Back in Hanoi – again!

After far too much time on a couple of aeroplanes, I have made it back to Hanoi. The flights were both pretty pleasant and for the first time ever I actually slept while airborne. The flight from Auckland left just before midnight and I spent a good while playing with the video telly thingy. I watched Nightwatch… or at least some of it. I was bored to death by the hour mark, so changed to Firewall which was just another by-the-numbers thriller. Then two episodes of the Justice League cartoon and some trivia games.

At around 3:30am, I nodded off. Or was it midnight? Or something. Time zones are a right pain. Either way, we arrived in Singapore around 7:30am and I had 2 hours to wander around, check my email, buy a really bad smoothie and make my way onto a second plane. Which sat on the runway for almost an hour before takeoff. All the information we got was that one of the runways was out of action (no idea why) and we were stuck in the largest traffic queue I’ve ever been in, at least if you go by tonnage of vehicles involved.

A small delay overall and we actually arrived in Vietnam barely 20 minutes behind schedule. The change in climate was decidedly obvious when I got off the plane. From sub-zero Queenstown snowfalls to 35-degree heat and humidity. And utter chaos as I was surrounded by people yelling “taxi?!” at me as I walked into the smog.

I opted for a minibus rather than a taxi as it’s only $2 (32000 Dong). As expected, I ended up being the last person on the bus with someone asking me if I knew where I was going and if I’d already booked my accomodation. Then they offered to drive me right to the hotel for only $1 extra. Bargain. Only I didn’t have another $1 on me, and from where I was I could walk to the hostel in less than 3 minutes. Well, 5 minutes once I battled my way through the hordes trying to get me to go to another hotel, or use their motorbike.

So now I sit in fanned heat, with a cold beer and wireless internet. Whoop! Here for another 3 weeks minimum before renewing my visa and heading south.

5 thoughts on “Back in Hanoi – again!

  1. Its as hot as that here in UK! I will be cold soon though, as I am off to aucklnad! yippee! (I am not a Sarah you know, sadly, but I left a comment the other day, and I like music I can dance to!) Any clubs you can recommend? I don’t mind so much the music as long a people are friendly and beer is not stupidly ‘spensive!

  2. Ah, so you’re that Sarah. Or one of those Sarahs. Or something. Yup, I heard about the weather back home and also on the continent from many of the new arrivals here. One thing about NZ is how quickly night falls. Back home, twilight seems to last a couple of hours. In NZ you can literally hear it fall.

    Clubwise it was more a pub thing we went to than a club. Also, I’m an old person so I’m not the best person to ask! Were I to go somewhere “dancey” in Auckland I’d be searching for a rock/metal venue.

    AucklandPubs may be your best bet. It lists all 400 pubs/clubs in Auckland!

  3. Thanks for that. I am old too-older than you, i think! Thats why I like dancey music, as my best years were in the eighties! like rock, too.

  4. Oh, the 80s ruled. The 70s sucked and the 90s were years where curling up and dying were a much better alternative to listening to the rubbish that made it into the charts.

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