The Sensory Overload

Next stop from Luang Prabang was Hanoi, Vietnam, where we would meet up with Charity. Charity was in sales and used to call on us at Quaker, which is how we became friends. We knew she had never traveled this far and were excited to get her reaction on her first day in Vietnam. As Erika and I were leaving the airport to find a taxi to the city, an American comes up to us and asks us to share a ride. This guy didn’t have a place to stay yet (not too uncommon for backpackers), but also asked us where we were staying and he had no luggage (just a small backpack that was barely filled yet when we asked him he claimed it had everything he needed). Let me just add that this wasn’t the first time or the last time this happened to us. No joke. Right out of the movie Taken. The first time it happened at the Luang Prabang airport, Erika kindly agreed and I immediately thought of this exact scenario in the movie and I went silent. Erika knew something was wrong. I had to give her a little signal that I wasn’t comfortable and she kindly declined the offer. In Vietnam, it was different. Maybe because he was American? It wasn’t until I was in the car that my stomach dropped. It was the taxi driver, the guy who negotiated our rate, the American, Erika and me and all I could think was they were all in on it, had just seen us take out several million Dong (Vietnamese currency. 2mm equals approx. $100), and they were going to kidnap us, steal our belongings, and sell us into slavery. I went into panic mode and my defense mechanisms went into full gear. I immediately spoke up and mentioned Charity and how she was expecting us at our hotel. I even called her (knowing she wouldn’t pick up) and faked speaking to her, telling her what time she should expect us. Obviously it all ended up being ok, but a definite wakeup call. The next time we might not get so lucky. It is a funny story to tell and I’m dying to hear myself on Charity’s voicemail.


If we weren’t going to die by being kidnapped and held for ransom, we were pretty sure it would be in a car accident or becoming road kill. I thought Bangkok was bad, but this place was nuts. I have never seen anything like it before. There are no driving lanes, few traffic lights, absolutely no signs anywhere. Drivers (mostly on motos) are coming from every which direction and all they do is honk their horns. Hundreds of their headlights clustered together about an inch away from each other and the cars around them. Charity appropriately described it as Frogger. It was utter chaos.

Erika and I went to our hotel to check in and Mr. Thom at the reception desk seemed to be pepped up on something. He was so happy, chatting us up and making us laugh within the first few minutes we arrived. Quite a different experience than what we’ve had at the quieter guest houses in Laos. I think he sort of wound us up because when Charity arrived we were all so giddy. We were so happy to be together and had so much to catch up each other up on. Wandering the crazy streets of Hanoi, searching for a restaurant called Bobby Chins (Charity as the navigator) it wasn’t until about 40 minutes later that we realized we were in the right, but Bobby Chinns had moved a few months prior. Our books weren’t up to date - we weren’t crazy after all!

The following morning was our trip and overnight stay in Halong Bay. To be honest, it’s not much to talk about. It’s supposed to be one of the best things to do in Vietnam, but unfortunately, the weather was misty and gloomy, just like it was when Amber and I were on our Milford Sound trip in NZ. The yucky weather makes for a depressing gloomy day. It was a beautiful place, but it is very disappointing for me when I can’t have pictures to justify it. The trip too and from was pretty miserable - packed like sardines in a 3 hour van ride.  We did have a good time posing and trying to do my signature pose all in sync (after about 5 tries, the photo below is the best we did).  Haha!  I would only recommend anyone go here if the weather is nice.
Hanoi made for an overwhelming and slow start to our tour of Vietnam…we appropriately titled this part of the trip “Hanoiying”.