Trip to Hanoi

Grace and Caleb had to catch an 11am flight out of Hanoi on Thursday. At first we had planned to take the 5am clock bus from where we are to be able to make it to the Noi Bai airport in time for the flight. It usually takes 2.5hrs from Kien An to Hanoi by bus, and then at least another 2hrs to go from the bus station in Hanoi to the airport (we would take the bus to a place downtown Hanoi and then catch an airport taxi, which costs less than a normal taxi, to the airport). With luggage, getting to the airport is not a simple matter. The flight to HK itself actually takes less than 2hrs.
On Tuesday, however, when we notified the school of Grace's trip, they were kind enough to arrange the school's driver and van to take us to Hanoi instead. At 6:30am, the driver showed up right in front of our building and picked us up. We felt like VIPs. He drove us straight to the airport, dropped us off, and waited for me outside in the parking lot. Grace checked in and went to the gate. I went out to meet the driver and he drove me into town. On the way, I saw Metro (Vn's version of Costco) and asked the driver to stop in so I could do some grocery shopping. The driver was kind enough to stop and let me go in to buy some stuff. I was able to get some big heavy things like a box of instant noodles, a flat of coke, a bag of rice, and canned foods, a bottle of olive oil (for Ruth and Manny), and other bulky items that we usually cannot carry with us without a car. Living with just a bicycle as a means of transportation does have some limitations, but we have learned to wait and depend on 'random' occasions such as this to provide when we find ourselves running out of food supply.
Anyway, the driver had to pick up three other people in HN at around 5pm that day and taking them to HP, so I had a few hours to kill. I went to a little restaurant for lunch and then paid a surprise visit to Will, who's an ELIC teacher at a university in HN. I also ran into 3 students from this school who still remembered me from that one week of teaching practicum. What a small world! After that, I was able to stop by a little shop that sells western goods to get a bottle of basalmic vinegar for Ruth and Manny. All in a day in Hanoi.
Here's a picture of a typical power pole that I took while waiting for the driver to pick me up and take me back to HP.