Bens arrival

Tuesday March 21, 2006

Ben arrived today - woo hoo. I went to work in the morning then caught a taxi out the the airport to meet him when his plane from KL arrived at 12.30.

The taxi driver ripped me off. I paid 250,000 to get there. I since found out it should have been around 150,000. It was cool travelling out the the airport though. When I arrived in Hanoi it was dark, so I finally got to see more of Hanoi than the old quarter.

The airport is about 1 hours drive out of Hanoi, taking into account the traffic, so you move from heavy civilisation out to more rural based areas. It was a cool drive, and an exciting one considering I was heading to meet Ben.

So there I was, waiting at the gates, looking to see when he emerged after customs. I waited a while and was so concerntrated on the gates, that I got a shock when I got a big hug from behind and his deep voice asking if I came here often :)

I was washed with emotion at seeing him. It was so good to finally be together after two long months! We then jumped in a taxi and headed to my place.

When we arrived home we were both pretty tired. He'd been out all night with his cousin, and I think i was just exhausted from all the excitement of seeing him again. He gave me some amazing gifts from India - jewellery, a throw-rug, and some beautiful Indian traditional wear.

We went out to Hoan Kiem lake and grabbed some lunch. took him to the first place I ate at (beside the street stall), showed him around a bit and then we headed home and crashed out for a couple of hours.

I then took him to Bia Hoi corner and we grabbed some delicious food at an upstairs restaurant in the tourist hub of the Old Quarter. While there were so many things that would have normally surprised him if he hadn't been to India, he was still wide-eyed with comparisons on India and Malaysia.

He seemed pretty stoked with our location as well, everything in walking distance.

Can't say how amazing it is to have hime here. It's also great to have a familiar face here in Vietnam.