Episode 56: Single minded

John' stepped across the threshold of his plane at Noi Bai airport just before midday, the heat and humidity hitting him like a sledgehammer as he exited the plane doors and made his way down the stairs and across the tarmac toward the terminal.  

After booking his flight to Hanoi via Bangkok John realized that he didn't have an entry visa and so had hastily engaged his legal team to expedite it through the Paris consulate as per the protocol, fortunately for him the Times had been a good supporter of the Vietnamese regime and so there were no hold ups.  However, this two day delay had made him even more anxious as he still didn't have word regarding the whereabouts of Bill or Phuong.   

The line was long at the single passport window, the perspiration ran from John's forehead and dripped from his chin in a steady stream of oozing moisture.  He held his jacket across this arm and tried to fan himself with his passport while slowly inching toward the control point, wondering if this had been such a good idea...

After finally making it to the front of the line and sliding his passport and paperwork through the window the official slowly looked over his documentation, stopping every now and then to look up at John, which he found rather unnerving.  The soldier then took his passport and paperwork and disappeared to an adjacent office, returning a few minutes later he eyed John suspiciously once more before stamping his passport with a hard thud.  

Kế tiếp (Next!) he barked before waving John away. 

Fortunately, John's secretary has booked him a car and driver to take him to the hotel and after gathering his bag he exited into a veritable sea of people. Craning his neck to find his name was quite a chore but eventually he located his rather sullen driver and followed him toward the car park across the road from the terminal.  Even during this short walk to the carpark John noticed that the primary mode of transportation seemed to be scooters, but more so the cacophony of noise that they emanated from them as they zipped by. 

Following his drivers lead he tried to stay close behind as the stepped off the curb into the swarms of scooters that seemingly bore down on him from every direction.  He cursed loudly as a scooter narrowly missed him, its horn blaring loudly as the driver swerved around him.

Eventually he reached the hotel just before three pm, too exhausted to move he struggled to gather himself as the car drew up to the front doors of the Hilton Hotel.  He took in the beautiful architecture of the hotel, it's French pedigree obvious even to the untrained eye...and sighed deeply.  

After checking in and being shown to his room he took a long, cool shower to wash the grime of his travels from his body.  Feeling a little more refreshed he set about calling the office, hoping to speak with someone, perhaps even Lea he thought, maybe she had made contact with Bill and Phuong he thought fleetingly.  Noting the phone in his room was a relic that belonged in a museum and likely dated from the 1940's, he smiled and slipped his finger into each number as it slowly rotated and dialed.     

The line was busy, and so waited a few minutes before trying again...