurate with the price and surroundings.  Ambiance counts for something, but the real key is service.

Here in Hanoi, many times we have found service to be backwards!  The server is all over you when you don't need him or her and never to be found when you do.  Many have the annoying habit of "hovering," standing over you while you are trying to decide what you want to eat or drink.  The best servers are the ones who read their customers and miraculously appear in time to get another glass of wine or to refill your water glass.

We also do enjoy being recognized and often frequent places where the staff recognizes us and sometimes even calls us by name.  There is a Vietnamese restaurant fairly close to our apartment that we no longer go to despite adequate food, nice decor and decent service.  We used to go there several times a month and yet were never recognized.  We have experienced the opposite in several spots where, though we are not there so often, we are instantly recognized, Ira is greeted by name in Vietnamese and we are generally made to feel at home.

Of course, good food and fair pricing are still important, but the extra touch of friendly service often tips the balance.

At (Ha)Long Last!!

Vietnam has four UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the most famous of which is Halong Bay.  As far back as 1994, Tony Nong of Ann Tourist was touting us on visiting this place.  Located about 165 km east of Hanoi, the bay in the Gulf of Tonkin has nearly 200 islands, most of which are tiny and uninhabited.  Considering Carol's aversion to boats and the 6 hour plus overland journey, we said "some other time."

Over the years, we came back to Vietnam on three more occasions, logging anywhere from 10 days to two weeks in the country.  The subject of Halong Bay was often broached but we always found a reason(read: excuse) not to go.  We didn't have enough time.  The weather was wrong.  Who wants or needs to look at a bunch of rocks anyway?

When we moved to Hanoi in August of 2005, we figured that we would have to visit Halong sometime, since we were now so close and had more time available.  Still, when we took an excursion shortly after our arrival, it was to Sapa to see the hills and haggle with the Red Dao people over handicrafts.  Ira also managed a nasty fall, resulting in a fractured vertebra, the pain from which made this recent close encounter of the motorbike kind feel like a mosquito bite.

"I know, I know" Carol would say when the subject of Halong would come up.  She knew we had to make the visit but was wary of sleeping on a boat.  There are day trips available so she hoped we could manage one of those.  The roads have improved since 1994 so the trip now takes more like 3 hours and your teeth are not rattled by too many bumps.  The day trip usually departs around 8 am and returns at 7 pm, leaving you time for a boat ride with lunch and many photo ops.

We spoke with friends and colleagues, most of whom sang the praises of Halong Bay.  Our friend, Gun-Marie has been there five of six times. 

Halong Bay is high on the list of sites(and sights) to see in Vietnam and some people who spend less than a week in Vietnam use two days of that time to sail around the bay.  We have seen many photographs so we know what it looks like.  If there only weren't that boat involved!

When we were in Myanmar, we took our first cruise down the Ayrewaddy from Mandalay to Bagan and we actually enjoyed it.  Of course it was the poshest boat making the trip and probably one of the swankiest in the world.  In Halong, there are many kind of boats and many classes of each kind.  The finest is the Emeraude, run by the same people who own The Press Club, Exotissimo Travel, and The Warehouse wine company. 

We have had many dealings with The Warehouse and dine on a semi-regular basis at the Press Club so are well known by the staff at both places.  Mr. Son, a manager at Press Club, kept telling us to book on the Emeraude and that we would love Halong Bay.

Still, we resisted.  Our first year came and went.  We visited the beach at Danang, traveled abroad to India, Sri Lanka, Bangkok, and other destinations but chua(not yet) to Halong Bay.  It became kind of a joke as we felt we were in the Guinness Book of World Records for spending the most time in Vietnam without visiting Halong Bay.  People would stop us on the street and say "Oh, aren't you the couple who have never been to Halong Bay?"

Ira's brother Dick, together with his wife Sue and daughter Leslie, were here for about a week and they managed a day trip to Halong which they thoroughly enjoyed.  Our friends, Ralph and Lea Basch, spent nearly three weeks and of course, they took an overnight in Halong. 

