Vietnam Day 1

Hanoi


Saturday woke up at 5. Iris met me outside at 5:45 to take me to the bus. It was very sad, but I am excited to see her when I return from my trip. Took the bus to Busan airport where it was pretty easy to get through. Had to wait a couple hours till I boarded though, I believe that I was the only westerner on the plane. The flight seemed pretty long but we finally arrived in Hanoi. Stepped off the plane and the first thing that hit me was the heat. It is HOT. 40 degress cel. There was no gate so had to take a bus to the actual airport, where I had to get my visa. After about 15 minutes of somewhat chaos received my visa to then stand in line for immigration. No A/C in the airport. Just sweating hoping that there is a man on the other side waiting to take me to my hotel. Got through immigrations and then waited for about an hour for my bag. Got my ride who took me to the hotel, which was overbooked, so they upgraded me to their sister hotel. Dropped off my bags took a shower and then left to go explore. Ate some Pho Bo (beef), which was excellent. Walked around the old quarter for a while then came back to the hotel to plan the rest of my trip with the wonderful front desk lady. After that relaxed for a bit then went to find some more food. This time I ended up eating Pho Ga (chicken). What I havent mentioned is the way people get around here. Motor bikes, scooters, cars, bikes with a cariage. Just everything and they all use the same road and there seems to be no rules. It looks like someone stomped on an anthilll and people just go scattering, but then you realize it is organized chaos. To cross the street you have to be pretty aggresive or you will just be sitting there for hours.
Met a couple after dinner on the street who were also in Korea, so I tagged a long with them for the night. It was fun, but then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep to be up at 6.