Facing the Dragon - Chapter 17

I wake up this morning refreshed, but also a bit depressed. It isn’t the disturbing images from last night, but the reality that this is my last full day in Vietnam. After 16 days, I have grown quite used to everything about this place. Whether it be the people and their incessant questions, the rice I eat 3 times a day, or the unrelenting heat, none of it seems that strange anymore. While part of me is ready to get back to the familiar surroundings of my apartment in Amsterdam, the reality is I have become so engrossed in the culture around me that I am still yearning for more.

During our early morning drive back to Hanoi, I experience one more monsoon type rainstorm for my memory. Seeing the rain come down and the people operate, almost uninterrupted by the storm, is strangely refreshing. Like most of my days in Vietnam, I expect my last one in Hanoi to be pleasant, fascinating and hectic at the same time. Knowing that tomorrow at this time I will be aboard a plane which will take me far away, I plan to savor every moment that I spend walking around Hanoi today.

As with each day in most of our lives, frustration has a tendency to set in at some point. Today, it is related to my poor cash management and impulsive spending. After buying a beautiful handmade wooden box depicting scenes of Vietnamese culture for 25 USD, my pockets are empty. I planned to use my remaining dong notes on dinner this evening, not a decorative box. This means that I will need to make one more trip to the ATM. After 2 hours of walking and looking for an ATM that will accept my card, I arrive back in a place I know well; the promenade surrounding Hoan Kiem Lake. I know that this ATM will accept my card because I have used it before. However, there is a sign posted on the machine stating that it will be inoperable for the next 30 minutes for scheduled maintenance. Annoyed, I attempt to take this inconvenience in stride. I sit down on a bench overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake and relax; there aren’t many more beautiful places in the city to absorb your surroundings. As I sit and wait, I am approached by a Hanoi college student who strikes up a conversation with me in the hopes of practicing his English. After 10 minutes, our conversation is interrupted by a loud and angry French man who has apparently decided that making conversation and relaxing by the lake until the ATM is open for business is not on his agenda. He refuses to accept the fact that ‘scheduled maintenance’ means ‘scheduled maintenance’ and not one more transaction. Instead, he tries to force his will. As he futilely attempts to jam his card into the non functioning machine, he nearly gets physical with the stunned bank employee and the guard eventually has to come over to warn the man to stop his behavior. Realizing that he may have crossed the line, he finally walks away to the approval of the many bystanders who witness the altercation. I would have liked to see the guard give the man a shove as incidents like these give every Westerner a bad name.

On my way back to the hotel, I get one last glimpse of the Opera House and Hilton Hotel, which fit together much like a glass of wine and savory piece of cheese. After resting for a bit in my room, I head down to the hotel lobby to meet my travel companions for one last meal together. Tonight, we are heading to Hanoi’s French quarter for dinner.

We have one last wonderful meal together at a romantic French bistro named the Au Lac Café. The experiences we have shared have taken us from being complete strangers to the point where we feel comfortable sharing our inner thoughts on sometimes challenging and controversial subjects. We are all travelers and we have learned from each other and grown as individuals based on our interactions and the experiences we have shared. There is a certain mindset of those who have a passion to travel that makes them, in some cases, one in the same. They are junkies for experiences and culture. When they are able to unleash their passion for travel with others who also get excited about the thought of walking through a market or visiting a hidden temple, the world becomes a much smaller and more manageable place. Distant, fantasy lands like Timbuktu no longer seem to be unattainable. Places like Sri Lanka and Tierra Del Fuego which represent the corners of the world don’t seem to be a galaxy away. My head is full of ideas and places that I want to visit while I still have legs that move and eyes and a mind that can appreciate the world around me. Traveling helps keep a body young and the mind open to experiences that are just waiting to be had.