Dinner time in Hanoi.

I decided to go out with my friends – a really lovely bunch. We chatted for a long time and caught up on all of our recent tales and anecdotes.

They particularly enjoyed hearing my crazy stories from Thailand in the middle of the restaurant. Those of you who read my blog entries from Thailand will know that they’re probably not appropriate for that sort of setting.

I gave Mona the humanist* bracelet I’d found for her. I thought it’d be a nice present because we always joked that I’ve turned her into a humanist. She’s actually a Muslim.

I gave Vivian the bracelet that I’d bought for her. It has my pet name for her sewn in. Sorry, but it’s a little too rude to share it with you here ?. Suffice to say that’s a bit of Bangkok specialty – bracelets with horrible messages sewn into them. They’re mostly for “lads” to bring for their mates back home. Keep an eye out for them, I’m sure you’ll see them eventually.

Trust me, if you could see some of the things that other people could buy, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid at what mine said. That said, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t mix up Mona and Vivian’s bracelets!

It was a lovely meet-up. In fact, it was so good that we decided to have a girl’s night-out the following Friday. Finally! A night without couples!

* Humanism is a way of life that strives to value rationality and compassion rather than faith in deities.