Epilogue/Afterwords

So, was it worth the effort? Did it come out as expected? Things that surprised and what was learned during the trip. Find it all here, in the last episode!

Was it worth the effort?

First things first: I honestly think that the trip definitely was worth taking! There are only so many possibilities in life to make such trips and this one was mine to take. First of all the timing was perfect. I had just been sacked from work and really was in need of a vacation trip. I mean I had the days free at home as well but looking at the walls for a few weeks really makes you want to leave the house for a while. In the begining of the whole process of leaving to Vietnam I was a bit suspicious as I had no idea what it would actually mean to move there. This is the point where everything could go already wrong by letting too many things build-up as obstacles. The best way is just to take the bull by the ba... horns and go with the flow. Not to think too much as that usually never works for a benefit anyway. You need to face the facts for sure but that's it. The rest will work out one way or another.

Did it come out as expected?

Well, my expectations were rather limited, as I earlier stated already I didn't think too much before going. So I didn't build too many walls by setting too many goals or expectations. What I figured out it would be was that it's going to be rather warm, and people are talking less English and that I'd have time to spend with my daughter. That's how it actually turned out to be. That plus a ton more! It turned out  that Vietnam was all that + friendly people, occasional tropical storms, awesome sceneries, sweat, cold coffee (in a positive way), more sweat, high prices, bargain, low prices, Western prices, traditions, temples, taxi rides, fake taxis, swimming, relaxing, tasty food, tasteless food, food, light brews, language barriers. Oh and some more sweat. So yes, I got everything I expected. Actually the thing here was to keep an open mind to let the experience work itself out. I have a tendency not to put too much on high expectations. This applies also to for example restaurant selection: if the place is recommended by someone or even reviewed as a spectacular you already have set an expectation level. Sure you can go and see whether it's true or not but the original and most relevant (re)view comes from you.

Things that surprised?

The first thing I remember surprising me was the heat. I mean I've been to hot places but when the humidity is on the level it was... whew! And having that for over a month in a row. I really started understanding people loving the airconditioning. And I have to give it to the guys living in areas with such a weather conditions, for instance Texas (of the ones I've been to): now I know why you people don't walk enywhere! ;D

Despite all the confrontations and the cultural collissions I found it even a bit surprising that it all went so smoothly. I managet to keep it cool and enjoyed the stay, big time!

One thing surprising was that we actually were able to find stuff to do and things to see for the whole time. I mean the last week was already a bit of a struggle to come up with things to do but I think it was also because of the fact that I subconsciously started orienting myself for the homecoming.

The fact that how nice it was to come back home. I think there's not too many times I can remember being as happy coming from abroad back home. I mean it's nice to come home but I really enjoy the traveling as well.

The beauty that the land held. I knew it was going to be nice but it caught me anyway. Also as we didn't actually see too much diversity seeing only two different cities in Vietnam.

What was learned?

Well, at least we learned a great deal about a new culture. I'm not going to go listing all the details but to name a few I'd give the fact that people in Vietnam are kind and caring and that they share from what they have, although it's not too much. Also a great learning was that you really can be happy with less. What I brought back with me was the promise to myself to try to settle for less, not to run always for the highest price. Why, you might ask? Because it's like running yourself in an economy mode: you'll last longer and don't burn yourself out as fast.

The Do's...

While in Vietnam, specifically in Hanoi you should (or you could) see at least these (not in any specific order):

1. Halong Bay
- It's not too far away and it really is something different from the city
2. The west lake
- if only for the evening ride on the swan cycle, actually I think this applies to all the lakes (Hoan Kiem, Truc Bach, Le Dai Hanh...)!
3. Ho Chi Minh mausoleum
- sure you can go see it from the inside as well if interested
4. The old quarter
- not only because of the cheap shopping experience but to see the life of the locals as well
5. Bia Hoi
- one simply can't visit Hanoi, the world capital of Bia hoi without tasting it. Ok... it might be the beer talking again... ;)
6. The Landmark 72
- like views? Like modern? You'll love this!
7. Vietnamese coffee
- especially the weasel -ones... man it's great! I haven't been able to reproduce it back home yet but I'll sure keep on trying.
8. The weirdest things on the menu
- really, just try and be surprised! ...either in good or a bad way. ;)
9. Any plastic seat restaurant you see
- might require a stomach of steel but at least you'll know afterwards if you have one or not. ;)
10. Walk and see the details
- yes it's hot outside but you'll get a free excercise on the go.

...and the Don't's

1. Be arrogant
- despite it might feel the locals are towards you they aren't, it's just a way they live. When a Western tries it... well, lets just say it doesn't work, I saw it too many times.
2. Waste your time planning too much
- as always. Just go and do whatever comes on your way
3. Spend too much on eating in classy restaurants
- occassionally it's ok, but everytime you do that you miss one fine chance on a street restaurant
4. Niggle about all the VNDs
- getting 500 less in a taxi can easily be considered as a tip for the ride that must have saved your life. I mean the traffic...
5. Miss the chance to try sports in the weather conditions
- at least for us Scandinavians it's something to try

And it all can be found in the earlier texts. ;) There's a lot to see even outside this listing so feel free to Google more. :D

Would I do it again?

