In Vietnam, Day 1

It takes a long time to get to Vietnam.  16 hours of air time plus at least 4 hours of airport time, plus an hour taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.  And crossing the International Date Line (an imaginary line, albeit an important one) means I lost a day somewhere, (I must have left it on the plane) so it is now Tuesday, a little after noon.  Since I was at SFO at 8:30 pm on Sunday night, the journey sounds longer than it was because of that missing day. 

The flight wasn't bad, I had one seat empty next to me and a bottle of Ambien.  One Ambien pretty much knocks you out for 8 hours, so I sort of slept, as much as you can sitting up in a tiny little seat made for tiny Asian people.  (And we all know that I am NOT tiny.)  But I feel pretty good, considering. 

And remember the big uproar when airlines stopped giving us free meals?  After a couple of years of no meals on domestic flights, I had almost forgotten how terrible they were...... and now I remember.  Eggs, so they said, although they didn't look or taste like eggs from a chicken, more like a photo of eggs blown up and constructed out of something that resembled soft Styrofoam.  A sausage that must have been made out of an animal that doesn't exist in the U.S.  It tasted like sweet meat and PineSol, an unlikely combo in a real critter.  Something that could have been a rice cake or a potato cake, I honestly could not tell which.  But the coffee was damn good and the yogurt was rich and creamy, so all was not lost.

The hotel was supposed to pick me up at the airport, supposed to have a guy with a sign with my name on it but that didn't happen right away.  I had to figure out how to call the hotel, which I did by asking the information booth to call for me, and they did!  An hour later I was at the hotel, being charmed by the young staff, given a cup of delicious Vietnamese coffee, a map, suggestions on what to do and when.  Now I am in my sweet little room with my own computer!  How cool is that?

The ride in was crazy.....industrial areas around the airport, everything is under construction, lots of small gardens right off the freeway, hazy skies, everyone wearing face masks (not like Freddy Kruger, more like ER) because of what, I wonder.  Finally we got downtown and it is a maze of tiny, tiny streets filled with people and scooters and food stalls, honking horns, swerving cars.  Everyone seems to multi-task while driving: talking on a phone while eating food while holding onto packages while waving to friends while making dangerous turns while driving.  The streets are so narrow that cars don't go down many of them.  The hotel is on such a street and the car they transported me in was met on the corner by the young staff, who escorted me to the hotel, half a block down.

I am curiously wide awake.  Oh, yes, there was that coffee an hour ago.  My room is fine, very clean, decent size, rose petals on the bed (seriously) and air conditioning that I can control.  I am off to explore for a while.  Today is the first day of the lunar calendar (i.e. new moon) and thus is a day of honoring one's ancestors.  Let's see what that looks like out in the street.

See photos of where I am staying, although the lobby is a lot smaller in real life:  www.hanoiserenehotel.com

Off we go.