Jill arrived in Korea on New Year's Eve. Her baggage did not. Normally, this would not have been much of a problem, except that we were scheduled to leave for Vietnam the very next day at noon. After communication with a representative from her airline, we hoped to have her bags sent to Hanoi to be picked up when we arrived the next evening. We were not sure this would work, but we hoped for the best.
Upon arrival back in Gwangju after the two hour bus ride from the airport, we went to dinner at a restaurant where you grill your own meat in front of you and then wrap it, along with many different sides, in leaves of lettuce. So delicious, and it was so fun to share Jill's first Korean meal. The restaurant workers also enjoyed having us in their restaurant, apparently, because of all the attention they paid us. At one point, we let the meat get a little crispy and burnt, which is just the way I like it. The woman who was keeping an eye on us was horrified at the thought of us eating meat with any sort of burnt morsel and promptly came over with a pair of scissors in hand to trim off the burnt bits. I was equally as horrified that she was cutting off what I considered to be the best part of the meat. She smiled so big as, in her eyes, she vastly improved the quality of our meal. What a pal! She even showed us how to properly construct a lettuce wrap by snatching Jill's lettuce leaf from her hand, filling it with a little bit of everything, rolling it up and giving it to Jill to eat. She proudly looked on as Jill devoured the lettuce wrap, then proceeded to do the same favor for me after receiving Jill's seal of approval. Definitely a meal to remember!
The next day, we woke up, made it to the airport shuttle just in time and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We received word that Jill's luggage would arrive in Hanoi around 10 pm. Our flight to Beijing boarded about 20 minutes late and actually ended up taking off at the time we were supposed to have landed in Bejing. When we arrived in Beijing, we went through Chinese customs and had a hell of a time finding the international transfers area of the airport. Most airports are clearly marked and sport clocks every few hundred feet. Not Beijing. Word to the wise: avoid flying through Beijing. So confusing! After asking several questions about where to go, we realized it was 3:00. Our flight to Hanoi was to leave at 3:30 and we still needed to get our boarding passes printed! We ran through customs (for a second time - so weird!) and found our ticket counter. The ladies at this counter pointed us to another counter. There was not one person at the counter at which they pointed and the monitor indicated that it was too late to make the flight. We were directed to find the Vietnam Airlines office upstairs and had them help us. And, help us they did. Two very nice men set us up with another flight departing at 5:30 but that took an extra two hours to arrive in Hanoi. We didn't understand this, but we weren't about to question it as we just wanted to secure our flight!
After being sent on a wild goose chase to check into our new flight, making sure my luggage made it onto our original flight to Hanoi and having our new boarding passes printed, we had some time to figure out how to let Maren know that we would be arriving almost six hours later than planned. Our strategy was to find someone with a computer, put on our big American smiles and convince them to let us use their internet connection. After surveying the situation in our gate, we approached a very handsome man with an exotic accent, but more importantly, a computer. He said that internet was not available in the gate but if there was some way for us to achieve internet access, we were more than welcome to use his computer. We inquired at a snack shop about the availability of internet and found it unavailable. Another black mark against the Beijing airport! We spotted a pay phone and went to work. The catch was that it was nearly 2:00 AM at home. On New Years Eve. Not the best night of the year to get ahold of people! We didn't have Maren's phone number in Vietnam so we frantically left voice messages with several people asking them to contact Maren via Facebook to let her know our new circumstances. We were actually able to get ahold of Maren thanks to Jill's mom answering our second phone call and having obtained Maren's phone number. How lucky we were! As Jill was talking to Maren and explaining the change of plans, I had the following conversation with the man whose internet we tried to use:
Man: I hope everything is alright with you and your friend.
Noelle: Yes, yes. We just got ahold of our friend to tell her we'll arrive late. Thank you so much for offering your computer to us!
M: It would have been my pleasure to help you. Where are you from?
N: We're from America. I teach in Korea. Jill is visiting me and we are going to Vietnam to visit our friend who lives in Hanoi. (typical Noelle - way more information than necessary :) ) Where are you from?
M: I am from Iran. Have you heard of my country?
N: (trying not to laugh) I sure have!
When his flight to Tehran was boarding, we shared several of what I call "moments" with him as we waved goodbye to each other about three times, thanked him for his help and concern and bid him safe travels.
We boarded our flight to Hanoi in good spirits and sat next to one of the craziest men I have ever encountered in my life. He was so obnoxious. He would blow his nose and throw the tissue between the seat in front of him and the plane's wall. He talked extra loudly and was quite demanding of the flight attendants and he inhaled two servings of the in-flight meal in the time Jill and I leisurely finished about half of ours. When our plane landed, he was quite anxious to get off the plane, nudging and pushing us before the plane even came to a complete stop.