When people visit a place, they often do research and have a list of places to go and things to see.  Often they book excursions in advance, while sometimes they do it on arrival.  For us "Halong Bay Trip" remained on our "to do" list, much as other chores like "clean garage" and "trim trees."

Mr. Son kept reminding us that we really should book a cruise on the Emeraude.  He promised to let us know when the annual wine cruise was being held and that we should book early as it sells out all the time.  True to his word, Son sent us the email as soon as the cruise was ready for booking and we paid our money and held our breaths.  Now there was no turning back!

The Wine Cruise brings together many of the companies under the Press Club Umbrella:  Warehouse supplies the wines, Press Club the food and Emeraude the ambiance.

The Emeraude has 38 cabins so capacity is around 75 guests and we hear the cruise sold out quickly.   The brochure said "Dress to Impress" and "Dress Code Applies."  We kinda knew better but of course packed some good clothes for dinner and respectable casual for the rest of the trip.

There was a breakfast at the Press Club where we noticed that most people had worn cutoffs, t-shirts and jeans so we were once again "off by 3."  Why, oh why don't we ever get that secret email that tells us what to wear?

The bus trip was uneventful, with a short rest stop that stretched from the announced ten minutes to about half an hour.  Soon enough we were staring at the souvenir shops and cheap  hotels that told us we were in a resort town.

We checked in and found our cabin.  It was functional but tiny, a far cry from the digs on the "Road to Mandalay."  It was certainly adequate for our one night on the bay, although it had a Vietnamese-style bathroom with a sink and a shower head that allows you to wash yourself while you flood the room.  You can probably get clean, but without a tub or stall, the floor will remain wet for the duration.

Of course most of our time would be spent on deck.  If we followed the program nearly all of that time would be devoted to eating and drinking.  They put out a buffet on the promenade deck and served wine.  Little did we know that this was the pre-lunch as an even bigger spread was laid out in the restaurant downstairs.  The most notable dish was the huge prawns(these are shrimp for our American readers) although there was plenty of variety and all of it good.

We sailed out into a private area of the bay and saw many of the characteristic rocks that rise out of the sea towards the sky.  The place is pretty photogenic and most of our shots turned out pretty well.  We are not the greatest fans of nature so if we seem less than enthusiastic, forgive us.  Everyone raves about the beauty of Halong and we cant deny it.  We can just say it was "fine, fine."  For what it is, it is very nice.  We just don't think we will be returning over and over.

Lunch was over just in time for Ira to go to the wine tasting in Hang Trong Cave.  Carol stayed on board and it was probably safer as the cave had no steps or handrails so Ira had to hug the sheer rock face and pull himself up, a task made more difficult by his sore shoulder and ribs.  One of the staff tried to lend a hand but he nearly fell onto the rocks since Ira weighs, shall we say a bit more than the average Vietnamese man.  The tasting was enjoyable and of course included more food as well as music from violin and guitar.

The tenders brought the tasters back to the Emeraude just in time for the mojito, margarita and tequila bar with light snacks, followed closely by the tapas buffet, with more of the Spanish wines from the tasting, red white and rose from Marques de Caceras.

We then had a short break to clean up and dress for dinner.  Having read the brochure we were of course overdressed.  Next time we will have our own translator!  No, Ira did not wear white tie and tails, just a nice suit, while Carol's outfit was the equivalent for a woman.  Maybe the people throwing the events should say : slacks and sport shirt; business suit; tuxedo, which is actually semi-formal NOT formal, though we can't conceive of anyone actually owning tails or morning coat in this day and age.  Dinner was not too lavish, merely four courses with matching wines.

