Good Morning Vietnam! Not without incident it wasn't.

Living it up in Hanoi Vietnam, the country's capital. We've been here for a few days now, but we had a few problems along the way. Kristy accidentally left her purse in a bathroom and got her wallet, camera and passport stolen in Malaysia. She and my brother rushed around to get a temporary passport for her, so she could make her flight to Vietnam.

Just 6 hours before we were all set to fly we were in the hotel room in KL when my little brother, Vonn, got severe diarrhea paired with harsh vomitting. We made it to the airport for 4 am, Vonn with a bag in hand the whole time, using it once in the cab.

Check in.

I then look around for Vonn, as we come to the realization that if anyone catches on to the fact that he is so sick he will be detained and quarantined upon arrival in Vietnam. Where do I find Vonn? Throwing up into a bag in the middle of the airport. Poor guy. Anyways, we tell him that he must try to keep his sickness on the down low as much as possible... he made it through security on all ends without question.

The airline we were with didn't assign seats. So, we stood in line early to ensure that we are first to board and get our seats together. A Vietnamese lady managed to butt her way in front of us. Pretending to look at something outside and then asking the desk a question about her ticket, next thing we know, she's in front of us. She takes her friend's bag and holds it, as they exchange a wink and a smile and her friend stays behind us. Well, we weren't gonna take it.

The doors open and this 50 year old woman breaks into a short sprint! and then she slows down. We (all 4 of us, except Vonn) start running past her. She starts running again and we are in a full out race to the airplane. Vonn is watching from behind and about a dozen other people start running too. We come to an airline stewardess who tells us to stay inside the painted lines. Running past her, we do. We get to the stairs of the plane, out of breath and tired and the woman is still trying to sneak past us along the railing, up the stairs. Jay puts his elbow out and we form a solid block, not letting anyone by us. Upon boarding the plane, the stewardess greeting us says, "got your morning exercise, did you?" We sat down, laughing hysterically and got strange looks from the others boarding. The woman we were racing was smiling as she boarded and the plane was only 2/3 full in the end.

We arrived in Hanoi that morning at around 9 am. We took a taxi, specifically asking to go to a certain hostel. The man at the airport who set us up with this taxi was in a big rush to get us in to the car and on our way.. a little suspicious, but we weren't sure what to make of it. Anyways, the taxi driver took and made about 15 phone calls on his cell phone and then takes us to "our place". We arrive and 2 guys open the door, poke their heads in the cab, show us a business card with the hostel name on it and tell us it's full, but they have another suggestion.

Jay knew they were lying right away. We get out of the car and quickly realized (regardless of the lies these two guys were telling us) that we were not where we asked to get dropped off... in fact we weren't even on the map of our lonely planet guide. The cab driver was long gone. The 2 guys proceeded to assure us that we were at the right place and to please come into their travel agency. We told them to get out of our faces and walked away... finally our harshness made them back off, as they were following us down the road a bit, still trying to convince us.

Vonn was being a super trooper, not even complaining (had to throw that in). We walked for about 30 minutes and finally found the area and place we were looking for. On their wall it says "Beware of people who pretend to be with our hotel. They will steal your money, like they stole our name." They didn't have room for all 5 of us, we found other places with in 1 minute walking distance and we were so happy to be safe and sound. I will write more later about what this place is like. This entry is probably long and entertaining enough for now.

p.s. Vonn is feeling much better and has been for a few days now. :)