First Day in Asia

3 January 2012

Slept four hours last night. Left at 3 AM for the airport; check it took a while, something always has to go wrong. Flight from Montreal to Chicago was not too bad, just over two hours. We left a little late, but our arrival was on time. I Checked in with Korean Airlines, fortunately ended up with the exit row seat on booth my flights from Chicago to Seoul as well as from Seoul to Hanoi. I’m relatively exhausted after not having slept much last night but I'm trying to look at it as a positive in hopes of passing out for most of my fourteen hour flight. Not much else to say right now. Il check in later

4 January 2012

So its day one. I only slept for a few hours last night, I'm not sure if that was out of excitement of because I had slept so much the day before  on my flights. Its 6:38 at the moment. Going to go get some breakfast and explore the streets of the old district. My first mission is to find an ATM. After that; FOOD. Got a few apprehensions about going out, but gonna have to get over them at some point. Check in later.

5 January 2012

So a bit later in the day at this point; around 4pm – just got back to the hotel. All I can say is that this place is fucking awesome (excuse my language, but there is not other way to describe it). My taxi in from the airport was even an experience. Even been in a taxi who crosses a double solid yellow line on a highway to pass someone on the left? I can, with some mixed feelings say I have. Not mentioning the motorbike with a chicken coup on the back, it was quite the experience. 

This morning has been awesome. I think I found my local breakfast/lunch place. I got up and had a bite to eat at the hotel, but it didn’t quite seem to be enough so I went searching for the perfect bowl of soup. What I found, whether or not it was the best, was an experience to the centre of the world, all for the cost of about $1.75 Canadian. However, I did not stop there. No, next was a street vendor with the best smelling steamed buns on earth – picked one up for about $.25 Canadian. Chewy, steamy how, and to my supprise I found two hard boiled quail eggs as well as some sort of stuffing. Not sure what it was really, whether it was meat or veg (the vendor didn’t speak any English) but it was delicious. After that I wondered around the West Lake, which is the huge lake in the centre of the Old District, something similar to Central Park in New York or Mount Royal in Montreal. 

After reading a few chapters of The Quiet American, I walked back to my hotel. Did I mention that street names don’t exist? My half kilometre walk I'm proud to say only took me an hour. Maps? Yeah right, there terrible! Best form of transportation: the Cyclo. Yes you do look like an idiot Western tourist, but they are by far the cheapest and easiest way around. 

Got back to my room and unpacked; I think ill be staying with this hotel for a while, for 22$ a night, you get better service than any hotel I’ve ever stayed in. The room is large and spacious with a great view of the Old District. After this, my food cravings came back so I headed out again. I had seen a Vietnamese barbecue place earlier that morning on my stroll back to my hotel that looked unbelievably good. These vendors literally set up their tiny hibachi-style charcoal grills directly on the sidewalk. They’ve got everything set up to create the perfect BBQ with such simplicity. Unfortunately, I could not find this place so I settle, well I cant really call it settling as it was as delicious as my breakfast soup, that served some sort of meat in a spicy chicken broth. Not sure what kind of meat it was, but it was absolutely delicious. After a bit more time wandering around. I was in search of a cafe that I could read at as the Vietnamese are known for their coffee. Instead I found a nice little pub where a couple of Americans were chilling outside. Talked to them for a while, was well worth bumping into them as they had been here for a while. Upon paying my bill, I realized that this is a cash only country. Was a bit of an experience, but it was sorted out.

I guess you could say I had had enough of wandering around in search for my hotel so I finally decided to hop in a cylco and have him take me there. Fifteen minute ride? All for the cost of $3. Mind you the slight humiliation of riding in one is the larger price to pay. So now I'm back at my hotel. Room service came in while I was gone, so nice and tidy room which is always nice. Next up for today is a massage. My hotel recommended a place that is not too far from here that does a 90 minute massage for about $12 Canadian, so that’s whats up. Photos to come soon