Long's Surprise Birthday/Going Away Party

(PICTURE: Huyen and Long at the party.)

Last week I wrote about my friend Long leaving Hanoi. On the night before he left, his girlfriend Vicky planned a surprise party for him since his 30th birthday was just a few days away.

All of Long's friends gathered in a seventh floor karaoke room about an hour before Long and Vicky showed up. People blew up balloons and tried on random wigs that were brought to the party.


(PICTURE: Me wearing a Beatles-esque wig. I'm only putting this picture on the blog for comments from my mom about when I dressed up as Miss USA in elementary school.)

When Long and Vicky came to the karaoke place some of the workers asked them if they wanted to go to the room with all the foreigners. Vicky, quick on her toes, said no and somehow this didn't tip off Long that a surprise was coming. Vicky and Long were then placed into another karaoke room while the rest of us continued to wait upstairs. Finally we gave a note to a worker who went to the other karaoke room and handed it to Vicky. The note said that the room they were in was already reserved and they would need to move upstairs to another room. The funny part about this whole interaction is that Long speaks Vietnamese and Vicky doesn't. Long could have asked a few questions but instead let Vicky do all the talking. It all worked out though because Long was definitely surprised when he walked into the room.

I got it all on video but unfortunately someone (cough cough Nicky) forgot to flick on the lights!! You can hear myself and one or two other people yelling at him during all the commotion. Anyway, it was a great night and by far the most fun I've had doing karaoke in Vietnam...and I didn't even sing until a group rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody to close out the night.

To top the night off and to send Long back to Australia in style, Long agreed to have his cake smashed in his face. Yup, it's on video here too.