Saint Patricks Day in Vietnam

18-Mar-2018

Like so many other situations in Vietnam, I was not a high flying partier prior to flying out. In Ireland St Patricks Day was no exception. I can probably count one, maybe two times I attended a large party on St Patricks Day. Most other years either never materialized due to other events happening, or I was working in retail on the day. This may be a shock to American readers out there, who probably think every Irish person on the day is absolutely hammered by midday and is singing a few tunes while wearing green, but its true. Dublin city on the day is expensive, crowded, noisy, and after a while not that great, as drunks shout and piss themselves. And as the designated server of drink that day (and the day before), I never had a lot of fun in Ireland. Even the pay rates in Spar for doing such a shift were peanuts. I did have a pint next door after the shift ended, but that was that.

I suppose the point of my opening paragraph is that being in Hanoi gave me a rejuvenated sense of self identity, and a chance to showcase to all the interns just what Ireland was all about, and really have the party for the ages that never actually happened back home. Myself, Odhran, Cian and Jack were definitely planning a day of it, and the evening seemed to settle on Sidewalk, a large bar in Tay Ho. Not only would it have a St Patricks Day themed night of music, but it would also be showing the Six Nations, with Ireland playing England in a climactic final showdown. The pieces were clearly set for the evening.

The morning and afternoon were a little more subdued than those big plans. I gathered a simple plan of cracking open cans at the earliest possible time, before all the other teachers were awake. In reality I woke up at 9 to do a can to kick off the day and spent the first hour nourishing my body with juice and street food to start. Spring rolls and noodles were an ideal starting meal. Afterwards, I collected a few tubs of pringles, some more crisps, a pretty small snickers bar and cans and went back to the lobby of House 5.

I set up the downstairs TV to play 2 Father Ted episodes to get me in the mood, followed by a spotify playlist of Irish tunes. To truly get me thinking of home I put on Hell, or the one where the priests go on holiday. I had always holidayed in Clare, so it was something that helped me feel like having a semblance of home. The music featured a few selections of classics and more recent pop. It brought back a fair few memories.

The second part of the day was around the middle of the afternoon. People started making their way to the house with the double lakes and started really getting on the cans. The house was one of the nicer ones of the intern places, and had a few people from Haiphong turning up too. Michelle, Lucy and Ed were around and it was good to hear how they were getting on outside Hanoi. Face painting, rebel anthems and just a hape of cans were what really kicked off a great session. Fortunately we were just quiet enough not to bring attention of the neighbours to us either, so it was all good. It was an excellent start to the session. Something that really jumped out at me was that you could play all the rebel tunes you wanted and have no repercussions. That meant Come out ye black and tans was allowed blare out through the speakers. Risque!

Following that we headed to the old quarter and went our separate ways to different bars. I wound up at the Vietnam Backpackers Hostel and really got in the swing of things as there were drinking games, and Bia Larues on tap. I did take issue with Oasis coming on for a lot of the Irish music, but they threw a lot of turn of the millenium Irish pop so I can’t get too mad. Quite a bit of Ronan Keating!

Finally we made it to Sidewalk, and the night was all party atmosphere by now. Niamh was dancing in all her glory, and the rest of us were slugging cans and spirits while a trad session was playing. They even played out N17 a few years before that slowed down version came out! This really felt like the home of Irish expats in this corner of the world. Homebrewed stouts were available, and there was even tayto crisps on the menu! Unfortunately they ran out by the time we got there, so I was incredibly disappointed. Still, I had cans and danced away through the night.

Eventually the big highlight of the night began as the match between Ireland and England kicked off. I was having glances here and there, but otherwise I was having more fun drinking cans, having chats and taking the odd break outside to cool down a bit. The large crowds and hot lights really heated up the club! It was there that I met a South African lady, who was friendly and we sparked up a good conversation. That escalated quickly into her going in fast for a kiss and tightly grabbing my balls without too much hinting on that. I was taken aback but didn’t reciprocate. Turns out my intuition was right as she had a boyfriend that was absolutely ripped and could throw me around the place without a thought. “Thank Christ” I thought to myself.

At least with that bizarre detour over with the match could get more focus, and the noise made as Ireland beat England 24 to 15 to win the grand slam was so deafening that I doubt I will hear that sort of noise in a venue club ever again. It was perfect, as a joyous expat group were bouncing up and down, chanting, singing and all dancing after.

The night was winding down in a bit of a weird way. Many of us started heading elsewhere, to some secret clubs or a bar overlooking Tay Ho lake. I was getting sleepy by 2 and decided just to head back to House 5. Then a big issue happened: My MB card was declined at the ATMS. For whatever reason taking out over a few million dong was considered so suspicious that the bank declined my card, and this was terrible timing, as I had spent my last 50k on a bia Saigon. After using 3 machines and no success, the only thing I could do was walk.

I headed south. Knowing that even if I made it to Thuy Khue roundabout there was still a 4k walk down one massive road was daunting. Still, I walked about 3k from the club and was getting weary. At least the view of the buildings in the distance from the lake was pretty sweet, but with those same buildings being where I needed to go, it was rough mentally. Somehow after 10 minutes a grab bike happened to be driving around. I got on and showed him my last 22k and offered him to take me as far down that massive Văn Cao/Liễu Giai road as he would for the price. Amazingly, he went further down than I had expected, taking me to the end of Nguyễn Chí Thanh, just shy of the Tô Lịch river. The Eurowindow building was standing tall but dark, and it was a real landmark to the area. I knew I was grand at this point.

So there you have it, a long day of partying, watching the 6 nations and a long walk home. I found out the next day that Jack had got wet after falling in some fountain, pond or well at the secret bar. Megan Roche was trying to get stuck in all night so that was fun, and we all made it back eventually, though some stayed out until the early hours of 6 or 7. Crazy night!