I woke up suuuper early to catch my 8am flight to Hanoi. On the way to the airport I realized I forgot my sunglasses at home which was a bit of a bummer. I arrived at the airport and was greeted with a GIGANTIC line for check-in; it wrapped around and around. I tried to find someone to ask about a check-in spot if I wasn't going to check my luggage but couldn't find anyone plus I didn't want to loose my spot in line. When I finally got close enough to talk to someone she pointed me to another spot where I could check-in with my carry-on bag. There was also a line there, but it didn't take too long. The next giant line was for going through security. I tried to skip ahead because it was close to 30 minutes before boarding, but the security guy declined me. So I stood in line and skyped with Mom and Grandpa! :) I was getting a little worried about timing, but managed to get through alright. My gate was close to security and it was so late that I just walked right onto the plane. Yikes!
The plane ride was rather uneventful. I watched the movie "Fury" which was a World War II movie and kind of depressing. Luckily I found a second movie, "Hector and the search for Happiness" which was a bit uplifting and entertaining. I enjoyed it a lot. We landed finally and then it was time to get my visa and get through customs. It was a little bit of waiting but not too bad. Outside, there was a guy waiting with my name on paper to take me in a taxi to my Vietnamese friend Van's workplace. Once I got in the taxi he called her and I talked with her on the phone. She said it should take about an hour to get there and let her know again when I arrived. It was cloudy and drizzling a bit but it was still warmer than Seoul. It felt humid as well. We arrived at Van's work in about 30 minutes so when I called her again she told me to wait for her. She arrived a few minutes later on her scooter/motorbike and took me to get lunch. She had to go back to work and I stayed at the restaurant. I ordered a pork dish with rice and soup for a grand total of $2.5! Crazy!
Van returned to pick me up and we went to a market. Her cousin has a shop stall and she needed to get some things. We shopped around there a little bit and then hopped on her scooter to visit her grandpa for a little bit. He was very cute and served us some tea. Finally we headed to her mentor's hotel. (Her mentor is on the leadership board at Mount Mary) So I met Regine and we rested in her hotel room for a little bit and then headed to a restaurant Van liked. We met one of Van's friends there as well. The four of us enjoyed our Valentine's dinner together. The restaurant is owned by a famous singer in Vietnam. Her husband, also a musician is the main cook. They have a regular menu but also a special so we did the special. The first course was salad, followed by pate, next a duck liver, a beef and onion dish. We were also served copious amounts of delicious homemade french bread. Since I wasn't a fan of pate or liver, I ate a lot of bread. The singer and her husband both sang a few songs-they have a little stage in the restaurant so that was fun. After dinner we returned Regine to her hotel and then Van and I headed to her house.
The unfortunate thing was that Regine and Van were traveling to another city the following day and had to catch a bus at 7am. That meant I had to be up around 5 to be dropped off.
Her house was really nice, but a bit outside of Hanoi. Only her dad was awake when we arrived, since it was going on midnight.
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