xin chào!

Chao, for reals

2010-07-25T09:57:00.001+07:00

I think it's pretty safe to say that anyone who reads this already knows this, but just in case I have millions of anonymous readers out there: I'm not in Vietnam anymore. So it doesn't really make sense to write here anymore. But worry not - I have a new blog. Check it out: http://dirtythievingseagypsies.blogspot.com/.

New Specs

2010-04-28T13:04:00.007+07:00

I got new glasses the other day and wanted to blog about them for 2 reasons. First, because they're awesome.

Second, because amazingly enough the whole experience was awesome too. Usually getting something done over here is a million times more difficult than it should be. But this, some how, was so much better than getting glasses in the US. In the states it always went something like this: my old eye doctor won't release my prescription so I have to pay 20 or so bucks to get my eyes checked even though I know my prescription, pay another 100 + bucks (or 400 + bucks with out insurance) for some pair of glasses that I don't really like that much but are one of the few I can afford, and then have to wait 2 weeks until I can actually wear them. Here, I simply walked in, picked out a pair I liked, told the doctor my prescription (but he checked my eyes in case it had changed - for free), he went and got the correct lenses, and then the technician guy went to work fitting the lenses to the frames. He told me to wait 10 minutes but really it was only about 5. And the grand total for everything was 25 bucks, out the door. Amazing. And, pretty sad for America that even a third world country can do a better job at this than them.

Bun Bo Day

2010-04-11T23:27:00.003+07:00

After living here for over a year we finally got around to trying bun bo, a street food dish made with rice noodles, beef, some green veggies and, the best part, peanuts. And we've eaten it at least once a week since we tried it. It's definately my new favorite Vietnamese dish. You wouldn't think lettuce and noodles would go together so well, but let me tell you they do. This stuff is awesomely delicious. Maybe this picture will help you imagine the greatness.

Mmm noodles...

New Look

2010-03-24T16:07:00.003+07:00

I decided it was time to revamp my blog. So here's the new look. Tada!
Obviously I'm already failing at my blogging regularly thing, and for some reason trying to pretend that this post counts even though it's a) stating the obvious, b) has nothing to do with vietnam/asia/anything, and c) is lame. I'll have to write something super interesting next time to make up for this.

Thailand

2010-03-15T19:44:00.005+07:00

We were finally able to do some travelling during our 2 week Tet vacation, so we decided to check out Thailand. Thailand is kind of like Vietnam's prettier, cooler, cleaner older sister. Or maybe cousin. Whatever, it's an awesome country that anyone who likes beautiful beaches, hip modern cities, excellent shopping and delicious food should check out. We couldn't help but compare it to Vietnam, and it pretty much ruled it every category save money - once you've gotten used to Vietnam's prices it's hard to handle anything else. Exactly how they stack up against each other I'm saving for another blog, but for now here's some pics.

Sorry I Suck

2010-03-09T13:04:00.002+07:00

For some reason blogging regularly had become really difficult for me. But the Lunar New Year just passed not too long ago, and my resolution was to start being a better blogger. So look for more blogs in the very near future.

Teachers' Day

2009-11-21T16:04:00.005+07:00

Yesterday was Teachers' Day which, unlike in America, is quite a big holiday over here. It is a day to thank and show respect to your teachers, and it's an important holiday to many people.

To celebrate the holiday students visit their current and former teachers, give presents (usually flowers), and - the best part of all - teachers get the day off to rest and relax. As a teacher I must say it makes you feel pretty special.

Things You Only See in Viet Nam

2009-11-14T13:23:00.001+07:00

Cyclos

2009-11-14T12:54:00.004+07:00

One of the "not to miss" things the tour guide books like to mention is taking a ride in a cyclo. A cyclo, for those who don't know, is basically a cart attached to the front of a bicycle. This is just one of the many ways that the guide books are way off. Would you want to take a ride in this?

In case you're wondering what's being loaded in there, well that's a big pile of grease. Dirt, bricks, various dirty building materials are all common cyclo cargo.

To be fair, the cyclos in Hanoi are a bit nicer, but to me there's something a little too lazy about having some poor guy cart you around town. And, strangely enough, the only people I've ever seen in them are fat, lazy looking tourists.

Snake Wine

2009-11-02T15:03:00.001+07:00

Yummy.

Also available: monkey wine, bear paw wine, sea horse wine (just to name a few).

Lion Dancing and Fire Breathing

2009-10-04T18:02:00.003+07:00

This was definately one of those "I am very far from America" moments...

