It was 99degrees at 3pm when I arrived in Hanoi. I got my luggage and went in search of the Jet Star Shuttle, which I was to take to the city center, to meet the other volunteers. As soon as I left the “safe zone” (inside the customs area), I was bombarded with men saying “taxi! taxi!” Aaah yes, I’m back in South East Asia, thank you! No, I don’t want a taxi! I need to find this bus. Ulgh, took a while to find the bus, and it was pulling away as I walked up. No sweat, I thought, there will be another one in a few minutes… I was not so lucky. A girl from Ireland came up to me asking about the bus. After we waited a while we decided to ask the airport information when the next bus was going to come. Their answer, “when more people come” ah yes, so helpful, thank you! Another sigh, yep, Vietnam, they can hardly speak English here, even at the airport information desk. (I really enjoyed my fluency in Japan while it lasted! Those days are over). So, back to the bus area, we decided to get on another bus, which made me a bit nervous, but I did it anyway. “How is the bus driver going to know where to stop?” I kept wondering to myself. Another memory from previous travels in Vietnam, drivers are HONK HAPPY! Geeze, you wouldn’t believe how often they honk, and at god knows what. After a while, I think I just got used to it and toned it out. After a good 40 minutes, I walked over and told the bus driver (just to make sure he knew) where I wanted to get off. A few minutes later, I’m at my “destination” (wherever that is!). Ai said she was going to meet me there… but how would she know when I arrived? Good think I wrote down her phone number. I wandered into a hotel next door (looking as pitiful as possible) and asked if I could use their phone. They said yes (hooray!) and soon they were on my way to pick me up.
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