Yes. Definitely. I can promise that whenever this sort of possibility comes, I'll be in. It's been now two times our family has been abroad for longer than a month working, at least partially. The 4 months in Romania was already a great adventure. Now this. The hunger increases continuously so, yes I'd be doing it again.

And when I will, I'll be hosting another blog to follow for ya'll. ;) Meanwhile stay tuned for the Beers of Vietnam episode in my other blog My Wonderful World of Beers , Cheers!

Day 37 and 38, June 30th and July 1st: The last day in Hanoi and the first day out

Sunday

Sunday started for Laura really early in the morning. I didn't evene notice her leaving for the airport. We woke up at around 8 o'clock and watched some cartoons, had the breakfast and stuff. The odd feeling of being anxcious of getting out of Vietnam had gotten me this morning. The weird thing was that I was actually waiting for the trip back home. Waiting for it although it would be with a 4 year old kid. Nothing wrong with Enni but the fact that traveling with kids is not the most relaxing way of spending your day. ;) I was already out of ideas for the day and quite frankly I was more thinking about the getting out of the country than the spending of the last day. Anyways we started the day (like really started) from one final stop by the pool. We had the last training sessions for Enni to learn how to swim but I think that maybe it was a bit too big bite to chew. ;) We got to a point where Enni got to know the water very well as an element. She also knows the tricky side of it. But the swimming... well, she can slide for few meters already. And she has the confidence. But not swimming yet. I can still live with that.

The last dip into the pool...

 ...and the last view from the pool to the city. The Landmark 72 is seen on the left upper corner, the black, high building
 After the shower we went out for a lunch, and I guess you can guess where by now. :) Yes, to the close by restaurant as Enni's wish. That was the last bowl of noodle soup for Enni and dumblings for me in Hanoi.

From the restaurant we still took taxi to Hoan Kiem area to see whether we could still get something to fill our luggage with. Oh, and by the way, our bags were on the limits of bursting already. The smaller bag where I couldn't fit anything more into was literally a ticking time bomb and I was worried about. The bigger bag was on the limit with the weight but still had some room volume-wise. We walked the streets and noticed that the prices were climbing as we moved on. Funny thing was that the price doubled for one particular item I was willing to buy. Also the item was starting from a lower price the day before.

After a cup of coffee in a cafe I felt that it would be better for us to start moving towards the airport. I figured that we could have our dinner at the airport and spend some time going through the shops'n stuff. We got to the apartment and made sure that we had packed all the necessary things. Some were left behind on purpose.

 Enni waiting for the taxi

Our bags ready to be moved to the taxi from our apartment building lobby

Back downstairs we asked the reception personnel for an advice on the lump sum we should go for for the taxi ride to the airport. After checking us out from the apartment he promised to call us a taxi that would be the cheapest. And it sure was! When we came in we paid 480 000 VND, this ride was only 250 000 VND! During the ride I was happy to notice that we had gotten ourselves the fastest driver in Hanoi. :) He was doing 100 km/h from time to time. There seemed to be a last storm on it's way to Hanoi as we were driving towards the airport. By the time we got to the airport the wind was increasing and in about 15 minutes it was already storming. Well, we were at the airport already and the worst thing was that our flight would be delayed. Almost as bad was the fact that we were at the airport 4 hours before our flight. They only start the check-in and baggage drop 2 hours before the flight so we had to keep all our bags with us till then. We stopped by in at least 5 different cafes and reasturants as Enni wanted to go to almost all of them. Then after a dinner and some coffees we finally got rid of our baggage and got to the other side of the security check.

The last storm of the trip closing in on Hanoi

At a restaurant at Noi Bai international airport

That's how it is, right? I went to try out the foot massage at the sirport just to get an idea what it's all about. And must I say that it did to something to me as after this I felt some rough dizzines from time to time.

At this point I thought of the souvenirs once again and went to buy some. The thing is that I shouldn't have bought the cognac for my parents for watching over our house. More to come on that matter later on.

The flight was on time and we were in the plane among the last ones so that we wouldn't need to wait too long. Enni wanted to play some games on the infortainment system in the plane as she had told me the whole day. I let her do that and stay up as long as she would like to as it would only help her to sleep longer during the night. She managed to sty up until there were only 9,5 hours left of the flight time. That means that it was more than 5 hours past her bedtime by then already! What a brave girl. She woke up few times during the night though and I wasn't sleeping like a log either. There was an older gentleman on our row of three in the middle but he moved to the other side of the aisle to let us have more room during the night. A nice move that should be thought by all of us in the similar situations.