I'm not sure if you can tell, but most of the dancers/fire breathers are about 14 - 16 (one kid, who was smoking a cigarette before he had to go on, looked about 10). There's several groups of kids like this who go around the whole city performing for money. The video doesn't really capture it, but it 's pretty wild.

Moon Cake

2009-10-01T15:24:00.004+07:00

Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I know what your thinking - it's not mid-autumn. On this side of the world people go by the lunar calendar as well as what ever the regular calendar is called, and according to the lunar calendar it's mid-August right now...which would also make you think it's not mid-autumn. But apparently the seasons are at different times over here and, yes, it is in fact the middle of autumn.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival, is pretty much the biggest holiday here besides Tet. People celebrate by walking down the streets with lanterns (to show Cuoi - a boy who was sent to the moon - the way back to earth), dressing up as a mythical creature called Kylin (part lion, part dragon, and part some other animals) and dancing in the streets, and of course by eating moon cake. The streets have literally filled with moon cake vendors. And although I was told it's not as fun to eat them before the Moon Festival, I had to try one.

There are 2 different kinds of moon cake. One is brown and more dense, like the pictures above and below.

The other is white and much more chewy. A student described it as the kind that old people like to eat. It looks like this:

They taste...well...gross. As you can see, both kinds have an egg yolk, or a 'moon', in the center. Which, considering they are sweet cakes, is pretty weird, taste-wise. They both come with various kinds of fillings. Some type of fruit and chicken is common in the brown ones (again, weird) and lotus seed paste or watermelon seed paste is common in the white ones (which by itself wasn't so bad, but combined with the egg and the super chewy crust it was also...weird). I've heard that there's all sorts of variations, some with no egg, some that are more of a sponge-cake with fruit, and that they're very delicious. But what I've tried so far wasn't really what I'd call delicious.

But maybe it's my fault because I ate them before the Moon Festival.

Just Another Work Party

2009-08-23T14:24:00.007+07:00

Some highlights:

Steve was awarded staff member of the quarter...

...in addition to a lovely plaque and a rose, one of his rewards for this was a song sung by the bossman...

...and maybe the best highlight of all (yes, even better than the song), this guy's outfit:

Crap on Bikes

2009-08-22T20:13:00.006+07:00

People here have an uncanny ability to shove more crap than you'd think humanly possible on a tiny little motorbike. Of course the best ones - say a 180 kg refrigerator (for those of you who aren't being forced to use the metric system that's about 400 lbs), about 20 full grown pigs or a real, dead cow - are always impossible to catch with the camera. Here's a few that I have managed to get.

Messing Around With My New Camera

2009-08-12T13:17:00.005+07:00

That's Fresh

2009-08-04T22:12:00.005+07:00

One of the many popular junk foods here is the Fresh Pie (it's now).

Fresh Pie is a soft cake filled with stawberry cream, which is clearly labeled on the box in case there was any confusion:

And, as you can see, it looks so much more appetising in real life than it does in the pictures:

More Awesome Headgear

2009-07-31T22:30:00.003+07:00

I now have the power to control lightning...

and Steve's ready for spring break in Cabo...

More Random Pictures of Students

2009-07-30T15:15:00.003+07:00

Shots of students pretending to their work:

these kids are actually demons

They Actually Let These People Near Children

2009-07-30T14:59:00.004+07:00

My coworkers:

working hard

don't trust this guy

one of the Vietnamese teachers...not sure why her shirt says "girls"

Fail

2009-07-14T13:18:00.006+07:00

It's not that cool that we've been here 6 months already and still haven't seen hardly any of Vietnam*. A new plan to travel somewhere once a month has been put into effect, and this last weekend we set off to Halong Bay for our July trip. We left for Halong City right after our last class on Saturday night, with the intention of staying in the city that night, getting an overnight boat out to the bay on Sunday, and then heading back to Hai Phong on Monday. What we didn't plan on was everything going pretty much as wrong as it could.

After the 2 hour bus ride (which would be a lot shorter if they didn't pull over every few meters to pick up more passengers until the bus is full) and a short taxi ride we had made it to Halong City. And man, was there a lot of people there. Unfortunately for us, it's the local tourist season. People from all over Vietnam and China head to Halong this time of year. Hotel after hotel turned us away because they were full. By now it's about 9 pm (and still quite hot) and we're stranded in this tiny city with no place to sleep. Luckily, we found a tourist advisor guy who was happy to help us find a room - because he knew his commission off of what he was going to be able to get from us would probably be more than he's made all week. A few minutes and phone calls later we had a room, probably paying more than three times the price for it, but a room nonetheless. But it was all ok because tomorrow we'll be on an awesome boat in the middle of beautiful Halong Bay and everything will be great....right??

