Josh eating his way through Hanoi

Any hopes I had that my last week at Air Mekong would wind quietly down evaporated on Monday.  I don't mind so much, but it's kept me from taking any time off of work so far so Josh and I could venture out during the day.  Hopefully that will change tomorrow as I hope to leave the office at lunch so that Josh and I can head down to the Old Quarter and hang out.

In the meantime, while he hasn't been able to see much of Hanoi the last couple of days, we have had plenty to eat!  Last night, Chi, Duong, Thanh and Van invited Josh and I to dinner on "Grill Street", not too far down the road from my apartment here in Tay Ho.  And last night's main feature was duck!

Our restaurant for the night

Our expert duck griller, streetside.

That's not a garage, it's the kitchen!

First course: Steamed duck!

Next course: grilled duck!

Last course: duck in hotpot!

Great food and great company

My stomach had been a little squishy all day, so I didn't have much of an appetite.  While Josh wasn't so hot on the steamed duck, he loved the grilled and hot pot (with an acre of morning glory thrown in).  He's also enjoying the salt/chili pepper mix that the Vietnamese often use to dip their fruit and vegetables in (cucumbers in this case). 

Since my squishy stomach continued through today, we decided to postpone our "bia hoi" night with Thanh until tomorrow and decided to walk down the street for Indian food instead.  Beforehand, Josh thought some coconut juice might do both of us some good, so we stopped at a new vegetable shop and got some fresh juice, right out of the dairy case and right out of the coconut!

The Indian Palace is one of my favorite restaurants here in Hanoi, but it's much hotter and spicier than what I'm accustomed to.  Hot and spicy is right up Josh's alley, though, so he ordered up some Mutton Vindaloo while I watched.  I finally succumbed and ordered some chicken tikka and it was delicious as usual.

Indian food and Coconut juice for dinner.