We got off the plane and walked to the baggage claim area of the airport after a short stop in the bathroom. We inquired about my luggage which should have arrived on an earlier flight and after much rigamarole, were told that my luggage could be found at carousel number nine. As we approached our carousel, we were intercepted by a handsome airport worker and told to follow him. No other explanation. Just follow him. Jill and I decided to follow him unless he left the building. We followed him all over creation in that airport, the whole time indicating that I just needed one bag. He answered us with assurances that we would in fact get our bag, no worries. He led us all over, and at one point asked us to wait while he went into a secret airport staff room. A couple of minutes later, he emerged with handwritten boarding passes to the flight on which we had just arrived. This made zero sense to us, but we continued to follow him nonetheless. He went through security and customs again, still with much confusion. The airport man just kept smiling and laughing and telling us we would get our bag. The following exchange ensued:
Noelle: We just need one bag.
Jill: No flying (waving her arms in the air). Just bag.
Airport Man: You will get bag. Don't worry.
(We arrive at a boarding gate)
AM: Go gate A102. Your bag there. Bye bye.
N and J: What?? You can't leave! How will we find our way back? Help us!!!
AM: (laughing and waving) Bye bye!
Bewildered, we walked toward the gate and saw a screen with our flight number and Hanoi as the destination. It was then that it all clicked. We were not in Hanoi. We were still in China. Unbeknownst to us, our flight had a stopover in Gwangzhou, China. We would receive my bag indeed, when we actually made it to Vietnam! We boarded the same flight we had left half an hour (or more) before and tried to find seats away from people who looked familiar so as to avoid more embarrassment. We began to recount the signs that we were not yet in Vietnam:
- The extra two hours flight duration
- Other passengers giving us weird looks as we got off the plane
- No Vietnamese writing on the bathroom signs
- Our flight arriving directly to baggage claim without first going through customs
- Going through Chinese customs
- People looking curiously similar to the airport workers with whom we worked in Beijing
Maren had made arrangements for us to stay in a cozy hotel just a few minutes walk from her apartment, which was so convenient for all of us! Because it was in a more residential area of Hanoi, it was much more slow paced and quiet. The next morning, we accompanied Maren to her international church and it was then that we truly got our first look at Hanoi and Vietnamese culture in general. Talk about a hustle and bustle! At first glance, the roads seem quite chaotic with motorbikes darting in and out of traffic, but once Maren explained the system, it made so much sense. They don't have lanes of traffic really. The person whose wheel is in front has the right of way. As for pulling into traffic or making turns, you just gradually and cautiously edge into traffic and everyone else avoids you. This is the rule for crossing the street as well. Because the only automobiles on the rode are taxis and the occasional city bus, the majority of road traffic is motorbikes and bicycles.
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| Notice the girls in heels. Impressive! |
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| Jill and I in the middle of traffic in the heart of Hanoi |
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| Family transport... |
Church with Maren was great! It was the first church service, aside from school church once a week, that I have attended since leaving the US, so it was nice to be in that environment again. Even nicer though was seeing Maren with the amazing support system she has cultivated through her church. It is obvious that Maren is so happy and comfortable in her Vietnamese surroundings. She speaks Vietnamese like a champ, and is constantly complemented on her abilities. Her enthusiasm and fun loving attitude is contagious. We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide and travel companion during our stay in Vietnam. We were continually impressed with the ease and comfort with which she communicates with people from shop owners to taxi drivers to her host family and church community. What a joy to be able to share in her life in Vietnam!
After church, we had lunch with her friend Will and two Vietnamese girls who were new to the church. We had a delicious meal of an assortment of typical Vietnamese food, all of which was quite tasty!
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| The lunch crew |
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| There were so many shops that sold reprints of different works of art... |
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| A typical vendor |
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| There were so many women balancing these bad boys on their shoulders as they walked down the street |
Also, most street food eateries involve you sitting on small plastic foot stools. The same stools in the next size larger sometimes serve as tables, while other times there are actual plastic tables that look like they would function for a little kid's picnic or tea party. Observe these gentlemen who ate dinner a little ways away from us later that night:
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| Typical street food setup - my legs did not fit under the tables... |
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| These girls ate next to us and fought off a boy who was trying to flirt with them - nothing comes between them and their phở! |
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| Phở! |
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| Jill and Maren enjoy a meal seated on tiny stools, just like the Vietnamese! |
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| A little group shot action... |
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