Good Morning, Vietnam!

Well, I didn't think I'd have the time or energy to update this thing at all, but I'm in Hanoi - I think I'm totally in love with the old district - at 7 in the morning. The companions are still sleeping in, but I wanted to go out into the rain, find a nice cafe and have some coffee and read a while. So, you understand, I don't have much time at all.

But, the trip so far has been a comedy of errors. Allow me to elaborate.

I stayed at Bryan's house because he lives near a trainline into Japan. We woke up at 5.30 (after going to bed at 2) to catch our six o'clock train. Trains in Japan are incredibly reliable, often arriving no later than thirty seconds after scheduled time (and they consider that LATE!). Anyway, our train was ONE HOUR late. This never happens in Japan, but of course, the one time a year that it does, I'm depending on it.
The trainride was excrutiating. Inhuman. It was the first time I was on a train that needed people pushers - people standing outside the train doors to physically shove everyone on. I couldn't even stand, so I just relied on my fellow passengers for support. For over an hour. I thought I would puke, pass out, cry, etc. all at the same time. We were one huge ball of humanity, and I'm pretty sure that I accidentally penetrated 2 or 3 people. I definitely had like, 18 weiners touching me throughout the ride. Including Bryan's. Uncomfortable.
When we arrived at the airport, we were rushed through security and led directly onto the plane. I was actually running football-style, with one piece of luggage tucked under on arm, juking around obstacles and people. We made our flight with two minutes to spare.
Once we landed in Bankok (not Phuket as I had stated in the last post - sorry), we had a little time to walk around the airport. I tried to withdraw money from my Japanese account to exchange it into dollars, and guess what? It's the damndest thing. Guess what? Japanese cards only work domestically. Because we were late on the way, I couldn't get a large wad of yen, as planned. And my American account is practically wiped out, because I've just recently made a student-loans payment (my education spoils it again!). So, I have only the money that I usually carry around with me into the local currency - dong.
Yeah. I'm going to write a whole paragraph about dong. It's awesome. I have many thousands of dongs in my pants right now. I've been holding dongs, counting dongs and giving my dongs to strangers, in exchange for goods and services.
Anyway, I have enough dong to ... maybe make it to Saigon? But, it's a far cry from the living-large trip I had planned in my mind.

But, Hanoi is really wonderful. It's raining cats and dogs right now, but I need to duck out and find an indoor cafe somewhere. The old quarter is all the old french archetecture (that wasn't destroyed in the wars), a million mopeds and a lot of friendly people. My first day in Vietnam, despite whatever setbacks we had, had been a wonderful one. And now, for round two.