The food was good, although the main course(entree to Americans, mains to Aussies and yes we know that entree is really a preliminary course but the style in the States is otherwise so we can live with entree for filet with shrimp on top).  Who invented "surf and turf" or similar dishes, where it is somehow assumed that shellfish are a perfect accompaniment to beef?  Ira thinks that the perfect accompaniment to a good steak is.....more steak!

After dinner we all sat on deck and watched the stars and enjoyed the scenery by moonlight.  The next activity was salsa dancing to the music of supposedly the best DJ in Hanoi.  What makes a good DJ?  He just plays records, or in the modern day, CD's.  At least the guys in the 60's had some patter!  You remember: "Hey there cats and pretties, this one goes out to everyone in Overbrook!"  The music was loud up on deck but nothing compared to the decibel level down in our cabin.  Fortunately, it stopped somewhere around 2 so we were able to get some sleep.

We like to think we are maturing.  At least no one can dispute that we are getting older.  One of the signs of this maturity is that we don't feel we have to eat and drink everything in sight just because it is on a buffet or there is free flow wine.  Caviar and foie gras are excepted from this as we will eat as much of those as the staff see fit to bring!  If we told how much we ingested and imbibed on Saturday, you might not consider it holding back, but in fact we felt much better than most of the other guests when we came down to breakfast on Sunday.

After the meal, we sailed back to the dock and boarded the bus for the trip back to the Press Club.  The captain pointed out the floating village, where  hundreds of people actually live on small boats, and we passed close to the new suspension bridge, about which we could give you details, but you won't care so we will omit them.

So as we rode on the bus we talked about the trip and concluded that we were certainly happy that we went, we were pleased with our choice of the Emeraude for the journey and we realized that nature is wonderful in small doses.

L'Amour est Enfant de Boheme...

"Love is a gypsy child," sings Carmen, the tragic heroine of Bizet's opera.  One of the current singers who have made a name in that role is American Jennifer Larmore.  We have heard her sing on a number of occasions at the Met and, when Ira heard that she would be appearing in Hanoi, he just HAD to get tickets!

Luckily, we have a relationship, with Mr. Phuong, who runs ticketvn.com, a website that sells tickets to events at our lovely Opera House.  These tickets are never easy to get, but after a few text messages back and forth, we had our seats.  We were not downstairs in Row D, our usual location, but Phuon got us a box on the second level that was nearly dead center and had movable chairs!  After Ira's mishap earlier in the week, he found the armchair far more comfortable than the seats on the first level.

The concert was quite fine, with Ms Larmore performing some Spanish songs as well as several French numbers by Debussy.  In between, she entertained us with two arias from "Marriage of Figaro" and three from "Carmen."  Although Ms. Larmore is a native of Atlanta and used to warm weather, she had to take a break due to the extreme heat on the stage.  Not to worry, she came back and resumed at the precise point where she had paused.  She left us wanting more after the whimsical "I want to be a Prima Donna," by Victor Herbert and a flashy Brazilian encore to end the evening.

The house was full and the audience was enthusiastic.  It was a pleasure to have such a fine artist grace our stage.  Hanoi is not yet in the mainstream of the international circuit, with most artists playing Hong Kong, Singapore or perhaps Kuala Lumpur, but we have every hope that this will change in the near future.

We went backstage afterwards and had a nice chat with the singer and she was kind enough to allow us to take a photo for the blog.

The concert was sponsored by Hennesey, the cognac producer and there was a bevy of beauties handing out programs and posters.  We were shocked to be warmly greeted by one of the young women, who remembered us from a promotion last fall, when we had chatted at the Hotel Metropole.

When we left the Opera House, it was pouring rain, but it din't dampen our spirits in the least.

The Years Go By

The days may go slowly, but the years pass in the blink of an eye.  The other day we celebrated 27 years of marriage with a dinner created by Chef Boris Cuzon at Le Beaulieu, the fine French restaurant in the Hotel Metropole.  Based on Ira's suggestions, it included oysters from Chef's native Brittany, foie gras tempura and terrine and a special anniversary cake.  Boris and the entire dining room staff signed the commemorative menu which was a nice touch from probably the finest restaurant in the whole of Vietnam.  It was touching to receive such individual attention on a night when the dining room was full and there was a large table of foreign finance ministers!

