Flight to Hanoi

We took out the other couchsurfer who stayed at Y's, E, to breakfast dumplings, which again they tried to sell us too much of. After that we tried to pack as quickly as possible and start to make our way to Xipu station to catch the airport shuttle. We managed to catch a taxi there. After some walking around the station we found the airport shuttle, and on board the shuttle we discovered that our tea leaves spilled all over everything else in our food bag.

At the airport we met a traveler named K from Germany, the stereotype of a German traveler, and offered to pay for his visa application in the Hanoi airport (he gave us back dongs for dollars.) He got the exit row and shared it with us: we were right behind him and someone slept in our vacated row. We a cup of noodles in the airport but had to eat it quickly while boarding the plane because they wanted to get us on there quickly. It was unnecessary because on the short flight we had the most delicious airplane food of our lives: all kinds of shrimp dumplings.

We bought one SIM card at the airport while K was getting Vietnamese dongs to pay us back, then we got a cab to the hotel. The cab driver tried to bamboozle us! He wanted 25$ without meter; we insisted on having the meter running. It ended up being about $16.

The hotel we are staying at is in the old quarter. It is very pretty and the breakfast is delicious! You can order Western dishes like an omlette with toast, or pancakes with banana or pineapple. After arriving at the hotel we got complimentary drinks and some fruit, along with a detailed explanation on how to get places from the receptionist. Each hotel around here appears to print their own map of the city center.

We then went out to explore the street and get some dinner. We ended up eating at the Hanoi Garden restaurant for half a million Dongs! We are multimillionaires now. Half a million is a little under a hundred shekels. Next to us there was a table of loud middle aged Americans who were having the most boring conversation we have ever overheard ("He just really loves salads!")