The Conveyor Belt, The Irish, and a Learning Experience

Hey folks! I should probably apologize for whatever I wrote in my last post. Although I haven't read it yet, I know the circumstances which I wrote it under, which was a lack of sleep over a period of 31 hours. As Sam puts it, I was pretty zonced. Being in the airport under the bright lights in the middle of the night for 13 hours was weird, I felt claustrophobic and constricted in this massive airport terminal. Anyways, we got on our flight to Hanoi, a flight which had 25 Israelis on it, and arrived 2 hours later. I was unsure of what to feel as we flew over Hanoi, I thought of American pilots 40 years ago flying over the same farms and rivers and buildings, and thought about how much this world has changed. Within 2 minutes of disembarking from the plane, 3 government officials approached me, and calmly gave me the firm order to stand in a spot 3 inches from where I was or do this or that. We moved through immigration quickly, and then arrived at the conveyor belt to get my backpack, standing right at the place where the bags pop out. The Hanoi conveyor belt is different from every other conveyor belt I have ever pulled luggage off of. The belt moves round with luggage on just like a normal belt, however, luggage pop out from underground one by on, and only when there is a spot available on the belt. It took a while for us to realize this system, and we figured there must be some sort of sensor in place that allows a bag to get on the belt. Sam and I agreed this was pretty smart at first, every bag popped out in an orderly fashion, and the timing was perfected to a science. However, as time passed, the belt got more and more crowded, and soon enough, with the way the belt was spaced, there was no longer any room for bags to be pushed out, and a waiting line of bags formed. I spotted my bag, and stood waiting for what seemed like hours for it to come out. Being the impatient Americans that we are, Sam started holding bags back so others could pop out, but to be fair, our way was the most efficient and the smartest. Their method was orderly and worked until someone got anxious. The Vietnamese way- a good idea that just doesn't work.

We arrived an hour later a couple blocks from our hostel. We got off the minibus, and it really hit me that I have no clue what the hell we're doing! We found our way to the hostel, stopping and asking for directions several times. While most people offer to help, often times it comes at a price, so we couldn't impose too much on anyone. As we stood in a square trying to orient ourselves on the map, a young Vietnamese man came up to us and provided me with the craziest A-Q that even my mom couldn't top-offering to sell us "map," to which we replied no, "lonely planet," to which we replied no, "marijuana," to which we replied no, and then "opium," to which we had already walked away while interuptting his question with a "no." We then arrivered at the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, a place that's considered by most backpackers to be one of the nicest hostels in SE asia. For 9 dollars, we have a private room, fairly private bathroom, and A C. But more special is the general atmosphere and attitude that everyone here has. There's a kitchen with incredible and very cheap food, a bar, a deck which has weekly bbqs, free internet, and an overall loose outlook on life. What a contrast it is from the crowded streets of Hanoi.
We met 2 nice Irish girls and went out to a nearby East meets West restaurant not too far away. We had a long, relaxing dinner, and enjoyed the company of two seasoned travelers, picking up tips of life on the road. We mentioned to them how our orientation on time and sleep was so messed up , and although they've been traveling for a month, they said they're the exact same way. I woke up at 3'oclock this morning, and I have no stress whatsoever that I'll be tired later. It's a pretty neat feeling, and something that I was never able to do during high school. Back to dinner...and the learning experience. We decided to split the check of 285,000 dong four ways based on what we ordered, and none of us had small bills (small being like, 20,000 dong {also, 16,000 dong to the dollar. isn't that so annoying?). So after exchanging for small change with the cashier, I began to hand him parts of the sum of the check, as I explicitly stated how much I was handing him and how much we had left to pay. Unfortunately for me however, I don't think this cashier could handle the complicated arithmetic I was doing, and definitely couldn't understand the numbers I was saying in English, and the next thing I knew, my 85,000 dong was gone. I don't think the cashier maliciously took the money, but there was no hope explaining that I had already paid him a part of the 285, and I decided to cut my losses and not get frustrated and just pay again. Basically, I thought I was splitting a check at Bella Via instead of in the middle of Hanoi.
So, I'm a day smarter, and a day more experienced, and now more excited than ever for the next 5 months.