When we look back at the good times and bad we can't help but think of the friends and relatives who are no longer with us.  We talked about the good times we had with Carol's mother, Charlotte and her Aunt Essie and also remembered Ira's cousin Bob as well as Ira's one time bridge partner Billy Gough.

This anniversary was made a bit more memorable by an anonymous motorbiker who crashed into Ira as he was crossing the street near the hotel.  Carol:  "I thought you were always so careful?"  Ira:  "Very careful but apparently not careful enough!"  Fortunately, other than some unsightly scrapes and bruises, the only damage was sore ribs and left shoulder, none of which prevented Ira from enjoying the special dinner.

Where do these years get to?  We have nieces like Leslie, who is entering her senior year at the University of North Carolina, and Megan, who will be a freshman in college in the fall.  We remember when they couldn't walk or talk and now they know more than we do!

Speaking of anniversaries, belated congratulations to Bob and Zoila Perry who just celebrated number 50 with a nice party at Starfish Brasserie, the restaurant owned by Ira's brother and sister-in-law, Dick and Sue.  We go way back with the Perry's and had the honor of attending Bob's 65th birthday party, the weddings of two of their children and even a bris!  We can't expect another 50 years, but we do wish you many more years together.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Since we have such a small kitchen, it is difficult to create the kinds of meals that were possible in our big kitchen in the US.  Ira used to enjoy working with the gas stove, a real oven and vast counter space, not to mention a dishwasher and disposal.

As a result, we have not had a lot of dinner guests in the apartment.  We have gone out for dinner whenever we had visitors or wanted to entertain friends.  In fact, until the other day, we have never had anyone eat here with us.

Ira teaches a private student, Ms Ngoc down in the lobby of the Sofitel.  She comes from her job at Panasonic by company car and often has not time to have dinner.  We decided that we would invite her to eat with us and invited her, with a warning that we were just having noodles and vegetables.  She accepted the invitation and so we found ourselves with our first dinner guest.

It was fun for the three of us to converse and share information about our different lives.  Ngoc comes from a family including her father, a mechanical engineer, her mother, a biologist, and three sisters, the eldest of whom is married.

She is the Chief of the Business Promotion Section for Panasonic Communications Vietnam and as such, is responsible for, among other things, writing the company's monthly newsletter.  She must first write it in English and then it is translated into Vietnamese and Japanese.  From what we gather, she makes quite a good salary and is able to live on her own, with a housemate and not with her parents.

In addition to learning English, she also studies French at L'Espace, the French cultural center, and has a big job and of course her family and social life. 

While Ngoc is worried that her English is not so good, just think how difficult it is to carry on a conversation in a language other than your native tongue.  Ira has been studying Vietnamese for the better part of two years and he still is not fluent, although he is able to make himself understood in most situations.

When we eat Asian foods, like noodles, we use chopsticks so of course Ngoc was right at home.  Since our life as expats, especially for Carol, involves speaking in English to Western people, it was enjoyable to interact with a young woman who will certainly be part of the development of this vibrant nation.

Craft Villages

We thought that we could manage a day out to several craft villages to purchase items that were made in Vietnam.  We booked a car to take us to the villages like Bat Trang(pottery), and also the villages for rattan and embroidery.

We had been to Bat Trang before with our friend Co and purchased some pottery, including an urn for the ashes of our beloved departed cat Figaro.  This time we had to bargain hard but finally found a few items that we wished to buy at a price that was acceptable.

On our visit to the embroidery village we struck out as the only items were embroidered pictures.  We had wished to find tablecloths or perhaps napkins and there was nothing of the sort in the entire village. We left after a few tries to find the items we wanted.