Monday


In the morning the wake-up was rather hillarious. I opened my eyes and Enni was looking at me, straight to my eyes and smiling ominously. It was pretty scary way to wake up I must say! :D She acclaimed she had been up only for a while. The flight time monitor showed 2,5 hours left which meant that the night had been short for Enni and long enough for me. Of course I could sleep for days but in these conditions the 7 hours of ON/OFF sleep is more than enough. By the time we started the preparations for landing there was a huge rush for all the people to get their bags from the over head compartments. This is something I just don't get. Are they really thinking that they would gain some time with this manner or just so much in love with their belongings that they can't let go of them for the landing? The other thing I noticed during the 6 flights that on each of them there was at least one person that didn't consider an iPhone as an electronic device. In a matter of a fact one girl was updating her facebook status while the wheels of the plane were touching the ground. On another flight a lady was running through her pictures on her iPhone while landing. Now I know I might sound up-tight but to me a regulation is a regulation. Just as I think it would be easier to change the name of the STOP-sign to "just take a look on left and if not in hurry also to the right"-sign. :) One last thing I need to get off my chest is the thing I don't get: when the plane has landed, why on earth do you really (REALLY!) need to get up as soon as possible to get your stuff from the over head sompartment?! When we landed in Frankfurt there were 3 flight attendants forcing people to get back and sit down as they were running for their luggage. And we had a stand arrival! They would not get ANY faster to their connecting flights as the last person from the plane dictates the bus schedule. G-sus I sometimes wonder whether people really ever even think... Now, got all that off my chest and we can move on. ;)

It was just past 6 o'clock in Frankfurt and the lounge that we passed on our way was not yet onpened. That's why we went to have a cup of coffee that we had to pay for. After that coffee we went to the lounge to have another breakfast on top of the one on the flight. After spending a bit past one hour we went to look for the transfer desk as our boarding passes were only until Frankfurt. But the desk was nowhere to be found. We wandered around for a half an hour until I just figured out that we should just walk out and check back in. The passport control point officer confirmed my thoughts. We went to look for the check in desk and after a bit more walking around we found it too. I must say that Frankfurt airport feels one of the most unorganised to me. There are departure halls marked with letters and gates marked with letters and in each hall they have the same named gates. Who is responsible for this?! A bad, bad process design I must say! Once we found the check-in desk it was abvious we were going to wait for a while in the line. This was the slowest check-in counter of the whole trip. I think it even might be the slowest ever on my travel history. Once we made it to the check-in we had been in the line for about an hour and 15 minutes and it was only about 20 people in the line! Of course there were a lot of people traveling from far Asia and they seem to have multiple different packages and cardboard boxes with them which make it no faster at least.

We finally got our new boarding passes and also a "helpful" advise from the counter that I was not going to get my bottle of cognac in to the plane although it was in a sealed plastic bag. This had something to do with the regualtions of transfer flights from Singapore and Hanoi through Europe to another destination in Europe. As far as I understand the sales person in Hanoi airport should had known this issue and adviced it while selling me the bottle. Then again Vietnam is highly dependent on the tourism and all the money they can get from the tourists is a plus. Well, the 100$ I invested on their tourism was now washed away. That was the souvenir intended for my parents for being the home watch for us... I must say I was a bit disappointed. But at least now I know that I should not buy anything from Hanoi airport, should I ever return there.

At the security check they still told me that it would be possible to return to take the bottle to another bag and check it in as a luggage. I told them that with the speed of the check-in counter it was possible and that they could smash it. I understand the rules and the regulations anyway and know that there are no exceptions.

The flight itself was on time and Enni fell asleep as we were rolling to the runway. She slept until there was about 1 hour left of flight time to Helsinki. At Helsinki we had another stand arrivel and people were again jumping off their seats and getting their bags down jsut to get to stand in the aisle. The captain announced that we were going to have to wait for the bus transport to the terminal for a while and the people just stood there. We were not in a hurry and were getting out of the plane as last ones because when you miss your window while the masses of people are moving there is no other way than to wait for them to pass. Then again the bus was not going to leave before we were in.

At the baggage claim we were happily surprised as people were actually standing behind the line marked next to the conveyor belt. All but one group of people that were not used to that. :) The good thing was that we once again got to show them that the bags are not coming any faster and you are not getting them any fastere although you would block all other people from the belt.

After getting the bags we moved to the Starbucks to get something to eat for Enni and some coffee for me. A while alter we were already sitting in the bus waiting for the bus to take us home and to normal life. I met a friend of mine on his way home from work as he took the same line as we did. We only managed to change a few words. Something new had been introduced to the busses in Finland: an infortainment system that shows in real time where you were on the route and how you were doing schedule-wise. A nice addition to the bus traveling! About a hour and a half later we were back in Salo and Laura was picking us at the bus station. From the bus station we drove back home and had a nice dinner made from a fresh set of ingredients that Laura had bought from the market place earlier. A nice ending for a nice day. Nice, all except the Frankfurt part.

A certain group of people at the baggage claim in Helsinki. Yes, she's behind the line but how about the trolley...? One man was jumping over that one. But then again she got what she ordered and her bags were among the last ones. ;)

That was also the end of our trip. I will still write a short epilogue/afterwords of the trip as soon as I have some more time to do it. That'll include some tips that I learned during our stay. That's when I'll have time. Believe me writing this last chapter was already a three day long task as there are loads of stuff that I want to do at the moment. ;)

 Girls riding a cannon in the park in Salo center a day after we arrived

Enni enjoying the company of her friends at the close by playground