It didn't take long to get ready this morning yesterday's organisation had paid off. The taxi was even early which was a shocker out here in Malaysia. And that's where the stress free morning ended! I had spent my last money on a t-shirt for Jules. Cashpoint time at the airport to pay the driver, unsuccessful twice, had to resort to my bank card from home oopsie.
The next stress came in the form of finding out my flight was half an hour earlier than on my itinerary. Ok dad I can hear you saying now how I should of checked it and I am going to annoy you more in that frankly I couldn't really be bothered. So take great satisfaction in telling me I told you so hehehehe
Luckily I know the airport well so finding my way to the gate was a breeze, I even had time to write some blog. The journey was uneventful well as far as I was aware I fell asleep before takeoff and woke as we touched down, anything could have happened I was dead to the world.
I located our meeting point and settled down to text George. After about half an hour I was starting to get nervy as I had no response. I decided to go in search and by chance found her on the lower floor making friends with people, typical George. I called to her and then ran down the stairs and towards her, kind of like a slow motion movie scene. It was great to see her. Now my holiday could begin. We muddled about before heading to the gate. The boarding time came and went until eventually we got on. It was then quite sometime before we set off, not sure how long as I fell asleep.
Smells of food wafting down the isle woke me and I tucked into a sandwiche before starting a film. After some turbulence we landed in Hanoi Vietnam. First impressions, looks pretty much the same as Borneo landscape wise. A lovely girl Huang greeted us at the airport her English was exceptional, she joined us in our taxi to get us to the hotel, giving us a guided tour along the way.
It was soon evident although it has a similar landscape the city itself has been heavily influenced by French architecture, mixed with some Chinese. Thus making it quite beautiful if a little rough around the edges. Soon we were dead Central arriving at our hotel. We were greeted with cold pineapple green tea by reception while Huang recommended good places to spend our afternoon and to have dinner. We ventured to our room to partially unpack and repack for tomorrow's adventure before darting out into the unknown.
When I said Indonesia had lots of motorbikes it was a mere drop in the ocean compared to here. Oh my dear lord!! And they are out to kill you. Huang had advised just to keep walking don't wait. Easier said than done. After nearly being run down by a taxi having dodged 100 bikes I was ready for a beer, we found a street corner that had other backpackers and settled down for a beer. 71p result. After two pints we headed to a local restaurant and persuaded the menu.
Crickets in a lemon sauce, done, catfish rolls, done, pork balls and rice, perfect. Never thought I would eat crickets but hey we are in Vietnam and it's better than dog, in fact they are really tasty! In fact all the food was delicious but paying wasn't as simple. They didn't take US dollars as confirmed before we started. After some gentle disagreements we paid half and half and legged it.
The streets were coming alive and the sun was setting, adding a warmth of colour to the buildings. The streets are lined with trees and stalls stick out into the road selling everything you could ever want. Negotiating the streets was relatively easy providing you get the exact spelling right one wrong letter and your going the wrong way. We had time to go to a local cathedral, quite an odd thing to see here very out of place. A service was going on but the front doors open, the interior was enormous, and beautifully ornate unlike the gothic outside which was worn dirty from years of city life.
Back at the hotel I had a hot shower, so hot I nearly burnt myself. Nice and clean it was time for a massage before bed. First day in Vietnam complete and I survived.
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