Quẩy

Today, I decided to treat myself to Kem Tràng Tiền (Tràng Tiền ice cream). On my way to the shop, a university student asked to speak English with me, so I looked over some of his notes and helped with his pronunciation . It made me remember that so many people here are eager to learn and speak English.

Tôi thích ăn kem Tràng Tiền!

Later, I went to the Temple Of Literature. It was the first university in Vietnam and is an iconic landmark, not only in Hanoi, but the whole country.
As I was leaving, I got caught in a torrential downpour.

Nam, the English student I met at Hoan Kiem Lake

I went back to the hotel to dry off and then ate phở bò (beef noodle soup) with Minh.

After my very first phở meal in 2006, I remember thinking that phở could not get any better. But a few weeks later, a friend introduced me to quẩy and I soon reconsidered my initial feelings. How do you improve on perfection? By adding a deep fried strip of dough, of course! So this was my first phở with quẩy in a long time! Delicious!

Following that, we went to my friend's guitar concert. Khoa Le uses a technique called percussive fingerstyle. It was really impressive how he created so many sounds from his guitar. He is a talented musician and played a variety of genres from Vietnamese and Western music. I love live music and I think my favourite part of the concert was a very energetic and intense performance of Smooth Criminal, which saw Khoa duetting with a violinist.

Once the show ended, Minh and I had a couple of beers at some local bars.

As I write this blog entry, I can hear another heavy rain shower. Very relaxing! While the clouds gently weep, it's time to sleep!

Hôm nay tôi đã đến thăm Văn miếu Quốc Tử Giám - Trường Đại Học đầu tiên của Việt Nam.

Sau đó trời mưa rất to và tôi đã bị ướt. 

Tối nay, tôi đến nghe hòa nhạc của một người bạn. Bạn của tôi là một người chơi ghita rất có tài và giàu cảm xúc.

Tôi và Miggy tới một quán bar sau giờ buổi hòa nhạc và uống vài ly bia tại một quán bar trên tầng 19 với khung cảnh Hà Nội vào ban đêm.