I have arrived

Good morning Vietnaaaaaam! Cheesy I know but it had to be done.

I am sitting in my quasi-prison for the next 14 days or my nice hotel room overlooking a small park, you choose. If you read my previous entry you know this has been an interesting trip for sure. Something I will not forget any time soon.

First, I woke up in Dubai feeling quite excited to get to Hanoi even though it would take all day and evening to get there and would not arrive until late evening. After having some breakfast; eggs Benedict that was fantastic; I made may way to the C gates where I mentioned before was mostly deserted. I was early and there were hardly any people around. I assumed that would change…it did not. I flew on a wide body plane that can hold over 300 people with 50 of my not so closest friends. This plane has engines that have intakes that I can stand up in and jump up and down. I believe everyone on the plane could have fit inside the cowling.

While this might be an exaggeration, there were as many flight attendants as there were passengers +-10. I received better service than at some restaurants; to say the least, they were bored.

Once I arrived in Hanoi the weirdness did not change. Most, yes I mean most, of the employees were wearing full protective jumpsuits. I thought I was in a contagion movie. I should have taken a picture of this but I guess I was too busy looking around. After I stood in another slow moving line, I purchased my Visa. Yep. You purchase your Visa in the airport. Not sure what happens if you are denied. I guess you fly back with your new flight attendant friends. I proceeded to the entry gates, presented my passport; which included my newly purchased Visa. While I was waiting for the person, I assumed was a man but in a full PPE jumpsuit it was kind of hard to confirm, a man started calling for me. He was holding a sign with my name on it. I kind of felt like a celebrity but since there were only a few of us in the airport the odds of this person guessing that I was his primary target were fairly high. I watched the person stamp my passport and I was officially welcomed into Vietnam; or so I thought…

I was in Vietnam, but the warm welcome started to feel diluted. First, Jumpsuit person #1 informed me that I was not going to get my passport back until I went downstairs and got my luggage; by the way he is a guy. This is not a cool feeling. I have been to several countries now and I NEVER let my passport out of my sight and now I just supposed to leave it with a person that looks identical to 20 other people walking around here? *Sigh*. Jumpsuit person #2 escorted me down the escalator following me by quite a bit more than 6 feet. I was starting to feel like I was a little less welcome.

My luggage; which also spent the night out of my sight since it was checked baggage in Dubai; was waiting for me on the belt when I got to the first floor. I was quite happy to see it since it has everything I will have in this country for some time. After I picked it up and placed it on the luggage cart I was told to have a seat with a group of other so so welcomed guests. I remembered that the company I am going to work for said “Be sure to get a customs form” or I would have to pay a pretty healthy tax later. Interesting enough you can leave the airport without approaching customs. So after a brief discussion/argument with Jumpsuit #2, I was allowed to go to customs and get a customs form stating that “I had nothing to declare”. Now back to my waiting area.

While I sitting patiently, I notice that the people directing the Jumpsuit army are bringing down passports from above, having conversations with our assigned Jumpsuit persons. Then the assigned Jumpsuit brings their designee a blue jumpsuit not unlike the one they are wearing and has them put it on. As I sit there, I am not approached by my blue guy. I continue to wait. Since I do not speak Vietnamese, I have no idea what is going on. After about 30 minutes we are all told to stand up and we head for a side door. Is this the part where we all get in an unmarked van with no windows and we are never seen again?

Nope. We walk out the door and start heading to a side parking lot where we are meeting our taxis. On the walk Jumpsuit #2 tells me they didn’t have a jumpsuit in my size. I guess not many Vietnamese folks are 6′ tall…and maybe not skinny. In the taxi my feeling of not feeling as welcome as I was hoping was surely emphasized. I am told to get in the backseat after I put my luggage in the back of the mini van. Now I really wish the pictures I took would have come out. I am now in the backseat and everything is wrapped in plastic. Not only is there plastic on the seats, doors and floors there is a plastic barrier curtain between me and the front seats. The driver and Jumpsuit #2 are sitting up in the front chatting away while we head to the hotel. I sure hope we are going to the hotel, I kind of feel like what a prisoner might feel.

15 minutes later we arrive at the hotel. The weirdness continues still. If you are getting bored of reading about the weirdness, imagine being me at this point. I just want to get in a room. I am taken to a separate entrance where I am turned over from Jumpsuit #2 to Jumpsuit #3. No I am not kidding. I am truly glad I saw other people out of the taxi window not wearing jumpsuits! I am given very clear instructions about how my room is my home for the next 14 days and the Vietnam version of the CDC will arriving at 7AM to give me my first Covid test, how I have to fill out forms in the packet I am handed and how I am absolutely not supposed to leave my room. By the way, my bags are out of sight again since two other people in jumpsuits have taken them somewhere. Jumpsuit #3 escorts to a very small elevator that barely holds the two of us and we head up to the second floor. He tells me he is the leader of the quarantine crew and I can ping him on WhatsApp if I need anything and that information is in the packet. Things are different here. The second floor carpet is completely covered in plastic. The entire carpet of the entire second floor. I feel like I have the plague.

So I am now in my room on day two. I have been fed by the nice restaurant downstairs.

The jumpsuit people drop my order off on a table that blocks my door, knock on the door and then they disappear down the hall. The room is quite stocked with extra towels, shampoo, water bottles and the like. I guess they want to see me about as much as I want to see another jumpsuit human.

I almost forgot though. The room is very nice. The shower is fantastic and I have two small balconies that I can step onto and feel like I am really outside.

So…that is how you travel to Vietnam in the year 2020. Let’s hope this is not how it stays.

Doug