Wrong. Sunday morning we get a taxi to take us to the tourist warf, where you can hire a boat to take you out to the bay. There's a bunch of people there, but no one seems to be getting on any boats. The ticket booth lady avoids us for a few minutes, going to the other side of the counter every time we try to talk to her, so we have to go out of the building, walk around, and go in on the other side. We finally catch her and ask to buy a ticket for a boat. "No boats! Storm!" She yells, and as she is clearly done talking to us walks back to the other side of the counter. A little in shock - how can there be no boats? this is the only reason people go here! - we walk around the warf for a bit, asking a few other people. Everyone gives the same answer - "No boats".

Trying not to let our failure get the best of us, we head back into Halong City, deciding to enjoy some beers on the beach and maybe have a nice lunch before the long bus ride back to Hai Phong. About halfway through our beers we realize it's sprinkling. Which, in Southern California, means it's going to continue sprinkling for maybe the whole time it rains, but in tropical Vietnam it means you have about 10 minutes before it starts pouring.

Sure enough, by the time we finish our beers it is really coming down. Annoyed and defeated, we get a taxi and tell the driver to take us to the bus to Hai Phong. We get to the bus stop right as the bus is about to take off, but with help from the taxi driver we get them to stop to let us on. As soon as we get in the door we wish they had just taken off. There's about 40 people on this 25 passenger bus, and now 2 giant Americans too. We squeeze into seats (people are sitting 4 and even 5 across, so whenever someone behind you has to get out it's really fun) and pray this is the fastest bus ride ever.

We finally made it back to Hai Phong, drenched and cramped. Although I will need some time to recover before the next adventure, this will not be a last attempt. Halong Bay is supposed to be really amazing. But I think next time I might check the weather first.

So close yet so far. Here's some pics of Halong Bay from the (not so lovely) beach.

*Note: I realize this sentence is grammatically incorrect, but it's ok. I'm an English teacher.

The Big Two-Five

2009-07-03T22:37:00.003+07:00

Last week I had my first birthday in a foreign country. And it was a pretty damn good one. Steve got me the most awesomest present ever - a real professional-type camera, so hopefully you will be able to see quite an improvement in my blog pics. I also got not one, but two amazing looking and delicious tasting cakes (they really know how to do cakes over here), two beautiful flower bouquets (they're quite good at those too), my own custom-made birthday card, several renditions of Happy Birthday from my students, and I was even thrown my very own surprise party by one of my classes.

Of course I didn't have my new super camera with me, but I was able to get some pics of the party with my old camera.

One of my cakes with what I think is a rocket on it. Whatever it is I'm sure it's probably illegal in the states.

My class.

Me and my students. I've found that the best way to look like a giant is to stand next to a bunch of teeny asians.

My Helmet

2009-06-22T12:44:00.002+07:00

After wearing the community helmet my xe om driver carries for longer than I even want to think about, I finally bought my own motorbike helmet. Now I can be like a local and wear it everywhere and at all times - regardless of whether or not I'm actually on a motorbike.

It's a good thing I look so awesome with it on.

Street Food of the Week - Bun Cha

2009-06-22T12:26:00.005+07:00

Bun Cha is is another northern-region dish, which is lucky for us because that's where we are, and it's got to be in the top 5 of the most delicious meals here. It is comprised of a plate of cold noodles, BBQ pork that gets dumped in a bowl of some type of broth with some carrots, apples, and bean sprouts, and a basket full of leafy greens. You take some of each, mix together in your little bowl, and enjoy.

*Note - I realize the name of this post should probably be changed as I haven't been writing even monthly, never mind weekly, about street food. But Street Food of the Bi-Month just doesn't have the same ring to it so I'm not changing it.

What in the World Have We Been Doing Here?

2009-06-16T14:14:00.009+07:00

Mostly doodling...

*thanks to Daniel for providing the inspiration for this one*

and coloring...

and drawing...