It was very difficult to find Phu Vinh, the rattan village!  Our driver made many calls and turned around many times.  We sms to the company and kept getting the reply that he knew where we were going and that he would get us there soon.  Instead of Phu Vinh we wound up in Linh Xo, which actually had the items we had sought.  We actually picked out a few items but when we began to bargain, the young woman would not move her price at all so we wound up with nothing. 

At least we had a day out and some fun and a little bit of merchandise!  If we had seriously wanted the items, we would not have minded the small differential but since they were nothing special, we expected at least a token reduction.

Wine Experience

Things here in Hanoi seem to happen on very short notice.  People don't make lunch dates for "next Wednesday."  They call or text you when it's time to go out and ask if you'd like to join them.  Instead of choosing a place, they say they will text you the address when they have decided or ask you to do the same. 

Many bigger events seem to suffer from the same lack of planning.  On Tuesday night, we got an email from The Warehouse, the wine purveyor from whom we buy most of our wine, announcing a wine dinner with guest speaker Evan Goldstein, a Master Sommelier from the US who is in charge of a division of Allied Domecq, a large US distributor of wines.  The dinner would be held Thursday night(that's right, about 48 hours notice) at Bobby Chinn, the eponymous establishment run by one of Hanoi's most famous chefs.  Bobby is quite a character and depending upon his mood, can be extremely charming.  His was one of our first discoveries when we came to Hanoi.  He has an eclectic menu of Western dishes, many of which have Vietnamese and other Asian influences.  His prices are pretty steep for Hanoi, but the quality is there and the service not nearly as eccentric as at most of the city's restaurants.  His menu includes for only $5 "We tell you you are beautiful all night long."  Ira was wondering if they would tell him he was ugly and give him a discount.

When Ira called to book a table, no one at the restaurant knew anything about the event.  Ira emailed Bobby and shortly thereafter received a phone call from the manager confirming that the wine dinner was, in fact, happening and that we could have a place.

We have been to several of these wine dinners, both here and in the States.  The biggest problem is that they tend to drag on interminably, with overlong reception time, too many courses and too much wine.  The best run events tend to have a short time for mingling followed by the ringing of the dinner bell with just enough commentary at dinner to fill in the spaces between courses.

We are a bit old fashioned when it comes to dressing for dinner so often feel overdressed.  Ira has a philosophy that if you are "off by one" that is fine, but by more degrees than one, you are out of place.  In other words for a man, if you have a suit and the others have sport coats, that's off by one, as is slacks and a sweater when others are in jeans.  To show up in a tuxedo when the rest of the crowd is in cutoffs is bad, though probably not as bad as if the reverse were to occur.  Ira wore a suit and a bow tie(secret-he can't tie it himself so needs Carol or a surrogate) and Carol wore a nice dress.

There seems to be a secret underground that tells everyone how to dress.  We always miss the email or sms that tells us to wear jeans instead of our nice outfits.  There were 12 people at the dinner and most came from the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" except us.  We are always way above our station as the other guests were restaurateurs and wine people and the like while we are just us.  Somehow they wear scruffy duds while we are dressed for a special wine dinner.  Oh well.

During the reception period, while we were chatting with the other guests, the former business manager of UNIS came into the restaurant.  We know that he saw us but he did not acknowledge our presence.  He is an American so perhaps he has a bit of that arrogant attitude that, since we are not movers or shakers, there is no need to say hello.

The food was quite nice and the wines(all American) were special as well.  We enjoyed chatting with the rich people and eating a nice dinner accompanied by too much wine.

Ravioli of seafood tartare, day boat scallops, quail and squab, lamb, cheese and dessert, each course accompanied by a different wine, made for a lovely dinner.  The guests included several members of the wine trade and some of Hanoi's most notable restaurateurs.  We enjoyed speaking with the various people and comparing notes on everything in the Hanoi restaurant scene.

All in all, the experience was good and left us with a good feeling.