On Saturday morning 3/25 (the first day of spring break) I left my room on campus a little after 8 am and walked to the subway which I took the airport. I only had a carry-on (my green backpack) which turned out to be key because I was able to skip the huge line to check in for Vietnam Airlines and do a self-checkin at an automated kiosk since I had no bags to check. I flew direct to Hanoi (4.3 hrs) where I was able to complete the "Visa on Arrival" process very easily (I had previously had to apply online for a 'pre-approval' letter with my name on it, cost: $20, which I had to print out and show at the airport to be able to board the plane. Then when I arrived I had to present that with my passport and a single passport-sized photo and pay an additional $25 in US currency and wait 15 minutes while they finalized my visa). After that immigration and customs was a breeze. Then I had a layover of several hours before my flight to Nha Trang, where I finally arrived at the Cam Ranh airport about 7:30 p.m. and easily found the driver of the private car I had arranged to take me to my first lodging place, "Little Home Hostel" in Nha Tranh for 320,000 VND (about $15). Everything went very smoothly. As we entered Nha Tranh I saw how crazy the traffic was, with thousands of motorcycles and scooters and no stop signs or traffic lights. (By the way, they don't have stop signs here in Korea, either, FYI, just lights.) More on the crazy traffic later.
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| Flying into Hanoi, before I remembered I was supposed to have my phone/camera off for landing. |
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| My first bowl of Pho, from a fast-food place in the Hanoi airport. It was great, and cost 80,000 VND (the equivalent of about $3.50). |
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| I liked the Pho so much I followed it up with some fresh spring rolls. |
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| And with still some more time before my flight to Nha Trang I finished my snack with a coconut, which I really enjoyed. After finishing the 'milk' (water) I realized there was still the 'meat' coating the inside so I asked them to open it up for me and I tried to scoop it out with a plastic spoon, but that was too flexible so I just carried it in a plastic bag onto the plane and took it to my hotel/hostel for the first night and finished it up there. I didn't get another coconut, unfortunately, until I was in the airport again on my way out, so the coconuts are kind of like bookends for my trip. |
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| After I checked into my hostel I contacted Eddie to let him know I'd arrived and he asked if I wanted to meet up to talk plans and I said sure so he came over to the hostel (his house is a relatively short distance away) and we went around the corner to a little street restaurant for bbq and beers. |
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| Eddie and I on my first night (Saturday) in Vietnam. I really liked this little street restaurant and we would come here again at the end of our motorcycle trip. On this first occasion we grilled four different meats: beef (wrapped around mushrooms), shrimp, frog, and "goat teat", which Eddie delighted in introducing me to, claiming it was a delicacy. It was exactly as the name implies and was quite tender yet chewy. |
After that I went back to my room and fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning, which I will continue to narrate in my next post.