Thủy Nguyên

2009-06-15T21:05:00.004+07:00

Thủy Nguyên (said like "twee win") is one of the 15 districts of Hai Phong. While some districts are very close to each other right in the main part of Hai Phong (for example, the teacher's house is in the Lê Chân district and the school, which is less than 10 minutes away, is in the Ngô Quyền district), others are quite a ways out from the city. Thủy Nguyên is one of the farther ones. I have a class at one of the schools there, which sucks because it takes almost an hour to get there and back, but is nice because it's so beautiful there. As I've said before, Hai Phong isn't the most attractive city - basically just as many houses as they can fit all crammed next to each other. But Thủy Nguyên hasn't been developed nearly as much as Hai Phong and you can actually see some of the amazing scenery that Vietnam has to offer.

Unfortunately I only get to see most of it from the window of a taxi, but here's some pictures I've managed to capture.

Another Cat Ba Trip

2009-06-11T22:07:00.005+07:00

Awhile back we made another trip to Cat Ba, but I kept forgetting to post about it. So now that I've remembered here's some pictures.

The main drag at night.

Some boats and floating villages.

The view from the beach cabana where we spent pretty much the whole trip.

A floating restaurant where we went for dinner.

The menu at the floating restaurant. It's a bit blurry but there's basically some holes in the floor of the restaurant with whatever seafood they've caught that day. They bring you over, show you what they've got, you point, and then they cook it.

Steve at the floating restaurant.

The view of the main drag from on the water.

The Movies

2009-06-08T08:51:00.004+07:00

Back home we pretty much had stopped going to the movies altogether because it got so expensive. Here it's so cheap it puts the fun back into going to see a movie. If the movie ends up sucking, it's not such a big deal because you've only spent about 6 bucks as opposed to about 25.

Aside from the price, the whole movie experience is just better here. The theaters are very clean, the seats are quite comfortable and are assigned so you can choose your seats and get the best ones available (which is usually almost all of them), and, as Steve is demonstrating in the picture below, you can enjoy a nice cold beer with your delicious popcorn (choice of salty or sweet).

Even More Bugs

2009-06-04T21:31:00.004+07:00

I'm not a huge fan of insects. And as if I didn't have enough to worry about here in that department -what, with the mutant cockroaches, humming bird-sized moths, various kinds of weird flying things, and mosquitoes and fleas that want to eat me alive - apparently they have invaded my body as well.

The annual "kill the insects in your body" day just passed here in Vietnam. While I choose to not think too much about what this means (most likely they're referring to parasites and what, does everybody here have worms or something?), I did partake in the ritual of eating sticky rice with wine (the insecticide), just to be on the safe side.

Check out Steve's blog for the full story, and don't let the body bugs bite!

Blackouts

2009-05-26T21:43:00.006+07:00

The only thing worse than it being 90+ degrees outside and so humid the rats are swimming down the streets, is when it's the same inside.

The blackouts have started and they suck. During the summer, apparently it's quite common for the power to be out as often as every other day.

The weather's bearable when you can escape to a nice air-conditioned room, but I'm not sure how I will surive the summer without power. And it's still getting hotter.

Since you can't see a power outtage in the daytime, here's a picture of one at night

And the same shot with power:

The wiring here's really something else. So as you can see it's not just one block that goes out it's nearly the entire city. It's great.

Our House

2009-05-19T15:34:00.003+07:00

I've been meaning to blog about our house pretty much since we got here, but for whatever reason I hadn't gotten around to actually doing it yet. The school has decided to move the teachers' house, though, so it's now or never.

We'll be sad to go. The house is pretty cool. It's huge - 5 bedrooms plus an alter room at the top where the landlady prays every month to keep the evil spirits away, and there's an awesome roof deck where, since our house is the tallest on the block, you get a great view of pretty much the whole city.

Just like with everything else, pictures hardly do it justice. But here's some anyway.

Our front door and gate. There's another gate to get into the courtyard area, and yes, you have to lock them both everytime you leave.

The view from roof. Houses and rooftops as far as the eye can see.

A random painting of deer that hangs in a hallway. Notice the fake grass/flowers beneath it. Not really sure what's with that.

The hotel across the street. It's amusing that the sign reads "HOE" instead of hotel, as this has been described to me as the type of hotel that charges by the hour.

The landlady and her family, and our former roommate John. No, that wooden pipe is not what you think it is. It's used for tobacco. Seriously.

You Never Know What You'll See at the Bia Hoi

2009-05-13T22:53:00.004+07:00

Supposedly there is a legal drinking age here, but...

