I am here!

Can I start by saying that the internet is fine but my laptop is so riddled with issues and viruses I am going to struggle to load these blogs and photos might be asking too much. Well shall see. I am here, I have arrived and what a rush! I got in at midday yesterday and had to make my way through customs. It was slightly concerned when I was boarding in Singapore. I presented them with my ticket and they made me wait to the side. They then asked if I had a visa for Vietnam. Uh... yes, in the passport. They only then actually looked in it. Then when I arrived in Vietnam, I went up to the customs official and he stared long and hard at me then the picture, then me again. He looked at my visa and I was wondering if he was contemplating not allowing my entrance. Finally he stamped it but gave me another looong stare as he handed my passport over. Good start. Another hour waiting at what I might say is the slowest bag collection point EVER! They only put three bags on at a time. I wondered if there was only one person working back there, running between the carousels of the two planes that had arrived. But I made it. Next step was finding my taxi – no one was waiting at first and I think he had disappeared because it was an hour after my flight had landed (thanks bagman!) however, he came in the doors as I was making my third way around the airport, reading every sign from the different taxi drivers. I will say this about the drivers in Vietnam – they know how to drive. They text, hold children, carry MASSIVE amounts of stuff on their mopeds and drive at the same time, and not even in a straight line. It is like organised chaos. They all honk their horns and move this way or that depending on who is honking. Absolutely the best experience ever so far. I arrived to the hotel. It was lovely and air-conditioned – thank goodness for that. Met my room mate too. Her name is Lorna, she is from Canada, and she is really friendly. I went back outside after a shower, and had my first real experience. I was standing on the street corner trying to figure out how to cross the road when I was asked by a man on a bicycle with a seat on the front asked if I wanted the tour. At first I said no, but then I looked at the traffic and said yes. I didn’t know how to cross the road without getting squished. I negotiated 200,000 for an hour (pretty sure he thought he was getting a good deal out of it aka ripping me off, but it worked out at being $10. I jumped in. What I forgot to do was negotiate coming back to the start point, which as I found out after an hour, is kind of important as it turned out. Anyway, I get in and off we go, easing into what can only be described as the most insane driving system ever. There are actually paths but they park their mopeds and bikes on them so pedestrians use the roads, along with the cars, motorcycles, bicycles, mopeds and just about anything else, including the odd chicken and dog. I have to say though, that it was by far the best way to view the city. Yes, it is fume-filled air, and yes it is mental how crazy they drive, but there was also something incredibly unique and beautiful in all the madness. My driver (Phlen) showed my around very slowly and I took heaps of photos. It was a bit disconcerting that everyone kept looking at my camera but I had that firmly in hand. I was not about to let anyone rip that from my hands! Now, I had negotiated an hour for 200,000 but what I hadn’t negotiated for was an hour that came back to where we started. So here I was an hour later and not sure where I was when he stopped. This was the hour done. We had quite an interesting conversation where neither of us was backing down all the time smiling politely. In the end I negotiated another 50,000 to get me back. He looked at the address on the card and off we went. Now, here is the thing about the card – it had two addresses. He took me to the wrong one and it was far from the other one. You should have seen his face when he realised. It was classic and the ‘oooooohhhhhhh’ groan and scrunched up face were priceless. So off we went again to my actual hotel. We arrived and I told him to wait as I needed to get more cash. He said he would take 150,000 dong and $5 US which I realise was probably more than he would usually earn but it still worked out as being so little to me that I was okay with paying a bit extra. Back at the hotel and with a firmer understanding of how the streets of Hanoi work, I went for a little walk and chickened out and headed back to the hotel. It is really disconcerting to be honked at and hear horns every few seconds as people negotiate the streets. I meet the tour guide at 6pm along with almost all the others on the tour. Lovely bunch of people from a range of backgrounds. Again, I am token kiwi but that is okay. There is this absolutely friendly couple from Ireland (Claire and Antony) that are here on their honeymoon. Never meet friendlier people. My room-mate is a Canadian called Lorna. I may actually be the youngest person on the tour which is a novel experience! Our tour guide is called Sek and is the most shocking flirt ever. A highly hilarious Thai man, he will be with us for the whole journey from Vietnam to Bangkok. Tomorrow we head off to Ha Long Bay and the 7th natural wonder of the world. Can’t wait, but right now I am so tired that I need a nap. In case you were wondering the time difference is 6 hours, so at 6 in the evening it is midnight.