The Horror...The Horror

After sampling some of the more refined dining and drinking spots in the capital, we were encouraged to visit the Heart of Darkness – a local dance bar. The place had a great atmosphere. It was separated into two areas – one was the main bar with some tables and a pool table; the other was a dance floor with some tall tables and two alcoves with cushions and a low table. Although dimly lit, one could still see the goings-on around us. It was fairly quite when we got there, but after 11:30, the place was on fire!

We saw lots of interesting people including lady-boys and a wide variety of taxi girls. There was blatant and open solicitation of sex everywhere we looked, but despite this activity Lucy and I agreed that we’d never felt safer. For one thing, most white guys were looking for local taxi girls and we didn’t quite fit that bill. The other guys were looking for, well, other guys, so it was clear we wouldn’t be targets in that quest either. Instead, we danced by ourselves and with JP’s friends (four sisters) most of the night. We were joined by a Nigerian guy who seemed to be there by himself and having a great time. He was sporting a video camera and was documenting the events of the evening including Lucy and myself.

That night we encouraged JP to write a book called “The Un-Lonely Planet” as he seemed to know everyone wherever we went. We will later learn he even knows the girl selling water at the Cambodia/Vietnam border! We also determined that the next Imaginative Traveller tour will be called “JP’s Pub Crawl – Hanoi to Bangkok”. It was way past 2:00 by the time Lucy, JP and I stumbled back to the hotel. Still running on adrenaline, Lucy and I turned on CNN and had a boisterous conversation about Bush politics and the Republican National Convention until past 3:00 am.