March 4th - it's still raining so we're still in Halong Bay

I did wade for a moment in the south China Sea yesterday - up to my knees. There was a terrible dog fight between 3 dogs on the beach they dropped us off at. I forwent the opportunity to go to the fishing village yesterday or climb through the cave today. I hate travelling in crowds & took the opportunity to be on the quiet boat & watch the flying fish. It was really the only time I saw birds - starlings out at dusk eating the insects.

We drove back into Hanoi. Thinh, our guide, stopped by a "pharmacy" and got us some antihistimines for my allergies which seemed to have kicked up. The pharmacy is in worse shape than many of the shops I've seen in the Old Quarter - a jumble of boxes & medications. They open the boxes, read the directions & point at my nose. These are not trained pharmacists. The baby is crawling around on the counter. More on medications & pharmacies later.

The Hanoi airport - internal departures gates / lounge is packed with people. The bar is a jumble of empty bottles of Johnny Walker & Hennessey. I order a drink. All they have left is Hennessey. I order a Hennessey - do I want a large or small. I start paying attention. They're washing glasses in a plastic tub on the bar counter. We're waiting on the bar stools - hoping that one of the comfortable chair / couches opens up. They announce the Saigon flight is boarding. The place clears. We take a couch.

A middle aged woman brings a spit of brownish liquid up in a cognac glass along with a water for Dave. I ask how much. She says 150,000 Vietnames Dong. We pay. The cognac is watered down, as in "I taste more water than cognac" watered down. Even Dave can take a swig. We ask to look at a menu from another person's table. The Hennessey was only 50,000 VD & the water was 20,000. We won't ask the "waitress" for "help" for the rest of the waiting. At least when I go pick up a beer and only have 20,000 dong for the 15,000 beer, the bartender offers me a bag of potato chips to compensate for the lack of any change coming. I tell her to keep the potato chips.

Our flight is to Hue, not DaNang like I've been thinking all day long. It's packed. There are only4 Vietnamese people. The rest are German, French, Swiss, Italian, Spanish, American, British, Australian, and if I've left a nationality out - I apologize.