Conviently located right next door to the English school is a bia hoi, which is kind of like a lemonade stand except that they sell locally brewed beer. After class we usually enjoy an almost-cold beverage while waiting for our xe om driver ("say ohm" - motorbike taxi). Tonight we were doing exactly that when grandma and her little granddaughter arrived. They both sit down and grandma orders up a beer, which she proceeds to share with this kid who couldn't have been older than 3. They sat there for a while, drinking beer and eating peanuts, then the kid finished the beer and away they went.

(This isn't the actual kid. I was dying to get a picture of it but honestly, grandma kind of scared me.)

Delicious and Nutritious

2009-05-04T17:50:00.013+07:00

The number of different junkfoods they have over here is mind boggling. So I've decided to post about them. First one up: Yan Yan.

Yan Yan, according to the label, is a "creamy strawberry dip biscuit snack". And it has fun words. Look.

Fun words like "Whale, biggesy mammal":

And: Really? My lucky color is brown? Gross.

And my personal favorite:

And now for a picture of me enjoying both the delicious Yan Yan and the fun words.

(Sorry it's blurry...I was so excited. The goat biscuit stick said I'm lucky today.)

Street Food of the Week - Phở Bò

2009-05-02T21:03:00.002+07:00

Phở bò (said like "fa bah") is a quintessential Vietnamese dish. Phở is a type of noodle and bò means beef, and the 2 come together in this soup quite deliciously. This dish started in Hanoi (in Vietnam there are many dishes that are local specialties) but has spread all throughout the country. The locals like to eat it for breakfast. Squeeze in some lime juice and add as many red chiles as you dare and you got yourself a damn good meal, for less than a buck.

Cute Monsters

2009-04-18T18:34:00.008+07:00

Some of my students:

Hanoi Take 2

2009-04-18T16:23:00.021+07:00

The first time we went to Hanoi was right when we landed. The 20 plus hours of travelling and the complete newness/strangeness of everything, as well as the fact that we had our gigantic luggage to lug with us everywhere, made it a less than fantastic visit. Luckily, our second trip was much better - except for the fact that I managed to get sick exactly the day that we left, and stayed sick the entire time we were there. But with enough fluids I was able to overcome my illness enough to enjoy the city.

Hanoi is beautiful - much prettier than Hai Phong. But there's also a hell of a lot of more tourists there, and I had kind of gotten accustomed to being one of the few whities around. We didn't really do any of the usual tourist activities, though. We attempted to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - supposedly his body is like, right there - but as is often the case our plan didn't work out since it closes at something like 10 in the morning (wtf?). So instead we checked out this lovely park right down the street.

I've been missing parks because there's nothing even close in Hai Phong. This one was huge and beautiful and awesome: it had old women doing Tai Chi, people decked out in ridiculous outfits taking their wedding pictures, a very handsome peacock.

And...

That's right. More monkeys. More hilarious monkeys. A few local kids were giving candy to them and they were, well, going apeshit for it.

And this is what they look like when they don't get the candy.

Watch Your Tone

2009-04-03T22:03:00.004+07:00

I've started taking Vietnamese lessons. There's something like 3 different a's, 2 e's, 3 o's, 2 u's, along with 5 different tones (up, down, short, and the other 2 I can't even explain). All are equally difficult to say (and some are so similar I can't even hear the difference), and of course each word means something completely different if you say it wrong. My teacher is pleasantly suprised everytime I manage to say something correctly (and she also likes to laugh whenever something's said wrong). I'm thinking it's probably gonna be a while before I've reached fluency.

And Now for Some Traffic

2009-04-01T23:18:00.007+07:00

From a bar in Hanoi:

From a taxi in Hai Phong:

Street Food of the Week - My Xao

2009-03-26T20:39:00.005+07:00

Street food here is delicious. And since it makes up most of my diet (and to show my friends and family that there is food here besides snails and dog), I've decided to do a weekly street food post. This week it's My Xao (pronounced "me sow"): fried noodles with beef and vegetables.It's quite tasty, and I'm sure very good for you. You can also get Pho Xao ("fa sow"), which is basically the same thing except with bigger rice noodles. Both come with a side of slightly spicy, slightly vinegary, also tasty cucumber salad (see, it's good for you). With a beer, it'll set you back a whopping 30,000 VND (or about $1.75).

Bird Retraction

2009-03-24T19:39:00.002+07:00

The very day after I wrote my last post, I was shat on by a bird. So I would like to print a retraction. The birds have spoken, they are in fact here.

