Hanoi Day 1

I’m so glad I got my host to prebook a taxi for me, I picked the “Welcome Tracey” sign a mile away…too tired to focus, let alone manage the throng of taxi touts.
Saigon airport a blur …. Passport and visa check (apparently legit - didn’t look it!), clear customs, collect bag, walk a couple of 100ms to domestic airport and do it all again in reverse. So tired….I checked in and then got in another cue thinking I was going to go through security, only to realise that I was in another cue to check in.
Viet Jet, sells everything as an add on - 3 levels of seating, (I paid for Deluxe, which felt and looked like economy) food, weight of your bags. I’m sure I didn’t buy food because of the time, but sure enough I was woken up to be given food….and the same thing as well.
The taxi ride was worth every one of the $19, cheaper than getting from my place to the airport. Dodging bikes, trucks, buses, people on scooters in the thousands and every one beeping their horns.

The tea house is a little sanctuary in the middle of a busy area near the Temple of Literature which I’ll visit tomorrow.
After a quick tea ceremony while, I waited for the room to be ready, then a dash down the street with Vue to replace my phone charger. I had a hot shower and crashed for an hour or two just so I could focus.

Time to explore the neighbourhood, so went for a walk around the block, down an alley, up a street and back again and found the Chicken Pho that Vue recommended. So that was dinner, i called in to kill some time to the tea house as I was going back to the temple for the night tour, but I have started to fade and so I am ready for bed.
It’s 6.07pmRead more