Au revoir, les sandales

It's time to bid farewell to my trusty sandals, my vegan Birkenstocks. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of these puppies, but they've seen far too many miles and way too many squat toilets to merit a place in my pack for the flight home. I've officially entered Lazy Tourist mode, just biding my time in Hanoi until my flight on Tuesday night. I actually dig this city, though; I'm starting to have my favorite "spots," like the vegetarian restaurant down the street from my hotel and the frozen yogurt shop around the corner. Overall I'm not really keen on Vietnam, but Hanoi is pretty cool. I definitely notice the pollution here more than Bangkok, though. My eyes are a bit irritated and I'm fighting a cold, although this is probably not related. In that sense I don't feel bad being lazy; I need my energy for my 30 hours of travel on Tuesday into Wednesday.

One thing I did accomplish today was getting a haircut, just a trim around the ears. And I did it in a little shop despite the fact that the hairdresser didn't really speak English. I was able to mime what I wanted, covering the top of my head protectively while saying khong (no), then pointing to the area around my ears and making the universal sign for "a little bit". It's amazing what you can accomplish with very little language. On that note, I have managed to understand a bit more Vietnamese in my time here, either from repetition or necessity. It's not as bad as it seemed at first, although the tones still pose a great challenge.