Hanoi

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi was delayed; we arrived in the nick of time at 7am, feeling extremely relieved that we did not miss the flight, and it turned out that the flight time had been put off till further notice. Hence, Jessica and me loitered in the waiting lounge, catching some forty winks and waited in boredom. 

It was finally until 8 something that finally we were allowed to board our plane, and thanks to Jessica's dyslexia we were seated so apart, and I had to share my 180 minutes journey with some Vietnamese lady staring at my Footprints, while I was doing some last minute planning and researching. Since I've already slept for a short while in the airport, I couldn't sleep at all throughout the flight. 

The 180 minutes ticked along slowly, as I loomed in anticipation for my new backpacking experience in Vietnam. It has been a long while since I've backpacked and at times I do wonder if I'm too old for it! Too much sedentary work makes Rickie a lazy boy!

Having touched down at Noi Bai International Airport, I kept on reassuring Jessica to stay steady and look around before deciding on anything (from previous backpacking experiences, which somehow I still tend to forget and ended up getting ripped off). We searched high and low for the tourist office, which experience has taught me that they often can provide very useful information, and we found a few travel kiosks just near the airport exit.

It turned out that the decent looking kiosks are actually affliated by travelling agencies and hence they provide very dear expensive travelling options, for instance, US30 dollars for a  round trip from the airport to the city center. Outrageous! On the other hand, the shabby ugly kiosk, which is actually affliated with the Hanoi Tourism Office, provides far more honest travelling options and advices, and I started flooding the receptionist with a cavalcade of questions.

"Sir, are you a seasoned traveller?" She asked.

"Not really, but I've travelled a few places before." I replied.

"Oh, the questions you asked really have caught me off guard. You have done your background research very well. You know bout things that only locals do." She added.

And I just grinned in reply.

And guessed what? Jessica left all her money back home in Malaysia. She is penniless, except with a few hundred of Malaysian Ringgit (which is totally worthless in Vietnam). If not for her precious company, I would have abandoned her in the airport alone!

We decided to take a minivan to the city center, which would only cost us US$2 each, instead of that outrageous US$15 taxi, and we ended up crammed in a small van like sardines. The journey to the city was bland; the scenery were just loaded with construction of new buildings, paddy fields, and zooming motorbikes coming from all directions! 

We reached the city center in 45 minutes and it was already 2.30pm! I initially planned that we would reach the city center by 12.00 and commence with our sight-seeing. However, exhausted, starving, and freezing, we navigated our way to our hostel, which was located 20 minutes from the lake. Due to our severe hunger, we stopped at a small roadside stall selling noodles (bun) for late lunch. While we were busy gobbling our first Vietnamese meal, I finally had a glance at the infamous snails that the locals are fond of eating. I never had the guts to try as I am terrible phobic of slimy creepies, and nor did Jessica, who seemed disgusted with the sight of the snails!

We eventually reached the Friendly Backpacking Hostel, which I booked 2 beds via Agoda.com due to its remarkable reviews from other backpackers. The hostel itself was a bit way out of the busy city center, but still it was decently near to most of the city attractions, and there were various food outlets along the way, as well as a local supermarket! The free wi-fi was a luxury as it kept us well connected to the internet. I am surprisingly amazed by the hotel staff who were honest and helpful; seriously, they did not really even try to rip us off much!

So, after dumping our backpacks in our dorm, we set up and scouted around the city, starting with the lake. We were at first terrified at the sight of the traffic, which seemed like a total chaos to us as the hordes of motorbikes made us feel that the streets in Vietnam were just impossible to cross! On the contrary, actually if you just gracefully walk across the street, without panicking, you will realize that the motorcyclist will actually swiftly bend around you safely. Hence, after a short while, we were crossing the streets fearlessly having known that we have pretty nothing much to worry of being killed on the streets!

Anyway, the easiest landmark in Hanoi city would be Hoan Kiam lake, or rather known as "Sword-Returning Lake". The myth behind the lake was unimpressive actually, but the scenery was lovely enough, and I was so tempted to just sit on a bench beside the lake and relax! But the air was rather freezing and we had so much more to explore, so we just went on exploring around the lake and the nearby Ngoc Son Temple. 

We bought tickets for the famous Water Puppet Show at the theater just opposite the lake and headed back to our hostel to rest and bathe since the show was still a couple of hours away. Fortunately back in our hostel we got acquainted with a local Vietnamese lady who was in Hanoi for a vacation -- she could barely speak English but speaks fluent Mandarin! Hence I started asking her for travelling tips in Hanoi, and the other places that I planned to visit, and she directed me to all the famous food outlets in Vietnam!

At nightfall, we walked towards the lake for a short stroll again - it just gets more and more addictive! - and Jessica unfortunately got mugged. We managed to corner the thief and succeeded in making him giving back Jessica's iPhone by me threatening to get the police and Jessica's horrendous yelling and screeching! Jessica seemed traumatized by the incident but I was more like feeling dreadful with the fact that most Hanoi-ans can't speak even English! We tried pleading help from bypassers while confronting that thief but nobody could comprehend, even the police! Apparently the police are addressed as "Gong-An", and not police. Facepalm!

The water puppet theater was a bit disappointing; aside from the unique water puppets being maneuvered underwater there was nothing much exciting it, and the lady who was singing throughout the show sounded like she was chanting some monotonous mantra. Honestly I could not wait for the show to end soon enough!

We ended our first night in Hanoi with an early rest in our Hanoi after making our plans for the following days. It was an intense night, but we tried to keep our optimism alive. We still had lots of adventures coming ahead of us. :)