Day 1

Wow, it's surreal. Reminds me of my days in Ghana with an European influence. We left a snow covered Seoul Tuesday, March 3 at 730am worried that our flight would be delayed--and it was. Check in was a breeze, surrendered my alien card at immigration and completely felt free. Vietnam Airlines was nice, though our meal was some sort of spicy fish and rice, and watched Madagasacar 2. We finally arrived in Hanoi at 3pm, local time, to a small airport and chilly weather (66F). As the only Westeners around, we took the public bus to Hanoi, 45 km away from the airport for 30 cents in 1 1/5 hours. Loud music blasted in the bus and the driver was smoking with no smoking signs posted all around the bus, we managed to find ourselves at Long Bien bus terminal. With Brandon's direction, we found Queen's Hostel with little trouble--it's located in Old Quarter, a great location, with friendly owners and a delicious breakfast. Our room in nice, occassional hot water, a tv, a/c and a safe--all for 20$ a night, which we have been told is expensive. We unpacked our bags, (35L bags, slightly larger than a standard school backpack) and hit the town. Went to dinner at Little Hanoi, ate a shrimp and vegetable stir-fry with rice and Larue, a local lager, for $4, then walked around and talked to a few travel agents to arrange an excursion to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island. We were recommended a great bar/restaurant on the top floor of a building to overlook the lake and the Old Quarter, called City View. It was lovely, picturesque view, though the photos don't do it justice, the humidity distorted the photos. Then around 9pm, we headed back to the room and fell immediately asleep.