People often ask each other about which countries were their favourites to travel to. What a way to start things off! But it felt good to have made it, and I was looking forward to checking out the bustling, chaotic, vibrant city I could hear honking and hustling about its day outside.
Dragging myself out of bed with thoughts only of first sourcing some coffee, I noticed a piece of paper had been pushed under the door… a note from Mike:. The bastards have lost our fucking passports! Unbelievable… I hastened downstairs to confirm that they did indeed still have my passport, and then went off to sort my caffeine fix.
Without much to do until the lads got back from the police staton and the embassy, I whiled away an afternoon of people watching, snacking, and way too much coffee. If it had been their own staff, all three would likely have been taken, so it did lend credence to the idea that it was an opportunistic theft.
They seemed to be more concerned with dodging the blame than they did with either apologising or trying to make up for it in any way. And boy, was it a bender… we drank all night, all over Hanoi, including at one point a night club on a boat moored up on the banks of the river, and eventually found ourselves joining the crowd of elderly folk doing tai chi in the park at dawn. This involves picking your spot, choosing your line, setting a steady pace along that line, and then sticking to it until you reach the other side.
So you just have to keep your eyes forwards and walk straight and steady. Anyway, with the need for alcohol-derived stress-relief having been dealt with, and another day having been spent sleeping it off, on the Monday I checked out of the hotel to head to Halong Bay while the lads were back at the embassy once again.
