Hanoi - Day 1

We've always talked about doing something out of the ordinary, about taking a trip, a great adventure. A few weeks ago Giwoun sent out a message, saying that he was playing with the thought of taking a trip to Vietnam. If he would go sometime before Christmas, would I be down. Of course, I said. Let's go, let's do this! And that's how it started. Every now and then it would come up, and one day we made the decision.

Today was a long day. I knew that our journey was starting this the evening, but I didn't really understand it until we were at the airport. We met at Seoul Station and took the express train to Incheon. We had plenty of time, but we sort of rushed to the check-in, to the bank, out for a smoke and through the security check. We got on board and got lucky with the seats, we sat at the door with lots of space around the legs.

The flight was delayed by over an hour, because apparently ice was blocking something of the machine. They didn't really explain and we didn't ask. It gave us plenty of time to see how rude the flight attendants were. It's a tough job, but a little bit of courtesy, please. After take-off it was nearly five more hours on the plane. I started reading a new book, I took a nap, and I tried to write a little. Everything was fine until we were served dinner.

They say the human body reacts very quickly when you eat something wrong. It really does. We had the same chicken dish, but for some reason I didn't handle it very well. First I thought it got really hot. I looked over at Giwoun for some reassurance, but he was covered deep in his blanket. I felt a little uneasy and thought it got really dark in the cabin. That's when I decided I should visit the restroom. I waited in line while most others were watching a movie. No room for that.

It grew darker and darker until I didn't even see the lit display of my phone right before my eyes. That was genuinely genuinely scary. Suddenly my knees started shaking and I had trouble standing straight. All I knew was that there were about eight people in front of me. I had to wait, listening to the sound of the lavatory doors opening. My vision was compromised and I was sweating like a sauna boss, but I knew that if I survived this our trip was going to be the best thing in the history of travels.

Screw the chicken, I thought, but lo and behold I made it through. We arrived at Hanoi with an hour delay. We quickly found our luggage and tried to reach the bus terminal. The clerks at the tourist information were friendly but completely useless. Outside we filled our lungs with the first Vietnam air. Soon enough a guy approached us, where you go? We said, the Old Town. Okay, he said, eight hundred thousand. We said no, and he said okay, four hundred thousand.

The hotel turned out to be a backpacker hostel and the twin-bed room we had booked for a special price were two beds in a six-bed dormitory. We shook our heads and tried to convince the guy that he was wrong. His friendly smile lost its charm and we looked like perfect idiots. But at the end he gave us a double room with no window in his brother's hotel across the street. It was a fair room and we were both too tired – and too foreign – to go out and look for another place to stay.