Agent Orange

Saturday 5 January 2008

2008 kicked off with a bang after a very mellow New Year's Eve with Jamie, Kevin and Ngala in KL (camping, watching movies, playing guitars and board games and drinking beer) - the final of Tiger Translate Vietnam took place in Hanoi, featuring 6 heavy metal bands from around the country battling to play support for My Chemical Romance in Saigon later this month.

I flew in on Saturday morning and spent the afternoon wandering around Thu Le Lake, taking in the dusty streets buzzing with motorbikes and the crowded sidewalks filled with people drinking tea. Realising I hadn't packed anything warm, I bought a simple jumper for 60,000 dong (about 4 or 5 bucks) and a yummy baozi-like thing to fill my belly. Stopped for a Bia Ha Noi at a cute little cafe (such tiny chairs!) and then wandered back a different way, past a roller skating rink where the kids were literally falling over themselves having fun, and through a maze-like residential area back to the hotel.

I freshened up before meeting Nam, the Brand Manager for Tiger at HBL, who picked me up and took me to the outdoor venue to check out the setup. A massive, crazy stage design was the highlight, and listening to the bands rehearse I knew my ears were in for a full-on assault! From there, Hau from VBL joined us and we went for a lovely buffet dinner at the Lotus Restaurant - fresh food and Tiger beer all round in a classy joint.

Hop joined us after dinner and we started off at Seventeen Saloon, a hopping bar where the barmaids drank behind the bar and shook their cowgirl booty to the live rock band. Relax Bar just down the street reminded me of an unpretentious spot on the Lower East Side, with its dim lighting, relaxed vibe and understated cool - here one of the barmaids was sporting fishnet stockings which I thought was a nice touch! Our last stop was a tall and narrow bar, built like a wooden shophouse, with plenty of Tiger bottles floating around and a crowd including younger Western kids. Not generally a late night town, we called it a day after that and I crashed around 1am.