Sudden Return to the Real World

Trip Start Nov 08, 2006

191

260

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
Friday, November 21, 2008

Our two-hour drive to Hanoi took four because of construction. Then a cab driver kidnapped us and started driving away from the airport until I agreed to pay him more money to get us there. I'd normally just grab the wheel and steer us into a tree, but the extra $8 was less than it would cost to miss our flight. And I just wanted to get the hell out of Hanoi. And we made our flight.

It's strange that in a matter of hours we could leave a place that felt so incredibly distant in both time and culture and find ourselves in the modernity and familiarity of Bangkok. It was a mixture of relief at leaving Hanoi and remorse at being torn from the beauty surrounding Ninh Binh. But it was definitely an incredible trip.