escape from ha noi. sunday

Hanoi to bangkok.

The Backpackers Hostel Downtown in Hanoi is alive with life, travellers, drink in the bar downstairs while football from leagues around the globe is televised on screens above the bar, it has a great feel. Of course there is always a drunk westerner propping up the bar with his baseball cap, good looks and charm, questioning whatever you order, but these types are easily ignored. I think doing so may even shine them on a little, and I'm all for that.
By the time I arrived in the evening I had gone for a prolonged period without food or drink and my cash levels were virtually exhausted as the HSBC debit card I have been using had been refused cash from every ATM I had tried for the last 3 days, including the HSBC machine that lay just up from the hostel. HSBC the worlds local bank, can bugger you up locally, wherever local is. I had contacted the bank the night before from Hoi An and they assured me that there was no block on the card, and sure enough I was able to book the hostel on Hanoi using it, but in a country where cash is virtually essential, having none was crippling. My sugar levels were running high as I was worried about taking an injection which would cause them to plummet, make a concerning situation suddenly more critical.
I explained the situation to Matt, an English manager working and living there who was as helpful as anyone could be, but in the end I decided to just bite the bullet and use my credit card for a cash advance, something I really didn't want to do due to higher costs and the pain in the ass its now going to be to keep track of everything, but needs must.
The evening was spent drinking beer, watching football and arranging my flight from Hanoi to Bangkok the following day. The typhoon was heading up from hue where it had made land and all tours and excursions for Ha Long bay had been cancelled while the area braced itself,so there seemed little point hanging around, there is still much to see before I leave Singapore next month. In the morning I joined a walking tour in the rain just to see a little of the city before I left, then ate some noodles from a street stall before catching the taxi to the airport to catch Quantas flight QR829 which departed bang on time at 16:55. The powerful thrust that pushes you back into the seat again brings an uncontrollable smile. Maybe i should have been a pilot, but I doubt I could have faked the high IQ long enough to manage that one. I can't even fake a smile for more than 3 seconds without it going bad. I'll keep on looking for a job that suits, its out there somewhere.
When I land I intend to travel by train to central bangkok, then switch to the skytrain to silom before walking the relatively short distance to the accommodation I booked last night online. Its hard to imagine I would have been so confident in my approach on my first visit just over a month ago. Something has definitely changed, and it's not just the size of my waist.

Of course, HSBC could still make this tougher than it should be.