And…it was a very long travel day from Chiang Mai to Hanoi. Both cities are in the northern part of their countries so figured it would be a short flight. Oh no…the shortest flight was from Chiang Mai (north) to Bangkok (south) then back up to Hanoi (north). Oh well, spending time on airplanes, trains, buses and cars is part of the deal, right? So, off I go.
My flight was to leave at 12:45pm, so I decided to get to the airport early as there is a great airline lounge in the airport where I can relax, have coffee and breakfast and wait for my flight to be called. So, I arrive at 8:30am to discover that the ticket counter don’t open until 10:15am. Of course…the flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok is domestic so no need for early arrival. Two cups of coffee later, I make my way to the counter to wait. The great part of that wait was visiting with 4 people in line from San Diego. They were in Thailand to do “caving.” They were funny and friendly and made the time go by quickly.
So, time to check in. I get to the counter with what I believe to be my Vietnam Visa (this is a visa that you have to get before arrival, unlike Thailand), and can be a bit tricky to attain. The guy at the counter told me that I could board with that version of the Visa but that immigration in Vietnam would need to see the “other” paperwork. So, I get out of line to log onto my laptop to see if I can locate it, because I know I have it. Of course, WIFI was slower than slow and time was ticking. I finally locate it, but it’s now 10:45am and my flight leaves at noon and I still have to go through security, etc. Anyway, I make the flight, and I’m off to Bangkok. However, while boarding the flight, a young lady is trying to put her luggage in the bins and ends up dropping the suitcase on my head. Hurt like hell! Thinking the day will get better. Wishful thinking, of course!
I get to Bangkok, but my gate # is not on my boarding pass, neither is it on the reader board. I have a 4 hour layover in Bangkok, so thinking it just hasn’t shown up yet. I make my way to the airport lounge. This time for something stronger than coffee…Boarding time gets closer and closer, and I still don’t see my gate #. I ask the people at the lounge reception and they start calling around and finally locate a gate number. Of course, it’s hell and gone from where I am, so I start running to my gate.
15 minutes later, and an escalator up and then another back down, and I locate the gate, People are already boarding…a bus that is…as we have to make our way across the tarmac to the plane. As we approach the plane, I realize that we are going to have to climb 3 sets of stairs up to the plane. Thank goodness I’ve got small luggage, but it’s still a haul up those stairs. But, all good, I’m on the flight and heading for Vietnam.
We arrive in Hanoi at 7:30pm. I head to immigration, sweating it out, as I know there was an earlier issue with my Visa, and based on my research, it’s sometimes tough to get through. Gave the officer my passport and boarding pass. He stamped it, and I was through. NEVER even asked to see my Visa, as I’m assuming he has access to it online. Whew.
I know my ride to the hotel will be about an hour so, I’m outside getting ready to order a GRAB car. Then, I did what I KNOW I SHOULD NEVER DO, I let a cab driver talk me into a ride to the hotel. He looked legit, had a meter and everything. It had been along day, and I was beat. I asked him if he took credit cards. He assured me, yes. All seemed good until he had to make a stop to get gas. Then he shows me his phone, which he has used to translate into English. It says “I forgot my credit card reader at home, so you have to pay cash.” I was so tired, at the airport that I forgot to exchange US dollars to Vietnamese. I told him I had no money. He wanted me to stop at an ATM. I said NO! He said he would take US cash, so I agreed, having no idea what this ride was going to cost me, but I know that a GRAB car would have cost me $10 US.
What I didn’t realize was that I had managed to arrive in Hanoi on the Chinese Lunar New Year. My hotel was in Old Town Hanoi, which has very narrow streets, and they were full of people celebrating. It was chaos. My hour ride was coming up on 90 minutes.
So, we get to the street the hotel is on, and he proceeds to drop me off at the corner, and points to the hotel. Then he tells me to pay him $40 US. I tell him no. He points to the meter then tells me its more because of the “tolls” and because it’s the new year. I tell him I will give him $20. We agree on $25, only because my suitcase is in the trunk, and I’m afraid he won’t let me have it.
Oh well, lesson learned. I’m dodging bikes to drag my suitcase down the block to the hotel. Up 15 steps, into the lobby. And, they don’t have a reservation for me. I’m at the wrong “Hanoi Center Silk” hotel. My reservation is at the “Hanoi Center Silk PREMIUM” hotel, only about 700+ meters away. They tell me they will pay for a motorbike to take me, but I point to my luggage and say I will walk. Google maps shows me where it is, but if you’ve every used Google maps for walking, it can be a bit tricky.
At the intersection, and old guy on a bike wants to give me a ride, I decline and head up the street. Oops, wrong way, head back down. The old guy again wants to give me a ride, I decline and head up the other street. Oops, wrong way. This happened four times before I was about ready to cry and didn’t care what I had to do or pay to get to my hotel. So, the old man says it will be $10 US to take me. Other than large bills, I only have $9.95, but he agrees, laughing and takes my cash. He puts my suitcase in front of him and off we go. That’s when I realized that street signs and stop lights don’t really mean anything, neither does the direction other traffic is going. I just about peed my pants. Way, way worse than Bangkok traffic.
BUT, he gets me to my hotel. The hotel is small, but lovely. I go into the room, it is large and beautiful. The most beautiful thing was the king-sized bed. However, my experience of beds, so far, is that they are not much more comfortable than the floor. Hard as a board. I sit on the bed, and laid back on a nice, soft mattress. Almost had an orgasm right there!
The view from my room the next morning. At first I thought “bars”, oh no. But, then I realized that all of the buildings were so close that if you didn’t have bars, someone might be able to step from there room to yours. (Rosie, the cat pic is for you!)
