We were out the door early to catch a flight to the next stop on our boat maintenance getaway. With bottom painting and polishing supposedly getting done back in Malaysia, we were taking off from Thailand for a visit to Vietnam.

The day started off well enough. We boarded our flight around noon, got settled in, and then waited. And waited. And waited. The plane wasn’t running, so gradually the temps climbed into the 80s, and then the 90s. An hour went by. By ninety minutes it was getting unhealthy. Sweat poured and paper fans weren’t helping anyone.

They finally got us off the plane, with the promise that they were going to fix the air-conditioning and get us going in no time.

A few hours later they issued us food vouchers for 300 baht each. We dutifully walked up to the Burger King where a Whopper (not a combo) cost 340 baht.

The eight p.m. boarding came and went. So did the nine, the ten-thirty and the eleven. At that point a new sign went up. 11:55 pm boarding. Somehow that seemed to be perfectly timed to avoid some sort of 12 hour delay rule, and also a rule about overnight delays. There was now a lot of angry faces, some chanting, probably a lot of TikTok videos, and yes, even a police presence. It’s safe to say Vietnam Airlines didn’t win over any customers that day.

We arrived in Hanoi around 3 a.m., and woke up to this lovely little view from our balcony. Ali and I have never been to Vietnam before and were excited to get a look around.

Somehow none of us had bothered to check the weather. We just assumed it would be similar to Thailand—warm and sunny.

It was not warm and sunny. With highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s, our first stop was a secondhand clothing store for some pants and sweatshirts.

I was excited to grab Banh Mi whenever and wherever I could.

The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts was a nice spot to see some interesting art and people watch. It was certainly a popular spot for young ladies to get their picture taken wearing a fancy dress.

Not exactly prime Vietnamese cuisine, but hey, great ribs are great ribs no matter where you are. The food in Hanoi was top notch.