Birds

2009-03-19T20:37:00.002+07:00

There are literally no birds in this city. None. It's a little unnerving. What happened to all of them?? Since the only birds I have seen are the chickens and ducks at the market waiting to be purchased and made into dinner, my only answer is that they ate them all. Yet there are dogs everywhere....strange.

If I Were in San Diego....

2009-03-06T19:00:00.003+07:00

I'd be checking this shiznit out:

Instead I'll be jetsetting off to Hanoi for the weekend. Which is barely cooler. (Ok by barely I mean a lot...but that has nothing to do with the coolness factor of the art show.)

Cat Ba

2009-02-22T17:51:00.009+07:00

For our vacation/honeymoon, Steve and I took a trip to Cat Ba - a beautiful island conveniently located less than an hour from our town. And was it beautiful. This is also where Halong Bay is, which has recently been made on of the 7 wonders of the world. We explored caves, went on a boat ride out in the bay, ate some delicious food, and visited Monkey Island (can you guess what kind of animals we saw there?). Yeah, they're cute, but it's best to take heed of the signs warning against getting too close to the monkeys. We witnessed a monkey attack first hand, and let me tell you, it did not look pleasant.

The Sh*ts

2009-02-19T20:57:00.004+07:00

Because I know everyone's dying to know about this....
Suprisingly enough neither me or Steve have gotten anywhere near sick yet. And we've eaten at some pretty questionable places (i.e. the post below). Actually, come to think of it, pretty much everywhere is questionable. I was almost positive that I would have several bacterial colonies living somewhere in my intestines by now, but so far I appear to be bacteria-free. Yay! Good thing we brought so many damn anti-diarrheals.

What the @$%! Did I Just Eat?

2009-02-07T15:00:00.001+07:00

Snails. Quite the bargain, too. You can get 6 beers and a whole bowl full of 'em for 30,000 dong (less than 2 bucks). And, save for the few that had a bit of..um..grit in them (ewww), they weren't all that bad. Of course the delicious sauce you drown them helps a bit.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

2009-02-02T18:49:00.000+07:00

Although it's already after Tet now, I haven't been able to blog about pre-Tet yet, which as far as I can tell involves many many parties. The first of which was our work party. No offense to any of my former coworkers who may be reading this, but it was quite possibly the best work party ever. They took us to a restaurant near the school, began serving food and pouring shots, and never stopped with either. The food here is delicious, and lucky enough for me the girl I was sitting next to insisted on preparing all my food for me (it was lucky cuz honestly I would have had no idea how to eat it if she hadn't). Then there was booze. Let me fill you in on something no one told me: women here don't drink. Ever. And, well, I do. So basically, I amused the hell out of everyone there. (I was worried that it might be offensive or something, but thankfully it appears not to be.) Steve told a few of our impressed male coworkers that where I'm from (Russia) they drink Vodka like water, and so from that (and the fact that we were basically drinking everyone under the table) came our new nicknames - Mr and Mrs Water. Finally the neverending food and alcohol eventually ceased, and the party ended as all good parties should - with karaoke. And with Steve singing a duet with our very professional-asian-businessman boss, arms around shoulders and everything (and I do believe it was a Lionel Richie song). Yes, I'm still kicking myself for forgetting my camera. So instead of some awesome blackmail-worthy pictures, here's a random pic of a karaoke joint instead. I'm pretty sure hoi hop means hip hop.

Officially an Expat

2009-01-24T17:42:00.000+07:00

We made it! And it only took, well, forever. I think the total air travel time was around 24 hours. Then there was the hour plus wait for our luggage and the taxi ride into Hanoi - amazingly enough our driver was still there after the endless wait AND took us to the right hotel, 2 things I was sure wouldn't happen. Unfortunately our hotel wasn't as patient as the taxi driver. They had given our room away and had no vacancies. So there we were at 1:30 in the morning with no place to stay. Luckily they were able to find us a room just down the road. All things considered it could have been much worse, but after over a day of travelling and the 15 hour time difference it wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. The journey doesn't end there, though. I suppose it would have been smarter to check the train schedule ahead of time, but instead we decided to just show up to the station with our gigantic luggage, and were then stuck there for 5 hours while we waited for our train to get there. While we were waiting I met a girl named Thao who wanted to practice her English with me, so for the next 3 HOURS I learned pretty much everything about her. She was very sweet though and was so happy to talk to me I couldn't find it in me to end the conversation. Although it seemed like it would never happen, our train finally arrived and after just 3 more hours we finally made it to our new home, the "quiet" city of Hai Phong.